In today's Gospel reading from Matthew16, there are some memorable sayings by Jesus. (1) "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (2) "What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?" (3) "For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct." All these sayings affect us directly, and we must deal with them. Jesus is the only one we cannot avoid and cannot afford to ignore!
Friday, August 7, 2026
***Wise Move**
Deuteronomy 32:39c, today's Responsorial Psalm response, reads, "It is I [God] who deal death and give life." Indeed, God alone gave us life and determines the time of our death. It would be wise to let him take complete charge of us.
**Something to Beware**
In Matthew 5:37, Jesus, in teaching his disciples about oaths, said, "Let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes,' and your 'No' mean 'No.' Anything more is from the evil one." I love this saying—how refreshing! Today, you hear things from so many people, especially public figures, that are premeditated, convoluted, evasive, or confusing—not straight truth. According to Jesus, they've all been influenced by the evil one. So beware.
***The Divine Secret***
There is no limit to how much we can love God, but being finite, our strength limits us. So, switch gears to let God love us. All we need to do is to relax and remain completely open—this we can surely accomplish. In doing so, we achieve our objective. (The secret: Let God do it.)
*Our Perpetual Prayer*
The world has remained evil from creation to this day, so we must never stop praying for the world until the end of the age.
*Letting Sin Lead You to God*
You should see that sin is a big, fundamental problem for you. If you don't, you just prove my point. If you do, what are you going to do about it? If you see that Christ is the one to look into, cheer up, because he is calling you.
**One Barrier to Entering Heaven**
One great example we can learn from the Lord Jesus is that he accepted all his sufferings willingly. To follow him, he has let us know that we must deny ourselves and take up our own cross. So, refusing to suffer is a barrier to entering heaven.
**Temporarily on Earth**
Jesus came down from heaven to earth and lived among us for thirty-three years to bring the good news of salvation and eternal life. I have never been to heaven, but I now feel I already belong there, and I am only here on earth temporarily.
Thursday, August 6, 2026
***Too Important to Ignore!***
Today is the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. From the book of the prophet, we read, "As the visions during the night continued, I saw: one like a Son of man coming, on the clouds of heaven; when he reached the Ancient One and was presented before him, the one like a Son of man received dominion, glory, and kingship; all peoples, nations, and languages serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away, his kingship shall not be destroyed." Daniel was written between 167 and 164 BC. In the Second Letter of Peter, the Apostle confirms this: "Beloved: We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that unique declaration came to him from the majestic glory, 'This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.' We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain." So Jesus is no ordinary person; he is the Son of God. We are compelled to realize this for our own sake—he is too important to ignore!
**Don't Forget the Enemies**
This morning I expressed my love for God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, and all the holy angels and saints in heaven. I felt the Lord was waiting for me to say something more, so I also added all of his and our enemies who still might have a chance to be saved.
Wednesday, August 5, 2026
***Fantastic Good News***
Human life is so fragile that a single accident or disease can totally disable or kill us, and we have no control over that. On the other hand, even though one unrepented serious sin can land us in hell for all eternity, we can completely prevent this by believing in and following Christ. This is truly fantastic news to us!
**"Outsmarting" the Lord**
In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 15, a Canaanite woman came to Jesus and called out, "Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon." He said in reply, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs." She said, "Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters." Then Jesus said to her, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed from that hour. The lesson here: The Lord tests us. If we always keep our faith, we "win" each time.
**God, the Sun**
This morning I woke up and watched the sunlight streaming through the window, hitting the white bedroom wall, and making it glow with warmth. I realized how the Lord created the sun to keep us alive on Earth. Then I understood that the Lord himself is the sun that can keep us alive spiritually forever.
Tuesday, August 4, 2026
**Patience Pays Off**
Patience as a virtue is also a great strategy for accomplishing many goals in life. Impatient people rush and make mistakes because they lose their peace and no longer think clearly. To achieve maximum success, we must wait for the right time to make the right move. Realizing the following can help: There will always be unfinished business until the day we die, so do what is necessary when you can. What's unnecessary can wait. Basically, impatience stems from a lack of trust in God. Let his infinite patience be our inspiration.
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