***Inspiring Commandments***

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 22, Jesus said to a Pharisee, a scholar of the law, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments." Because they set such a high standard, they are the most important. The Lord is truly inspiring!

**We Are God's from the Beginning**

        In today's First Reading from Ezekiel 37, the prophet experiences the Vision of Dry Bones. It reminded me that the Lord is eternal and holds absolute creative power. We are basically bones embedded in flesh and covered with skin, remaining lifeless until he puts spirit in us. With this understanding, we know that we belong to God and must never walk away from him!

**Responding to the Lord Is Serious**

        Today is the Memorial of St. Bernard. The Gospel Acclamation, Psalm 95:8, reads: "If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts." The Lord is always speaking to us through various means. In the Gospel reading of the Parable of the Wedding Feast from Matthew 22, we learn that the king invites many guests, but they all refuse to come (all with hardened hearts). A second time he invites whomever his servants can find in the streets, and the hall is filled. Then the king sees a man not properly dressed in a wedding garment and has him bound and cast out into the darkness outside. So many are invited, but few are chosen. Even if you accept the invitation, you need to be properly prepared. Responding to the Lord's call is serious business—it is meeting the Lord God! 

***Two Great Gifts to Ask For**

        Psalm 51 is today's Responsorial Psalm. I learned from the reading that it is good to ask the Lord to create a clean, contrite, and humbled heart for us, and renew a steadfast, willing, and contrite spirit within us.

****One Big Union Advantage****

        As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are God's ways higher than our ways, and his thoughts higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:9). But once we attain union with the Lord through the Holy Eucharist, we come to know and understand his ways and thoughts.

***Beautiful Paradoxes**

       1. When we acknowledge before the Lord that we are weak, the Lord makes us strong.

        2. The more we humble ourselves, the more the Lord exalts us.

     3. The more we see ourselves to be wretched sinners, the more we are made clean.

       4. When we abandon ourselves to the Lord, he accomplishes what we want done for us.

        5. Leave everything to follow the Lord and receive a hundredfold more from him.

        6. Surrender ourselves to God and we become free.

        7. The more we believe like a little child, the more God reveals to us what is hidden from the learned.

**Caring About What God Cares About Most**

        We feel sorry for others who suffer from poor health or are depressed. Then I see that spiritual wellbeing is so much more important than any physical or mental condition. There is no gain if you enjoy good health and feel happy, but have not secured your soul yet. God desires to save our souls most, so we must go beyond just caring about others' physical and mental conditions.

**God's Reward Is Always Enough**

        In today's reading from Matthew 20, Jesus tells the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard to illustrate what the kingdom of heaven is like. In it, all the laborers receive the same daily wage from the landowner at the end of the day, no matter when they were hired to start working that day. Of course, the ones who worked more hours grumble about this, but the landowner dismisses them. This can be likened to us who come to submit ourselves to Jesus at different times in life and end up in heaven. Once there, there is no point in caring about when we turned to the Lord anymore.

**Our One Shepherd**

        In today's first reading from Ezekiel 34, the Lord wants Ezekiel to warn the shepherds of Israel thus: "Woe to you who have been pasturing yourselves! Should not shepherds, rather, pasture [my] sheep?" We, the people of the whole world, have only one shepherd, Jesus Christ. If we all let him shepherd us, we will have peace and heaven on earth for sure! For this, it is the duty of the faithful to pray unceasingly.

**My Triumph**

        The Lord being my rock and my refuge, I have already overcome sin and death. It is only a matter of time before I return to him, my forever home.

**Good to Know!**

        I am no philosopher or theologian, but I can tell you what life is all about. God has created us with free will, and we have inherited original sin. If we choose to obey God, we are restored to grace and saved. If we don't, we remain in sin and will be cast out by the Lord. All is fair, so be clear-headed!

**The Lord Speaking!**

        I just posted "Handicap of the Rich," quoting Matthew 19:23. It turns out that this is the first verse of today's Gospel reading. I was also deeply moved by verse 29, in which Jesus declared to his disciples, "Everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life."

**Sensible Conclusion**

        Today's Responsorial Psalm Response, from Deuteronomy 32:39, reads, "It is I [God] who bring both death and life." This is clearly true; therefore, it is only fitting and makes sense to put him in charge of everything between life and death too.

**Handicap of the Rich**

        In today's first reading from Ezekiel 28, the Lord God told the prophet what to say to the prince of Tyre. Verse 5 struck me: "Through your great wisdom in trading, you heaped up riches for yourself—your heart is haughty because of your riches." Today we see wealthy people who think they are superior because they can make money. Jesus is right in saying to his disciples that it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. When you serve mammon instead of God, you receive your full reward in this life.

**The Wisdom That Matters the Most**

        Jesus is our Lord and Savior. If we believe and follow him, we are saved from sin and gain eternal life. You have probably heard this so many times that it sounds trite now. But if you truly believe that this is true, you will have gained the wisdom that matters the most to your whole existence! 

***About God's Love***

        God's love for us is so great that it is better not to have been born than to knowingly reject it.

****KNOW GOD'S WONDERFUL MERCY****

        There were two criminals crucified at the same time as Jesus. One of them hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us." The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, "Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal." Then he turned to Jesus and said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied to him, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." This shows God's wonderful mercy, and it reveals how one change of heart can make the greatest possible difference to our eternal existence. You have to be an absolute ignoramus to get yourself condemned! 

*****All for What? (This We Must Know)*****

        Today I prayed the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary. I thought of the mental agonies Jesus endured. His goal was to save all from eternal death, but people didn't believe in him and wanted to crucify him instead. Before it happened, they mocked and taunted him. As for the physical sufferings he underwent, there were the Scourging at the Pillar—the Shroud of Turin shows that he was whipped 120 times, leaving nearly 400 wound marks over his whole body, both front and back; the Crowning with Thorns—imagine the pain caused by forcing the thorns into his scalp; the Carrying of the Cross—he had to carry the cross himself and fell three times because of its weight; and last, the Crucifixion—the pain must have been so excruciating while hanging from the cross for about six hours before he expired. All for what? This is what every one of us needs to know if we truly have a heart!