**In God We Find Full Freedom

        In today's first reading from 2 Corinthians 9, Paul wrote: God loves a cheerful giver. I realize that in God, we become free, and one of the freedoms is giving cheerfully to others in need. Essentially, after attaching ourselves to the Lord, we are able to let all other things go, for they are now nothing compared to him. If you still want more than God, you never really had him. When Jesus gave us the greatest and the first commandment: "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind," he wanted us to experience the full freedom in God. 

***Three Big Evils of Our Time

1. Hypocrisy, the sin that makes Jesus say "Woe to You." Playing phony before God the truth is the dumbest thing you can possibly do. We see hypocrites in politics and within the Church. I pity them for being hypocritical and not even good at it.
2. Abortion, opposite to Jesus' greatest love which is the laying down of your own life for others. Abortion goes directly against the Lord who creates all of us in his own image. Self-proclaimed Catholics who promote abortion are the worst kind of hypocrites. As long as there is no sanctity of the human life, there will be no peace in this world.
3. Child sex trafficking. This is no ordinary sin. It involves exploiting defenseless children for your own profit and causing pedophiles to sin even more. It's sin upon sin. Both abortion and child sex trafficking are grave sins against humanity and God.

     To sin opens the door for Satan to snatch your soul. When you commit any of the above three sins, you practically hand your soul over the devil.

*To Become Spiritual Fools

        Evil spirits are known to shy away from even holy water. So if you are in a pure, blessed state in union with the Lord, they cannot possibly touch you. On the other hand, if you reject the Lord, then you leave your door wide open for evil spirits to enter, leaving your soul defenseless—you are now a big spiritual fool.

**How God Speaks to Us

          In today's first reading from 1 Kings 19, Elijah was taking shelter in a cave on Mount Horeb and the Lord told him to go outside before the Lord, for he would be passing by. A strong and heavy wind came, but the Lord was not in it. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound. When Elijah heard this, he hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance of the cave. I have learned that the Lord does speak to us in a tiny whispering sound. He communicates with us through our heart. If you hear his voice audibly, you cannot be sure that it's his. But if he implants a message in your innermost heart, you know that it has to be from him, for no one else can do that. I personally believe that Satan can put a thought in our mind, but not in our heart. So it is important for us to spend time with ourselves to listen for the Lord's intimate voice.  

*How to Increase Our Faith

         In today's Gospel reading from Matthew, Jesus cured a possessed boy whom his disciples had faile to cure. They approached Jesus in private and asked him why they could not drive the demon out. Jesus said to them, "Because of your little faith. Amen, I say to you, if you have the faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." The faith I see here is not the faith believing that we can accomplish what we want to accomplish, but our faith in the Lord. After all, all power comes from him; we are merely channels of his power. So, to have great faith, we need to trust in him. To trust in him, we need to know and become one with him.

*****Knowing Who Christ Is!

         I know Jesus. In fact, I know him more than anyone else on earth. That's because he remains absolutely trustworthy forever! Besides, when he reveals himself to you, you know that he is the Lord. This morning it dawned on me that this Jesus I know is no ordinary person; he is in fact Almighty God, creator of the universe and me! And nothing is impossible for him! Everything that exists depends upon him. Most amazingly, he loves me to death. I can't believed that I am this blessed and privileged! This is the One who is one with me! I am feeling so elated that I forget all my problems, since I am completely in his care now! 

**Simple Formula for Finding Life

         In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 16, Jesus said to his disciples "Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." In one sentence, Jesus tells us how to gain eternal life. Essentially, he wants us not to be concerned about saving our own life, but to follow only him; then we'll live forever. The truth is always simple and logical. We are all concerned about ourselves most. But the Lord is so much greater than us and can take complete care of us. The breakthrough for us is to see this and accept it. Faith is needed here and it is only faith in the true God that can save us. Not trusting in God is equivalent to shutting him out and we'll end up losing our life altogether.

**Most Rewarding First Step

         To take that first step in anything can be hard. One example is getting up from your comfortable bed in the morning. Once you are up, you enjoy the morning and get a few things done, and you start feeling pretty good. Joining a gym to start exercising is another instance. You dread the physical exertion, but then you get going and feel better physically, and you are glad that you made the move. Surrendering yourself to Christ can be a most difficult step to take. But once you take it, you come to realize that you've made the best commitment of your life, for your reward now is nothing short of eternal life. It is a natural law that the greater the commitment you make, the greater the reward you receive.

***Globalists Without God

        A video exposing evil in disguise. If you are with God, you should watch it. 

***Pro-Life Message for Catholics

           Hear today's pro-life message from Fr. Mark Goring. Viva Christo Rey!