***Exclusive Gifts for His Followers***

         Christ can set us free from sin, grant us that profound peace, and fill us with pure joy. These three special blessings all come from above which the world cannot give. They are special gifts given exclusively by the Holy Spirit to all those who follow the Lord all the way.

**Smart Way to Get Forgiven*

         In today's Gospel reading from Luke 7, Jesus pardoned a sinful woman because of her faith in him. Jesus forgave her sins when she showed her great love for him. So love the Lord genuinely and you are forgiven—it can't be simpler! 

**Lukewarm Christians**

         The world is in horrible shape and we can trace all that to our unbelief in the God of Christ! That's right, you heard me. Let's just look at the Christians. When they try to help others out of kindness, many of them don't even bring Christ up as if he doesn't even exist. All of them know the first and greatest commandment about loving the Lord our God, but alas, following it seems to be a separate matter altogether.

**Respecting the Free Will

         The Lord God respects our free will, so should we. Therefore, we simply go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature, as instructed by the risen Lord to his disciples, as best as we can and leave the rest to God. This also also teach us not to judge others.

***Holy Communion Beautifully Defined***

        1 Corinthians 10:16, today's Communion antiphon: The chalice of blessing that we bless, is a communion in the Blood of Christ; and the bread that we break is a sharing in the Body of the Lord.

***This Vile Generation

          In today's Gospel reading from Luke 7, Jesus told the crowds what the people of their generation were like. He said to them, "John the Baptist came neither eating food nor drinking wine, and you said, 'He is possessed by a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said, 'Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.' I'd say that today our generation is also full of hypocrites: If they don't like you, they'd say only bad things about you, never the truth. You can spot them right away and they are to be pitied.  

**Only Christ Can Unburden Us**

         Last night I had trouble falling asleep, as a bunch of computer problems was on my mind. You see, after I transferred much of the data from my ten-year-old laptop to a new one, I found out that some of the files had contents missing. And I would still need the old computer, for one program would only work on it's operating system. Meanwhile, there's a separate monitor I use in conjunction with either laptop. So how to power and link them all together with the proper cable connectors became a challenge. It finally dawned to me that I should turn to Christ to put the problem in his hands—my job is simply to trust in him. I did that and my burden was gone, knowing that the issue would be solved in due time! I fell soundly asleep shortly afterwards—I should have realized that a lot sooner.

**Jesus' Command to Arise**

         In today's Gospel reading from Luke 7, Jesus journeyed to a city called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd accompanied him. As he drew near to the gate of the city, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, he was moved with pity for her and said to her, "Do not weep." He stepped forward and touched the coffin; at this the bearers halted, and he said, "Young man, I tell you, arise!" The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Now, we have not died yet, but if we were spiritually dead and pay attention, we should hear the Lord commanding us to "arise" also. And if we respond favorably, we become spiritually alive.

**Living Out Your Belief*

         The Lord God is all holy and almighty, so all things that are good for us are possible with him, for he loves us. Accordingly, we should live to show that we truly hold this belief.

***Eucharist, Our Most Endearing Gift***

         Communion experience. The time it takes for the consecrated host to dissolve in your mouth varies. Once I saw a picture of a host that had bled profusely and I was so overcome emotionally that at the next Mass, the host did not dissolve completely until twenty-two plus minutes later. I certainly got to savor the sweetness of Lord. On the contrary, this morning the host almost dissolved immediately on my tongue after I received it. I loved that too, for it showed that the Lord and I were eager to reunite again. 

**We Must Decrease**

        Again, we must live to glorify God alone and never ourselves, so focus only on him. When you think of doing something to glorify God, check your motivation, for it might be what YOU want to do and not God's will. Once at my previous church, I suggested a good book for the library collection, the priest liked it and ordered me to get a copy. Then the person in charge of he collection got upset, thinking that I was interfering with her ministry. Here's a case of being self-centered. Our motivation is pure only when we have no more ego and and seek only God's will. In John 3, when the disciples of John the Baptist asked him about Jesus, he said, "He must increase; I must decrease." So let's decrease to nothing so that we may feel the full presence of the Lord at all times. 

***Mary Is the Solution***

        A video about Maria. She can be our greatest help in making us love her Son. Loving Mary can not be separated from loving Jesus.