**Fooling the Lord

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 14, Jesus tells the parable of the great feast. It illustrates the point that God invites many to dine in his kingdom, but one by one they excuse themselves, giving some reason for not being able to attend the feast. It is absolutely true that many are called, but few pay attention. If you turn Christ down for some reason, are you being truthful? If not, then you  are merely trying to fool the Lord, which only a fool would do.

Easily Overlooked Sin

         Here's today's Gospel reading from Luke 14:

         On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees. He said to the host who invited him, "When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

         The clear lesson here is that when we are being kind to others, we should do it for the Lord's sake and not expect to receive repayment. This would be true charity. Do anything to get ourselves recognized or appreciated is a sin that is often easily overlooked.

Truth Prevailing

        Jesus said in John 8, "If you remain in my word, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." My testimony is that when you get to know the Lord intimately, you just know that he is the truth because he reveals it to you "automatically."

All About Life

        To be deep in Christ is to have life, life eternal, for he is the source of all life and is our life.

Resting in Christ

        Matthew 11.28: Jesus says, Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. This is one of his well-known sayings familiar to many. I am quoting it now because his promise is true, for when I rest (let go) in him, he does the work for me and I experience rest (peace).

Action and Reaction

         Communion experience. Humble yourself before Christ to the max and he will exalt you to the max.        

*Always Merciful

        Witness the Christians who have lost their lives throughout history because of their faith. We get rejected by others often in this world for various reasons, but God who loves us will never reject us. When we reject him, we reject ourselves, but he remains open to us as long as we are still living on earth.

**God Alone

        Today's Gospel acclamation from Matthew 23: You have but one Father in heaven and one master, the Christ. Therefore, obey God alone in this life (and everything should turn out fine). In fact, we should live for him, die for him, serve him, glorify him, please him, and care only about what he thinks about us alone.

*No Longer Smart

        Smart persons tend to think that they know more than God. When that happens, they are no longer smart. 

*Division on Earth

        In Luke 12, Jesus says, Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three.... This is reality as I notice that among all the families of my parish, few of them still have their grown-up children remaining faithful within the Church. If Christ were just a man, this wouldn't have mattered much. But since he is also God, the division makes all the difference, for it comes down to a clear separation between believers and nonbelievers. Believers must expect to be rejected, ridiculed, or accused in such a divided world. Nevertheless, they should continue rejoicing, for they are being persecuted on account of Christ.

*Letting God Initiate All Things

        Today's Communion antiphon, John 15.16: It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. It seems to me that when we pray for the conversion of someone, we should pray that God would chose that person. That is, we ask the Lord to initiate things. The dramatic conversion of St. Paul was a great example.

Heal All of Us, Lord!

        Communion experience. The Lord forgave all my sins and healed my wounds, but I thought of those I might have harmed in the past through my fault. So I asked the Lord to heal them as well, for this was important to me.

Christ My Guiding Light

        The world is so dark that Christ our light appears more beautiful than ever. I rejoice that I have him as my shining beacon.

God Our Last Resort

        Today's entrance antiphon from Psalm 105: Let the hearts that seek the Lord rejoice; turn to the Lord and his strength; constantly seek his face. These verses were timely for me to read, for I had a burden that only the Lord could remove from my heart. This is the God with whom nothing is impossible. It is good that when I feel hopeless in solving a problem, I can turn to the Father who can and will take care of it one way or another. I truly felt today that was what God was for. Praise him!

Special Love for God

        Communion experience. I felt a great love for the Lord for being able to change me and making me holier. 

**Challenging Message

        Today is All Souls Day. From the Gospel reading from John 6: Jesus said to the crowds, "This is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day." The message is plain and clear. If you have no proof that he is lying to you, then you have no choice but to believe in him with all your heart. 

God Perfecting Us

        Communion experience. This was receiving the Lord who can make you perfect! He'd make you to be like him to see things his way! It should be most exciting!

Our Ultimate Concern

        The latest shocking news is the terror attack that took place in New York City in which a suspect drove a truck through people, killing 8 and injuring 11. It's easy not to expect something like that to happen to you, since you are in an entirely different location. But all these things happen unexpectedly. The victims this time didn't expect that they would be struck either. May I mention that the coming of Christ will also happen at an unexpected time. The best policy and wise plan is to be prepared always: when you are ready to meet God, you may ease your mind over all other concerns.