**Jesus Misunderstood*

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 9, the disciples of John the Baptist asked Jesus why they and the Pharisees fasted much, but his disciples did not. Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?" Indeed, when Jesus is with us, how can we not be joyful? That Jesus is a joy is most misunderstood by many. They think that the Lord would take away all their joys on earth if they submit themselves to him. On the contrary, the joy of knowing him not only delights the senses, but also satisfies the heart and soul. All other joys pass, while the joy of Jesus lasts forever! 

*To Become Free

        Communion experience. We become free when we are freed from sin. Jesus can take away not only our sins, but also our tendency to sin (as we enter deeper into union with him). In other words, only Jesus can truly set us free.

My Greatest Pity

        I feel sorry for people who encounter hardships in life, but I have the greatest pity for those who do not know Jesus, our Savior. My unceasing prayer is that every single soul on earth shall be saved by God for his glory.

*A Must-Ask Question*

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 9, people brought to Jesus a paralytic lying on a stretcher. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Courage, child, your sins are forgiven." To show that he had authority to forgive sins, he said to the paralytic, "Rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home." He rose and went home. This question rose in my mind: Are my sins forgiven? This is a key question each of us must ask because it deals with a business we must finish before we die or face possibly dire consequences.

To Know God Is Wisdom

        You can have a genius IQ, great intelligence, and a superior knowledge base but do not know God, then all you have means nothing. The wise one believes in and follows God, irrespective of everything else. At the end, he is the one to receive the reward from God. Clearly, to be wise is better than being brilliant anytime. 

Keeping the Soul Alive

        In our busy life, all the more we need to take breaks to spend time privately with God. A soul not connected to God is a dying soul.

*Letting God Do the Work

        We must trust in God to do all things for us. Going back into history, who would have known that Communism would collapse one day? It did happen (the Blessed Mother actually predicted the birth of Communism and its eventual collapse when she appeared at Fatima in 1917). Something like turning a whole country around away from corruption and hypocrisy seems like an almost impossible task, but if we pray hard and remain faithful, God will deliver what we ask for in time. Therefore, rely upon the Lord to accomplish all things for us, large and small. 

*Dance With God

        It takes two to tango, as the saying goes. God already loves you. To make beautiful things happen, you must love him back. 

***To Know Jesus

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 8, at the request of two demoniacs, Jesus drove the demons out of them and sent the demons into a herd of swine some distance away. The whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea where they drowned. When they came to the town, they reported everything. Thereupon the whole town came out to meet Jesus, but when they saw him they begged him to leave their district. People keep Jesus away because they do not truly know him and therefore are afraid of him. For anyone who wishes to know him, he must get to know him first with an open mind. Then the beautiful day will come when he can't help but fall in love with the Lord.

**Challenge for All Christians*

        It is easy to live mainly for ourselves and, if there's any time left, do something for the sake of God. This is a disorder. The proper, orderly way to live is to make serving God your top priority and all else secondary. The key to making this happen is surrendering yourself to God. How much you can reverse this situation depends upon how completely you surrender yourself. If God is unavoidable, then so is surrendering to him.  

**Being Imperfect Is OK

        We want to be perfect for God, but we fall short constantly. Do not let this bother you, for the very reason you wish to be perfect is because you are imperfect and you love God. And to God, intention is what matters the most. Trust in him all along and you'll definitely become less and less imperfect. 

***Beyond Believing

        Once you have believed in the Lord, you must proceed to get to know him as well as possible. This is opening yourself up to him until it becomes completely comfortable for him to dwell within your heart. Now, blessed once more are those who have believed and achieved union with the Lord.     

Most Beautiful Faith

        Today is the Feast of St. Thomas, Apostle. From John 29, we heard read that after Thomas saw the mark of the nails in Jesus hands and put his finger into the nailmarks and put his hand into his side, he believed that the Lord had indeed risen from the dead. Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed. The most beautiful faith is to believe without question like a child. This makes blessed living!

Belonging to God

        Communion experience. Jesus is the Lord of my life, the Lord of my soul, the Lord of my heart, the Lord of my whole being. I belong to him.

*To Be Truly Trustworthy

        In Luke 16, Jesus said to his disciples, "The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones." The converse may be false, for a person trustworthy in great matters may not care about very small matters. To be perfect, we must be trustworthy in all matters.  

**Christians' Shortcoming

        To possess the Lord, you need look for him so that you may hear his call, and then have the humility to yield to him once you've heard his voice – a two-step process. The trouble with most of the Christians today is that they have not yet completed the second step, for they still carry on their daily living as usual, not even making any eye contact with him, so to speak; whereas they should be aware of his holy loving presence at all times.

**How to Follow God Rightly*

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 8, a disciple of Jesus who would follow him said to him, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father." But Jesus answered him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead." In Luke 9, another would-be follower said, "I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family at home. Jesus said to him, "No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God." Wow, but I think you get his point. We are to be detached from everything of the world, follow him, and never look back. The Lord absolutely deserves our undivided devotion. He was revealing to us the sure way of entering his kingdom. He should be our foremost (and only) choice to follow.

*Our Lonely Existence

        We came into this world all by ourselves and we'll leave this world by ourselves. When we face the Lord, we'll be on our own again. The only one we can truly rely upon would be God our creator, so start leaning upon him now.