*God's Unique Authority

       In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 9, Jesus healed a woman with a severe hemorrhage and revived an official's daughter everyone thought had died. We pray to God directly or in the name of Christ for others to be healed, but Jesus healed others directly by command. In fact, he always taught others and performed miracles with great authority – there is not another person like him in mankind's entire history. He is unique as God alone is unique.  

Time to Get Personal

        God has already come down to earth to die for you in person for the sake of saving you. Now it's time for you to get personal with him if you truly have a heart.

Secret of Spiritual Freedom

        Build a wall around you to keep God out and you become your own prisoner. Tear the wall down and seek union with the Lord and you'll be living in complete spiritual freedom. 

***Hypocrisy and Ego

        Hypocrisy is the result of having an ego. The prime examples are the Pharisees and scribes as singled out by Christ in his days. Today, we have our politicians, just as bad or even worse. There are also eloquent Christian preachers and ministers who attract large followings. The fact that some of them still have a big ego shows up when they profit greatly from their work or, in the case of Catholic priests, refuse to submit themselves to their superiors. When I see that, all their preaching just seems to be so much hot air. Ego and humility cannot coexist. Hypocrisy comes from the lack of humility. Any religion that does not teach you to be humble cannot be genuine. Broadly speaking, if we do not follow Christ, we remain hypocrites!

***Warning! Chasm Ahead***

        Today the Lord placed Luke 12.51-51 in my heart. Jesus said to his disciples, "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; a father will be divided against his son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter against her mother-in-law." Jesus is the one by whom we'll be judged – either we are with him or we are against him, for he is the truth. This division remains to this day. It is temporary in this life, but if we do not heed him, it becomes an eternal chasm between you and God. Do not let this happen to you! Do not let it happen! Do not let it happen!

***A Huge Thing!

        Communion revelation. Jesus baptizes us in the Holy Spirit and the Spirit is ours. When we follow Jesus, his Father becomes our Father. And Jesus enters us in Holy Communion and we are one with him. It's such a humbling and glorious experience to know that the Triune God dwells with us and in us and that we are set for eternity! 

***God Most Incredible

       Communion revelation. It's not just anyone entering me; it's the Lord, my creator the infinite God, entering me, a finite mortal, filling me with himself and making me immortal! It's hard to get over this! Like St. Thomas overwhelmed, all I could say was "My Lord and my God." No words could express how incredible my God is.

***Secret of Following God

        You take your spiritual journey by yourself and the road is bumpy. Then you take it through the roof by surrendering yourself to God altogether, and your journey becomes smooth and easy. Not only you let God lead the way, you now let him carry you too!

**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.