Faith that Amazes God

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 8, we heard the story of the healing of a centurion's servant. A centurion approached Jesus and appealed to him, saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully." Jesus said to him, "I will come and cure him." The centurion replied, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed." When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, "Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith." Today, we all say these words of this centurion for our soul before receiving the Lord in Holy Communion. If we say them sincerely from the heart, we can amaze the Lord too! 

*Be Fearless Now

        From Isaiah 35, part of today's entrance antiphon: Behold, our Savior will come; you need no longer fear. Jesus did come, fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy. Now what he had said is valid for us today, for Jesus will come again. And it is a good reason for us to remain fearless, for he will come to fulfill all our hopes.

**Appreciating God's Love for Us

        Since God loves us infinitely more than we can possibly realize, the pain he feels when we reject him and the joy he feels when we accept him are also infinitely greater than we can possibly realize. Understanding this should help us appreciate his love for us more.

***Sad State of the Church***

        Two huge crises the Church faces today. (1) The slaughter of the unborn goes on worldwide nonstop. (2) 70% of U.S. Catholics do not know that the Lord is truly present in the Holy Eucharist. They claim that no one ever told them. The Church has failed miserably in teaching her flock and in saving souls, yet we do not hear from the hierarchy addressing these urgent issues. Why can't the bishops say or do something if the Pope remains silent? Why can't the priests say or do something if the bishops remain quiet? It is bewildering and frustrating to many of the faithful who are crying out aloud to the Lord for mercy. 

***Nonsecret to Holiness

        As I have pointed out many times in the past, telling someone to do this or to do that to become a holier person never works. It is a waste of time. We must get Christ involved! Let all know that he can make us holy; he can completely change us; easy, if we'll let him do it for us! This is so common sense, yet many do not see it, so they so not preach it. No Christ, no power, as simple as that. The Lord is ready, we are the ones who do not hear him or go after him.

Blessed Virgin Mary Remembered

        I thought of Mary our Holy Mother today. How could we not love her if we love Jesus? Jesus loves and honors her and she surely loves him more than any of us. Besides, conceived without sin, she is the holiest of all saints. I want my Protestant brothers and sisters to know that we Catholics do not worship her, but we surely venerate and love her as our dearest mother. 

*Wasting Our Lifetime

        While I was exercising on a treadmill at the gym this morning, the mundane background music played on. It was the aimless singing of some group. My thought was that most people are doing something to pass the time, not aiming at glorifying God in particular. Perhaps they will turn to God in the last moments of their life, which is a blessing. The tragedy is that by then they will have wasted almost all of their lifetime. 

*Amazing Lord

        God is amazing in that he not only created our physical universe and all the living beings, he is also love, fighting evil and trying to save us. It is like he is the master in two entirely different domains. The fact of the matter is that he is the Lord of all.

***Heart for God

        Believe in and love the Lord with all your heart. Worship, adore, and praise him from your heart. Thank him from the bottom of your heart always. Speak to him from your heart and he hears you. Give your heart to him, letting him keep it pure and fill it with his love. Surrender yourself to him with all your heart to be one with him. He now dwells in you and you hear his voice in your heart. The Lord becomes your eternal guide and protector. The heart does it all!

*The Process of Love

        We do not deserve God's love. His unconditional love searches us out. We are deeply moved when we open our heart. This infinite love overcomes us and makes us anew. We become like him!

***Highest Honor

         In the Gospel reading from Matthew 4, Jesus called first Peter and his brother Andrew, and then James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John to go after him. There is no higher honor than being called by the Lord to follow him, for you know that you are destined to go to heaven!     

*Key Humility

        Today is the Feast of St. Andrew, Apostle. From the first reading from Romans 10, Paul wrote: For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Believe in the Lord is the first step, then we must call on him from the heart, the key humility we need to be saved. This seems to be the step that many hearts stop short of taking.

***God's Enemy in Us

        Many things make us feel unhappy. We are justified in feeling unhappy when we see how people do bad things to others, whether it affects us or not. Then we can also feel unhappy simply because things do not turn out the way we have wanted through no fault of anyone. This is where we should be concerned, for it reveals that we still have that ugly ego in us. So the next time you feel unhappy, examine yourself to see if your ego is in play. It is always the ego that robs us of inner peace. We cannot serve both God and ego.

***How to Become Holy

        We all carry the original sin. The urge to sin is always there and we are vulnerable to all kinds of temptations. I see that the only way to safeguard our soul is to follow Christ singularly. When we are filled or become one with the Lord, there is just no room for anything else anymore. We do not fundamental change, as without him, we easily revert to sinning again. It'll be like this before we enter heaven. So let the Lord "transform" us by letting him occupy us and shield us from all evil. And this calls for our complete surrender to him first.

Innermost Longing Fulfilled

        Yesterday's Communion experience. Believing in Christ fulfills our innermost longing to attain eternal joy.

***Salvation Is Easy!

        At the Thanksgiving Day Mass yesterday, the Gospel reading came from Luke 17. Ten lepers asked Jesus to heal them. Jesus sent them to the priests and they were cleansed on their way. One of the ten, realizing that he had been healed, returned to Jesus, fell at his feet and thanked him. Jesus responded, "Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?" He then said to him, "Stand up and go; your faith has saved you." This former leper just believed in the Lord was saved! I also recall that one of the two thieves crucified along with Jesus asked the Lord to remember him when he came into his kingdom. Jesus replied, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." These two instances show how easy it is to be saved! If you close your mind and do not believe that Christ can save you, that's definitely making a big mistake.

***Dumbest Sinners

        Evildoers are the dumbest people around. They want to get their way always, forgetting that they are condemning themselves to hell if they do not turn around. Jesus asked, "What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?" Hypocrites are aplenty today among our elected politicians. They do not perceive the wooden beam in their own eye, but notice the splinter in other's (Matthew 7.3). Worse yet, they even manufacture faults in others, directly violating God's commandment "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." The Lord who is love and the truth detests hypocrisy. So hypocrites are equally dumb. 

*Our Foremost Obligation

        Communion experience. I was unworthy to receive the Lord. I did, because he called me to his table. Obedience to him must be our foremost obligation. When you obey the Lord, you get that sense of great fulfillment and feel peace.