**Holding onto Ourselves

        We forget that God is all-powerful and we are weak, so we still hold onto ourselves tightly, even in loving God, instead of seeking power from the Lord to help us accomplish all things. Letting go of ourselves can be so tough!

***Secret to Entering Heaven

        The Gospel reading came from Matthew 7. In it, Jesus said to his disciples: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven." So the "secret" to getting into heaven is to do the will of the Father–so simple. Attain union with God and you'll know and want to do his will.

*Cure for Moodiness

        If you get moody sometimes and don't enjoy that, Christ is your answer. Once you attain union with him, you'll never feel gloomy, depressed, or ill-humored again.  

***Act of Creation Witnessed

        Today's Gospel reading from Matthew 15. Jesus miraculously multiplied seven loaves of bread and a few fish to feed the hungry crowd of four thousand that had followed him for three days. After they all ate, they picked up the fragments left over—seven baskets full. Here Jesus produced bread and fish out of nowhere—it was an act of creation by God! 

**Our Greatest Revelation*

        Today's entrance antiphon, based upon 1 Corinthians 4.5: The Lord will illumine what is hidden in darkness and reveal himself to all the nations. I feel so blessed that Christ had already come and revealed himself to us. Now we know how much the Lord loves us and wants to save us from sin. This has to be the greatest revelation from God to mankind.

**Most Satisfying Breakthrough*

        I started watching a Netflix film on human creativity. The creative people seek new ideas, break new grounds, explore new areas, and come up with new creations or new ways of doing old things. During the process, they experience transformation as they discover themselves and realize their own potential. Basically, I see them having a number of breakthroughs. Then I realized that I had the biggest out-of-the-world breakthrough—that was becoming one with the living God and my creator! This is the only breakthrough that enables us to break out of our earthly prison, while all other breakthroughs still keep us earthbound. 

***To Know or to Know About Christ

        I am sure you know the difference between knowing Christ and knowing about Christ. I had a tour guide in Holy Land once. He knew all about the Gospels and Jesus, but he was and remained a Moroccan Jew. I thought about preaching Christ and preaching about Christ—here's a difference too. It's easy to preach about him without knowing him. But if you know him, you can't help but want to preach him!

**The Desire to Proclaim Christ

        Today's Communion antiphon, Matthew 10.27: What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light, says the Lord, what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. The Lord now speaks to my heart in the darkness or the light. Even in the early days when I did not hear from him as much as now, he blessed me with the desire to proclaim him by giving testimonies to others. At one time, I was traveling and reached a high point among the hills. I stopped, got out of my car, and saw a whole range of hilltops in front of me. I had the desire to get on top of the tallest one and proclaim Christ as loud as I possibly could, for the hills would surely echo my message around the whole world. This desire has been a great joy and sustained me all these years, even though I feel the pain whenever I am not able to talk about the Lord or share him with others. That he has called me is beyond doubt.

*Love's Ultimate Concern*

        Someone I know, a non-Christian, just suffered a stroke. Naturally, her family showed up to support and console her at the hospital. They prepared special food items she liked and did other things to make her happy. Many of her friends also visited her to talk to her or just to keep her company. All this outpouring of love is laudable, but I just can't help thinking that doing all this is limited if no one, not even any of her Christian friends, mentions Christ or prays with her. We can do everything to make someone happy in this life, but not try to bring the person to Christ to receive true joy now and for all eternity. Is this really doing the person a favor? True love behooves us to be concerned about the others' soul!

**Keeping Distance from God*

        Whether we believe in the God or not, we tend to keep our distance from him. It is true that God is to be feared, but not for the wrong reason. Nonbelievers keep their distance from God because they do not want to be exposed to him, understandable. But those who believe and still keep some distance from God are surprisingly doing it for the same reason! As believers, they are still afraid to give themselves up completely to God. Know that with God, being lukewarm is worse than being out. Abandon yourself totally to him is the way to go.

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.