**Becoming Free of the Past

        Because wildfire smoke has polluted the air outdoors, I've been doing my daily walk inside the house. This morning I noticed the tiled floor I was walking on and recalled the unpleasant experience I had with the tile layer over a decade ago. He was a personable, cordial young man. Immediately after the job was done, I had to get him back to replace some cracked tiles. He showed up, no problem. I trusted in him and wasn't even around when he finished the repairs and left. After I got home, I noticed that the long extension ladder in my garage was gone. This ladder belonged to a handyman who was still doing work around the house. I was puzzled. Luckily, my son's camera at the gate had recorded all the people who entered and left our property that day. The recording showed that the ladder was on the truck of my tile guy on his way out. Of course, we confronted him and got the ladder back. I didn't press charges against him though. Incidents such as this one tend to stick in one's memory. Then I saw that I must let the Lord truly be my refuge. Then I would not look back on the past anymore—he must now occupy my mind my entire life. This is how we become free of the past.

**Not of Our Concern

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 20, we have the parable of the workers of the vineyard. In it, all workers hired at different times of the day got paid the same at the end of the day, and this made the ones hired first unhappy. Jesus concluded the parable by saying: "Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last." What I learned here was that the Lord wants us to serve him well and not be concerned about whether we get rewarded first or last, or the most or the least. Getting rewarded by him alone is good enough. Jealousy has no place when you work for the Lord. If you want to get to heaven ahead of all others who go there, you may not even make it.

**Power of God's Word

        Today's Gospel acclamation, Hebrew 4:12. "The word of God is living and effective, able to discern the reflections and thoughts of the heart." In Matthew 4, Jesus said to the tempter, quoting from Deuteronomy 8, "It is written: 'One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.'" John 14:23: "Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him." May I add that being attentive to the word of God can totally transform us; we come to know the Lord and ourselves thoroughly. And it's by the word of God that we are drawn into union with the Word, our God.

*****Trust in God's Saving Power

         We are now anticipating the Illumination of Conscience to take place any day now. It should be obvious that God can make you see your own conscience clearly no matter what mental or physical condition you are in. I've heard about people who just before they died were given one more chance by God to see their sins and repent. The Lord really wants to save everyone. I've mentioned visiting someone recently in a coma and dying. When I prayed aloud, repenting our sins and asking the Lord to forgive us, and told him that we loved him . . . that person opened his eyes once and started moving his lips as if he's praying too. It's possible that he was receiving that last grace from the Lord. So my advice is never stop praying for anyone even if it seems that the person's mind is gone. The Lord God can always make that person see what he wishes him or her to see! Trust in God fully and leave the salvation to him. 

***Soul over All Else***

        As usual, wildfires have spread across the state due to extreme dry conditions. Residents of some neighboring counties have had to evacuate from their homes. One fire started just 30 miles away from here. Today the sun seen through the smoke and haze is all red again. If a fire threatens your home, you pretty much have to leave all material possessions behind and run. I'll probably grab my laptop first. Then, even if you are not threatened in any way like this in your lifetime, you still must leave everything behind when you die. In Matthew 10:28, Jesus said to the Twelve, "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna." Avoid wild fires if you can, but never ever fall into the fires of hell. Material things you can let go, but never your own soul because it's treasured by God!

***Crucifixion Not to Be Ignored***

        Jesus did die on the cross. Did he really die for our sins? If you are aware that you are a sinner, then you must look into this, for it could make your life meaningful for all eternity. There are already multitudes of us who can testify to you that Christ is the true God and are willing to even die for him, for his love is that great. As far as I know, he is the only person impossible to dismiss, for he created us and will judge us after we die. (If you are smart, you would become one with him now and banish all worries from now on. This may sound too good to be true, but truth sounds good because it is true.) 

***God's Amazing Mercy*

        Today Tuesday I prayed the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary. The last decade was on the Crucifixion. Two criminals were crucified alongside of Jesus. One of them hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us.” The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, "Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? We have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal." The he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied to him, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." Here we see the amazing mercy of Jesus. This criminal reconciled himself to God was instantly saved. I believe that his suffering on the cross was his purgatory. That's why he was able to be in Paradise with the Lord on the same day. 

***How God Sees

        Jesus said, "Whoever humbles himself will be exalted." Here is an interpretation of that: The more we see ourselves as nothing but wretched sinners, the more he sees that he can transform us into great saints.

**Beyond Keeping the Commandments*

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 19, a young man asked Jesus what he must do to gain eternal life. Jesus answered him, "If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments." He said to him, "All of them I have observed. What do I still lack?"Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." The young man heard the statement and went away sad, for he had many possessions. So, observing the commandments is a start; to be perfect, you must become detached from all material possessions—actually, from everything except the the Lord. We are not perfect until we become like the Lord. And we become like the Lord when we submit ourselves completely to him. 

**Secret of Making Peace

        "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." This is one of the Beatitudes given to us by Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount. Surely, making peace should include making peace with yourself. Actually, make peace with the Lord first and you'll have peace with everyone else, yourself included. 

***Adoration Flash Mob

         Very cool. This happened in Preston, UK. Some people chose to kneel, while others didn't. You'll see a separation at the Second Coming of Christ too. Except this time the Lord will do the choosing.

***God Needs Our Prayer

        Heaven has been urging us to pray, pray, and pray at times like these. And I think we should sacrifice to pray as much as possible. When we pray more, we might just be able to lessen the severity or eliminate some of the chastisements on God's calendar. Right now, the Lord needs us to pray for him. You mean God needs our help? Yes, because he's trying to save all of us who have turned away from him! How well we cooperate with him will determine how well he can save us. 

**Our First Order of Business

        Today is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Communion experience. I felt that God the Father absolutely treasured us, so we must take the utmost care of our souls. It should be our first order of business.

**Know Who Jesus Is

         It is extremely important to know who Jesus is. He is not only a good man and a great teacher, he is also God, our creator and our Savior. If you believe all this, then you should treat him exactly as such. And you'll be rewarded amply by him.

*Wickedness = Stupidity

        Evildoers blinded by wickedness no longer see the truth. Satan knows that he can never win against God, yet he desperately fights on. Conclusion: evildoers are basically dumb. So we needn't be afraid of them at all. Instead, we should pity and pray for their conversion.

**Burdens on Your Soul

        Back to the Basics. If you do not have inner peace, that's because you have not repented of your sins to God to have them removed yet. Sins are burdens on your soul and heart. One who has his sins all forgiven by God is a new creature, for his soul and heart are no longer burdened. Now he feels free and experiences peace.

**Our Need for Humility

        Jesus, God the Son, came to us on earth. He, being God, created us and knows everything about anything, the past, the present, and what's going to come. Compare to what he knows, we know absolutely nothing! Yet we often behave as if we know more than he. This is being absurd and out of order. But if we are humble enough to realize that we can only know what he allow us to know, that is, recognizing our place before him, then we are back in his favor. Humility is a powerful virtue. It restores our relationship with God, enabling us to get all the way into heaven. So vanquish your pride with humility.

****On Verge of Self-Destruction

        In these dark, evil days, one blessing I see is that we finally realize that the only necessary, sensible, and righteous choice for us to make is to surrender ourselves to God completely. There is not another way out of our predicament, quandary, or the mess we're in due to the lack of faith in God. We are on the precipice of self-destruction unless we turn to God and convert. If you see this, then you see hope.