**Family Unity

        Do you ever notice that the members of a family that never talks about God can get along with each other quite well, while a family with only some members who are faithful Christians is usually divided? Only families that are all strong Christians have the greatest unity and love for each other. All this tells us something.

***Reality Check

        Let's take an honest look at ourselves. Our biggest problem is sin, a problem we have inherited. Sin has caused wars, infidelity, lying, cheating, greed, abortion, destruction of the family, and all kinds of corruption and disorder. To solve this immense problem and save ourselves, we need God, the God who loves us and has given us a Savior. This is our own way out, whether you realize it or not! Life is short, but it does give us enough time to wake up, repent, and save our souls for all eternity. This is what matters the most. I sincerely hope that this honest look at reality will help those who are asleep or on the borderline to head in the right direction for their own sake.  

*****Our Final Settlement

        St. Augustine has said that God has made us for himself so that our hearts are restless until they rest in him. I really feel that nothing about us is settled until we have personally surrendered ourselves to God. When God truly becomes our Lord, we'll experience peace, freedom, and order in our lives.

****Prayer We Need to Say Most*

        I have heard prayers of the faithful said at Mass for the Pope, the bishops, the world, the sick, the jobless, etc. The prayer I really like to hear said is most fundamental and also what we need to say the most. It is praying that we may surrender ourselves completely to God to become obedient to him in all things. This may sound extreme, but you don't want to be lukewarm, do you?

**Choices Available to Us

        (1) The God of Christ is the truth and is trustworthy. (2) I believe in myself, for I know best. (3) I can find a better "God" more to my liking. (4) I don't know what to do.

**God Calling for Laborers

        The Lord called the twelve Apostles in his day. Today he is calling everyone, for the need for laborers to harvest souls for him is greater than ever. I see working for the Lord as the most constructive way of living. By the same token, working for yourself is destructive to your own soul. You work for either God or yourself.

***God and Us*

        God is holy and we are not. We can obey him or rebel against him. To whatever we do to him, he always reacts with love, for he is love. We get condemned only by our own choice. This we need to know.

***Amazing Obedience***

        It's Friday again and I thought about the Passion of Christ. Jesus did suffer horribly, but I am amazed that he suffered willingly, never raised any objection, and even forgave those who crucified him. In other words, he followed the Father's will to perfection—this to me is the amazing part! He's no ordinary man for sure.                     

*Love and Hate Mutually Exclusive

        Christ is all love. If we are filled with him, it won't be possible for us to hate anybody. If one knows God's love, he or she would never consider aborting an unborn child. Those who say that they love God but still hate someone are basically hypocrites.

***The Lord Challenging Us

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 16, Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." We are being challenged again. It's either Christ or no life. Jesus is good at placing the ball in our court, making us work out our choice. Know that if we make the seemingly difficult but sensible choice, the reward will always be tremendous! How hard the decision is to make is irrelevant. Instead we should focus only upon the consequences of our decision.

*Know that God Is Lord

        Today's responsorial psalm response from Deuteronomy 32: It is I who deal death and giver life. It is undeniable that God is in charge of our life and our death. Then we have no choice but to accept him willingly as our creator, our judge, and our savior. In other words God must be our Lord

**How God Speaks to Us

        When God speaks to you, he's alway gentle and with love. He never touches your free will, so you are free to respond any way you choose. If you say yes to him, it will entirely be of your own volition, for he never oppresses you. 

***Die so You'll Live

         If we die to ourselves and live for Christ, we'll die and live forever. But if we live for ourselves only, we'll die and never live again. 

***Underlying Prayer Motivation*****

        When you pray, your motivation should always be allowing the Lord to do whatever he wishes and that you give him your full support. Submission is what he needs the most from us, not petitioning for this or that. By trusting in him and being willing to follow him, we make it easiest for him to conquer evil and bring peace to our hearts.   

**Jesus Is the Light

         Communion experience. Once you have the Lord with you, he is so dazzling that all things around fade away.

***God's Drawing Power

        Things of the world can never satisfy us fully. For example, I enjoy listening to great music. But if I listen to it nonstop, I get tired and would want to stop listening for a while. Eating something you enjoy is another example. Eating too much of it and you don't want to touch it anymore. Knowing Christ provides the greatest contrast. The more you enjoy him, the more you want to enjoy him, for he continues refreshing, renewing, inspiring, and cleansing you. Such is God's drawing power.

***Simple Rule to Remember

        Also in today's Gospel reading from Matthew 16, when Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly and be killed and on the third day be raised, Peter began to rebuke him, "God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you." He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do." Lesson learned. God always knows what he is doing. We may not understand, but we must always follow along and never question. Saying no to God is a no-no.

****Revelation from God Needed

        Today is the memorial of St. John Vianney. In the Gospel reading from Matthew 16, Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter said in reply, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father." In my early days, I came to believe in Jesus after I read and heard a lot about him. It's my intellectual conviction and spiritual thirst that made me decide to accept him. Of course, I now see the truth without a doubt, for I have opened up to him and he has made himself more real to me than anyone else I now see, hear, or touch. It is important that we remain open to the Lord to receive revelations from him so that our faith may become super strong.