****How to Become Free****

         In today's Gospel reading from Luke 14, Jesus addressed the crowds on discipleship. He said, "If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple." In other words, we must follow only Jesus willingly. Since we can never get ahead of God, it'd be most wise to follow him close behind to remain with him always. This is exactly how we can become free, free of ourselves! Be last to God, and you'll be first.

*****Only True Belief*****

        The God of Christ is the only true God. The following highlights the uniqueness of Christianity no other religion of the world can come close! (1) God the Son personally came into the world as one of us so that we might know him. (2) His message is that he is pure selfless love. (3) He proved his love for us by sacrificing himself on the cross in our place to redeem us from sin so that we might have eternal life. (4) On the third day, he rosd from the dead and ascended into heaven. (5) This God is most humble and merciful that we may achieve spiritual union with him through the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.

***Do You Excuse Yourself Too?***

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 14, Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees. There he told the Parable of the Great Feast. It began this way. A man gave a great dinner to which he invited many. When the time for the dinner came, he dispatched his servant to say to those invited, "Come, everything is now ready."But one by one, they all began to excuse themselves. Today the Lord is inviting us to dine with him and be his friends so that we may learn the good news that can make us live happily forever. Yet the great majority of us not only don't give any excuses, but simply ignore the Lord's call. This is being extremely ignorant or dishonest, not realizing that being invited by the Lord to be his guest is one greatest honor and blessing! 

***Heart-to-Heart Union***

        Offer up your heart to Jesus. Once your heart is united with his Most Sacred Heart, you attain union with God!

***Most Fulfilling and Satisfying Experience***

        Communion experience. Receiving the Lord in the Holy Eucharist has freed me from the world; I now belong fully to Christ the Lord. It has to be the most fulfilling and satisfying experience of my whole existence so far. (The best is yet to come!) 

**Prophesy Fulfilled*

        Today's Communion antiphon, Psalm 16:11—You will show me the path of life, the fullness of joy in your presence, O Lord. Yes, the Lord has shown me the path of life, filling me with joy to the fullest in his presence.

****Serving the Lord for Free****

         This is today's entire Gospel reading from Luke 14: On a sabbath Jesus went to dine at the home of one of the leading Pharisees. He said to the host who invited him, "When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." This is the lesson to be learned. The Lord wants us to do good without expecting any repayment. Our focus is to love others for the sake of the Lord, nothing more. When we pray for others for their good, we want them to thank the Lord and not us—we are to remain anonymously in peace. When we forego all repayments in this life, the Lord is going to repay us in heaven without end!

***Are You Awake or Asleep?*

        If you truly realize that Jesus has died for your sins, you are awake and ready to embark on your journey towards heaven. On the other hand, if you don't care about the gospel at all, then you are asleep, basically regarding Jesus as having died on the cross for nothing. In this case, your self-pride has turned you into an ignorant, heartless fool. 

**All Planned Out**

        Today is All Souls Day to commemorate all the faithful departed. The Gospel acclamation, Matthew 25:34, reads, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father; inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." It's the Lord speaking—he has clearly planned all this from the very beginning, Perhaps he even had the earth all planned out just for this purpose. Anyway, to inherit the Kingdom he has prepared for us is the big thing! 

**Following the Saints**

        Today is the Solemnity of All Saints. Here's the offertory antiphon from Wisdom 3: The souls of the just are in the hand of God and no torment shall touch them. They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead, but they are in peace. Alleluia. Unlike non-believers, all of us who follow Christ likewise remain in peace, no longer experiencing any torment. Alleluia!

**To Be 'Tamed" by God*

        Since we have inherited the original sin, the tendency to sin is innate in us. It's like a wild animal that was born with the instinct to prey on other animals. If we love and train that animal right, there's a good chance of taming it. With us, we need God to "tame" us. We can accomplish this by opening up to him so that we may experience the greatest love from him. That should make us want to surrender ourselves to him and seek union with him. Once we attain union, we'll have a conscience so sharp that all sins become absolutely abhorrent to us! This should pretty much deters us from sinning again.

**Communicating with God, a Joy**

        Communicating with other fellow humans is not always easy. Sometimes it's not even possible no matter how hard you try. Now, communicating with the Lord God is an absolute delight, for you don't even need to use words and he already knows what's in your heart. He can never misunderstand you and will speak to your heart to inspire, illuminate, guide, or comfort you. 

*****God Becoming Real*****

         Since God is real, he can become real to you. Attain union with Christ through the Holy Eucharist and he becomes more real to you than anyone else you know. Such intimacy changes you to the core. All this proves that Christ is God.

**Bestest Prize*

        Communion experience. What I have won is infinitely better and richer than the lottery—ETERNAL LIFE!

***What God Wants of Us***

        The Lord God simply wants us to accept his love! Is this too much to ask, huh?

**Play the Ball Game Right*

        God respects our feee will, so the ball is in our court now. Choose him and we live. Reject him and we perish. This should now help you hit the ball the ball back right.

**Myopic and Dumb?*

        We are good at making sure that we remain physically healthy so that we may live as long as possible on earth. Yet we seem to be unconcerned about our spiritual well-being as to what will happen to our souls after we die. What has made us so myopic? Are we dumb or what?

**Intention Matters**

        In Matthew 5, Jesus said to his disciples: Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect. Of course, being mortal and on earth, we can never be as perfect as God is, but we must do the best we can. The Lord would be pleased if we have this intention. In Matthew 19, Jesus said to a young man: 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. Now, many of us are married and have a family to support, so the Lord's advice is not practical for us. But we should be willing to follow it if it were practical. Again, intention matters. The Lord will judge us by our intentions, not just our outward actions. Proverbs 16:2: All one’s ways are pure in one’s own eyes, but the measurer of motives is the LORD. Again, in 1 Samuel 16:7, the Lord said to Samuel: God does not see as a mortal, who sees the appearance. The LORD looks into the heart. Amen.