**One Thing You always Do**

        Be happy or sad about many of the things you encounter, but rejoice always in Christ the Lord.

**How to Be Perfect**

         Today's Gospel acclamation, 1 John 2.5a: Whoever keeps the word of Christ, the love of God is truly perfected in him. Keep the word of Christ and you are perfect!

***Best Gift for LORD***

        Communion experience. The Lord gave all of himself to me. What could I possibly give to him in return? I asked him what he wanted from me. I heard him say, "Just follow me." I understood that surrendering to him was what he wanted.

***Genuine Joy Insuppressible***

        When a person is genuinely happy, he would want the whole world to share that joy. So if you're happy about something but wishes to keep it a secret, you can't be truly happy. For the Christian, if you don't share Christ with others much, you can't be too exited about the Lord.

**The Joy of Repentance**

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 15, Jesus said to the Pharisees and scribes, "There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance." When you repent, knowing that you make the whole heaven rejoice should at least double or triple your own joy! So repent unceasingly if you do sin or you'll be known as a party pooper! 

**Unfathomable Peace!**

        In today's reading 1 from Romans 14, Paul wrote, "Whether we live or die, we are the Lord's." Once you belong to Christ, you are his forever! The peace this feeling brings is unfathomable. Just for that, you need to know the Lord.

***Dangerous World*

         This secular world is dangerous to those who do not know Christ or have rejected him, for they have no truth to guide them. If they do not control or limit their pride, they easily fall into sin, and over time no longer feel the need to repent any sin anymore. Now they are on the way to becoming lost souls.

****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.