***Critically Important to Realize!**

        Today's Gospel Acclamation from Luke 19: The Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost. If you know that you are lost, then Jesus is for you. This is all there is to it.

**Foreknowledge

        Communion experience. I know that one day in Christ, I'll understand everything.

***Faith and Healing**

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 18, as Jesus approached Jericho and was passing by a beggar, the man shouted, "Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!" Jesus stopped and asked him, "What do you want me to do for you?" He replied, "Lord, please let me see." Jesus told him, "Have sight; your faith has saved you." He immediately received his sight and followed him, giving glory to God. This is how faith works in healing. We must not assume that the Lord will heal every little health problem we have. Normally, if it's something that's not that severe and/or will heal naturally in time, we ought not bother the Lord. But if it's something that's critical and really needs God's help, then it's proper to ask for healing outright without hesitation.

**Matching the Lord's Offering**

         Today's response from Psalm 119: Give me life, O Lord, and I will do your commands. In John 15:13, Jesus said, "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." Now, Jesus has shown his greatest love by laying down his life for us so that we may have life, we really ought to look forward to doing his commands with zeal and joy!

***Beauty in Plain Sight***

         I just found this post in drafts which I initiated two years ago but didn't get published. I recall that's because I didn't know how to include a photo image. Here it is now. I've been photographing with my cell phone since 2013 and have photographed hundreds of images of ordinary sights or things most people do not notice. At the time, I was attending daily Mass at Mount St. Joseph Seminary in Loomis, CA. One rainy morning after Mass, I saw this beautiful image reflected in a large puddle of rainwater in the seminary parking lot. Of course, what your see is that image turned upside down. God's beauty is everywhere!

**No Double Standard

        We easily notice others' faults and hardly our own. To be fair, we should examine ourselves at least as rigorously as we do others. On the other hand, we should just focus upon perfecting ourselves first.

**God Is Perfectly Just**

         Today's response from Psalm 98: The Lord comes to rule the earth with justice. Yes, we should trust in the Lord's justice, pray as best as we can for all sinners and accept the outcome of his judgment on any of us in the end. Worrying about it simply shows the lack of our trust in the Lord.

***Unique True Love***

        This is the love we have for God. It's essentially his love. It's different from any other kind of "love" we feel, being pure and completely selfless, and involving both the heart and the soul. As a matter of fact, it alone qualifies as true love.

**Becoming Unchosen**

        In John 15:16, Jesus says, "It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you." The Lord has chosen many of us, but many have turned him down. Not only they won't bear any good fruit, but also lose the benefit of receiving whatever they ask the Father in Jesus' name. They are now orphans.

***Constant Prayer Indespensable*

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 18, Jesus revealed to his disciples the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary. To live a Christian life is to live a life of prayer. It's essential that we communicate with the Lord honestly from the heart at all times so that we may get to know him most intimately and grow to become like him. It is through prayer that we can attain union of the hearts with the Lord!  

**Appreciating My Own Existence*

         Today I became acutely aware that the Lord God, our heavenly Father, indeed created me out of love. So I am a special, unique creature to him whose sole intent now is to save me from sin and death. And I greatly rejoicing in that!  

*****Prepare Now or Perish*****

         In today's Gospel reading from Luke 17, Jesus told his disciples about the day of his next coming. These sayings of his are most poignant: "I tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed; one will be taken, the other left. And there will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken, the other left." This will be either your day of the greatest unification with God or your day of the greatest separation from him. Plan ahead now to be ready, for his coming can happen at any time!

**Attitude of a Believer**

         We cannot possibly outdo God in any way. As a matter of fact, I see the Lord doing everything good for us when we "allow" him. It'd be wise and proper for us to remain receptive to whatever he sends our way, trusting that he'll always bestow what's best upon us.

***Best Thing to Ask of the Lord***

         This verse from Psalm 27 seems to come up at Mass often and is beautiful. Today it was one of the two recommended Communion antiphons. It reads: One thing I ask of the LORD; this I seek: To dwell in the LORD’s house all the days of my life. To dwell in the Lord's house is to be with the Lord and serve him; we are now totally under his care, protected from all evil, and destined to be with him forever! Basically, we are back home with the Father who always loves us! There's nothing more we can ask for. 

***More Reason to Want to Go to Heaven**

        It is the will of our heavenly Father that we all get to heaven so that we may be happy for all eternity. In this life, it's the prevalence of sin that causes all our unhappiness! All the more we should want to go to heaven, for there we'll be perfected by the Lord and sin no more!

***Radical Message Perfect for Us***

        Matthew 10:39, today's Communion antiphon, reads: Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it in eternity, says the Lord. So live for Christ's sake and not for ourselves. This radical shift is what we need to follow to stop sinning and become holy, to leave hell behind and head straight for heaven. It's letting the Lord properly be our Lord.   

**Essential Prayer for All Christians*

         In today's Gospel reading from Luke 17, Jesus entered a village and ten lepers met him. They stood at a distance from him and raised their voice, saying, "Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!" Now, we may not have leprosy, but as sinners, we need to ask the Lord to have pity on us as well, if not more so. Praying thus from the heart shows that you do submit yourself to the Lord as a follower.     

***Christ in All of Us**

        Today's Communion antiphon from Matthew 25.40: Amen, I say to you: Whatever you did for one of the least of my brethren, you did it for me, says the Lord. The Lord wants us to see him in everyone. This is not easy and will take practice. But if we want to be like Christ, we must see as he sees. It is the way to both exterior and interior peace for sure.