***Secret of Following God

        You take your spiritual journey by yourself and the road is bumpy. Then you take it through the roof by surrendering yourself to God altogether, and your journey becomes smooth and easy. Not only you let God lead the way, you now let him carry you too!

**Jesus Misunderstood*

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 9, the disciples of John the Baptist asked Jesus why they and the Pharisees fasted much, but his disciples did not. Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?" Indeed, when Jesus is with us, how can we not be joyful? That Jesus is a joy is most misunderstood by many. They think that the Lord would take away all their joys on earth if they submit themselves to him. On the contrary, the joy of knowing him not only delights the senses, but also satisfies the heart and soul. All other joys pass, while the joy of Jesus lasts forever! 

*To Become Free

        Communion experience. We become free when we are freed from sin. Jesus can take away not only our sins, but also our tendency to sin (as we enter deeper into union with him). In other words, only Jesus can truly set us free.

My Greatest Pity

        I feel sorry for people who encounter hardships in life, but I have the greatest pity for those who do not know Jesus, our Savior. My unceasing prayer is that every single soul on earth shall be saved by God for his glory.

*A Must-Ask Question*

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 9, people brought to Jesus a paralytic lying on a stretcher. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Courage, child, your sins are forgiven." To show that he had authority to forgive sins, he said to the paralytic, "Rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home." He rose and went home. This question rose in my mind: Are my sins forgiven? This is a key question each of us must ask because it deals with a business we must finish before we die or face possibly dire consequences.

To Know God Is Wisdom

        You can have a genius IQ, great intelligence, and a superior knowledge base but do not know God, then all you have means nothing. The wise one believes in and follows God, irrespective of everything else. At the end, he is the one to receive the reward from God. Clearly, to be wise is better than being brilliant anytime. 

Keeping the Soul Alive

        In our busy life, all the more we need to take breaks to spend time privately with God. A soul not connected to God is a dying soul.

*Letting God Do the Work

        We must trust in God to do all things for us. Going back into history, who would have known that Communism would collapse one day? It did happen (the Blessed Mother actually predicted the birth of Communism and its eventual collapse when she appeared at Fatima in 1917). Something like turning a whole country around away from corruption and hypocrisy seems like an almost impossible task, but if we pray hard and remain faithful, God will deliver what we ask for in time. Therefore, rely upon the Lord to accomplish all things for us, large and small. 

*Dance With God

        It takes two to tango, as the saying goes. God already loves you. To make beautiful things happen, you must love him back. 

***To Know Jesus

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 8, at the request of two demoniacs, Jesus drove the demons out of them and sent the demons into a herd of swine some distance away. The whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea where they drowned. When they came to the town, they reported everything. Thereupon the whole town came out to meet Jesus, but when they saw him they begged him to leave their district. People keep Jesus away because they do not truly know him and therefore are afraid of him. For anyone who wishes to know him, he must get to know him first with an open mind. Then the beautiful day will come when he can't help but fall in love with the Lord.

**Challenge for All Christians*

        It is easy to live mainly for ourselves and, if there's any time left, do something for the sake of God. This is a disorder. The proper, orderly way to live is to make serving God your top priority and all else secondary. The key to making this happen is surrendering yourself to God. How much you can reverse this situation depends upon how completely you surrender yourself. If God is unavoidable, then so is surrendering to him.  

**Being Imperfect Is OK

        We want to be perfect for God, but we fall short constantly. Do not let this bother you, for the very reason you wish to be perfect is because you are imperfect and you love God. And to God, intention is what matters the most. Trust in him all along and you'll definitely become less and less imperfect. 

***Beyond Believing

        Once you have believed in the Lord, you must proceed to get to know him as well as possible. This is opening yourself up to him until it becomes completely comfortable for him to dwell within your heart. Now, blessed once more are those who have believed and achieved union with the Lord.     

Most Beautiful Faith

        Today is the Feast of St. Thomas, Apostle. From John 29, we heard read that after Thomas saw the mark of the nails in Jesus hands and put his finger into the nailmarks and put his hand into his side, he believed that the Lord had indeed risen from the dead. Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed. The most beautiful faith is to believe without question like a child. This makes blessed living!

Belonging to God

        Communion experience. Jesus is the Lord of my life, the Lord of my soul, the Lord of my heart, the Lord of my whole being. I belong to him.

*To Be Truly Trustworthy

        In Luke 16, Jesus said to his disciples, "The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones." The converse may be false, for a person trustworthy in great matters may not care about very small matters. To be perfect, we must be trustworthy in all matters.  

**Christians' Shortcoming

        To possess the Lord, you need look for him so that you may hear his call, and then have the humility to yield to him once you've heard his voice – a two-step process. The trouble with most of the Christians today is that they have not yet completed the second step, for they still carry on their daily living as usual, not even making any eye contact with him, so to speak; whereas they should be aware of his holy loving presence at all times.

**How to Follow God Rightly*

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 8, a disciple of Jesus who would follow him said to him, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father." But Jesus answered him, "Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead." In Luke 9, another would-be follower said, "I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family at home. Jesus said to him, "No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God." Wow, but I think you get his point. We are to be detached from everything of the world, follow him, and never look back. The Lord absolutely deserves our undivided devotion. He was revealing to us the sure way of entering his kingdom. He should be our foremost (and only) choice to follow.

*Our Lonely Existence

        We came into this world all by ourselves and we'll leave this world by ourselves. When we face the Lord, we'll be on our own again. The only one we can truly rely upon would be God our creator, so start leaning upon him now. 

**More Than You Can Expect*

        Stop, think, and realize that heaven is absolutely within your reach. In fact, it is the ardent desire of our creator and Father that we all enter heaven to dwell in his house for all eternity. Again, to make it happen you don't need to strive hard on your own; simply follow Jesus the Christ and he'll do all the lifting. Now, turn your life into a great joy!

Having Faith in God

        Jesus said, "You cannot make a single hair white or black" (Matthew 5.36). Nor can we make our faith ten times stronger. We must let God do the work. To have faith in God is not to tell ourselves to believe in him more. It is being fully aware that the Lord already knows our needs and we only need to trust in him once and not to worry about it anymore. 

***Be Patient With God Too

        Patience is a virtue, a sign of holiness. We are taught to be patient with each other. Then we should also be patient with God too, considering that he always waits for our acceptance and refrains from judging us with infinite patience. 

***Best Moments on Earth

        What a joy to make a heart-to-heart connection with God! I simply open myself up, pouring out everything from my heart and soul to him and he listens. And I know all barriers between him and me are gone, for he has perfectly understood me. You can't possibly feel any better!   

***Erroneous Thinking

        You love God and feel that you are not bearing much fruit for him, especially after seeing others accomplish so much more outwardly. Well, first of all, fruit is not for show. Next, do you realize that you have the power to move God's heart to accomplish great things if you trust in him? It is not us, but God who makes all things possible! We trust, pray, and obey, and we will be fruitful.

**Jesus Most Special

        Communion thought. Jesus is most special to us because he created us and is the only one who is capable of speaking to our heart and healing our soul!

*Jesus Most Personal

        You've probably heard a thousand times that Jesus came and died for our sins so that we might be saved, and it now sounds so familiar that you no longer pay any attention. Think about it again. First, we are all sinners who need salvation. Then Jesus died for us with you included! So he matters to you personally – more than anyone else in fact, for your eternal destiny is in his hands. Therefore, you must never divorce yourself from the Lord, who created you.

*Alive in Jesus

        Communion experience. When you have Jesus dwelling in you, you are as alive as can be.

*Jesus Can Be Trusted

        If you read the Gospel about Jesus with an open mind, you should at least be able to see that he is someone who can be totally trusted, rain or shine.  

God Watches over Us

        Today is Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. Both had been freed from prison by the Lord. Peter was arrested and put in prison, secured by double chains and placed under heavy guard, by King Herod. On the night before he was to be brought to trial, the angel of the Lord appeared by Peter and the chains fell from his wrists. Then the angel lead Peter through all the guards, came to the iron gate leading out to the city, which opened for them by itself. In Paul's case, he was beaten with rods and imprisoned by the people and magistrates at Philippi. He was placed in the innermost cell with his feet secured to a stake. About midnight, there was suddenly a severe earthquake that the foundations of the jail shook, and all the doors flew open and the chains were pulled loose. Trembling with fear, the jailer surrendered.

        These two recorded happenings are solid proof that God does rescue us at the right time of his choice. It is good to know that he is always there, fully aware of our situation, and will rescue us as he sees fit. 

***Something Beautiful

        1. There is something beautiful about being honest.    

        2.     "     "         "               "           "     fulfilling your duties.

        3.     "     "         "               "           "     working to earn your own living.

        4.     "     "         "               "           "     keeping your marriage vows.

        5.     "     "         "               "           "     helping anyone who needs help.

        6.     "     "         "               "           "     never looking down on others.

        7.     "     "         "               "           "     respecting life as God's precious gift.

        8.     "     "         "               "           "     living unselfishly.

        9.     "     "         "               "           "     being faithful and obedient to God.

        There are still so many more things you can do to make life beautiful. You can even make yourself beautiful by letting the Lord do whatever he wishes with you!

***Communion Revelation*

        When an imperfect one meets the Perfect One upon receiving the Holy Eucharist and yields completely to him, he becomes perfect too.         

**Free Is the One Who . . .

looks forward only to meeting his Lord and God, never looking back on his past. When it's time to depart from this world, he has absolutely no attachment to any of the things he'll have to leave behind, nor any concern about whether he had made any mark on earth.       

*Happy Is the One Who . . .

knows where he or she is going. More specifically, happy is the one who knows that he or she is returning to the Father in heaven.      

*God Calling You

        When Jesus called Paul, Paul heard the Lord saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Now, if you haven't believed in Christ yet and turn your thoughts honestly inward to listen for his voice in your heart, you should hear his voice calling your gently by name and asking "Why are you running away from me?" or "Why are you hiding from me? or "Why are you rebelling against me?"

The Blessed One

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 7, Jesus said to his disciple, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven." To me, it is a basic principle that we should take whatever the Lord says to us most seriously, for he speaks only the truth. So, blessed is the one who always obeys the Lord. 

Something Beautiful!

        Leaving everything behind and abandoning yourself completely in God to experience true freedom.       

Truth to Realize

        Think carefully and you may realize that life is meaningful only if you stop serving yourself and start living for God. Plenty of lessons are there for us to learn our whole life, but our self-serve hearts normally remain closed. Self-serving leads you to nowhere but yourself, a dead end. Serving God by letting yourself go is the way to freedom.

Breakthrough in Attitude

        If you fully realize that one day you'll have to leave all things behind on earth and return to God, you would no longer let anything in this life bother you much anymore! Of course, if you are not sure about returning to God, then you'd be mired in problems of your life all the days of your life.

Soul's Longing Fulfilled

        Communion experience. I find everlasting peace in Christ, exactly what my soul longs for.

**Light of Life!

        In John 8.12, Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." He spoke the truth, for he revealed his infinite love for us and illuminated the path to living with him in paradise for all eternity most clearly. How he lived his life on earth is living proof that he is trustworthy. Our life is precious because it is only in this lifetime are we able to choose to follow Jesus and settle our eternal destiny. 

***Intention Over Law-Abidingness

        Here is a true story. A landlord replaced the kitchen floor for her tenant who happened to be a lawyer, with nice new tiles. Unfortunately, the foundation of house shifted, resulting in a crack in the new floor. The tenant carelessly walked over the crack in bare feet and had his foot cut on some shards in the crack. The landlord's insurance company took care of his claim and had to pay out $50,000 to settle the case. Yes, the tenant should be compensated for his injury, but to receive that large an amount for a minor injury seemed way out of line. The point I want to make is that following the law is no guarantee that one's intention is pure. The fact that some criminals beat the court with good lawyers is a case in point. Just know that when God judges us, he looks at our intentions, not how well we follow the law.     

**Biggest Yes or No*

        This is your most consequential response to God when he asks you if you would let him love you.       

**Fear of God

        If you fear God because you know that you are a sinner and if you reject him, you'd be lost forever – this is good, justified fear. But if you are afraid of God because you fear he'd take over and lord it over you in all things, this would be bad, unhealthy fear. Give in to God and he'll remove your good fear completely. Reject him and your bad fear remains with you forever.       

*Joy of God's Greatest Gift

        Communion experience. Recalling John 6.54: Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day, I have eternal life!

*Being Hypocritical to the Max

        From today's Gospel reading at Mass from Matthew 7, Jesus said to his disciples: "Stop judging, that you may not be judged. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will bee clearly to remove the splinter from your brother's eye." This is the exact hypocrisy that runs rampantly in America today. People judge and accuse others unfairly and harshly, calling those who disagree with them names with vengeance. They even make up fake splinters they claim to see. They say they uphold high morals, despite being corrupt and highly immoral themselves. They say they fight for human rights, yet support unrestrictive abortion at any stage of the life of the unborn infant. You've got to be blind or kidding! 

Goodness of the Lord

        How good it would be to sit at the feet of Christ the Lord, basking in his light, listening to his sweet words of life, and enjoying his fragrant presence forever and ever. 

Let God Have Some Joy

        God loves us so much that he wants us to return to him after this life to dwell happily forever in his house. Anytime one of us realizes this and decides to go home like the prodigal son, the Father would be so overjoyed that the whole heaven rejoices. Do you still want to be a party pooper?

The Knowing Standard

        Until you love Jesus more than anything else, you do not know him well enough yet.

**God Absolutely Trustworthy

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 6, Jesus mainly wants us not to worry about life or tomorrow, but to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all our needs will be provided besides. You will know that this is true if you believe and live it. This is in line with the principle that if you lay down your life for the Lord, he is bound to raise you up.

**Life Is No Dead End

        I was looking at my own body this morning, aware of my existence. I knew I was I and no one else. What if I die and become nothing? In that case, how should I live from now on? What should I do tomorrow? I wouldn't know, because life is now meaningless. But I did hear about Jesus with his message of salvation, loud and clear. Over time, I've gotten to know him quite well. This alone has made my life worth living, filling me with hope and even overwhelming me with great joy at times. And it's no delusion, for God touched my soul through my heart, bypassing my mind altogether.