***Our Only Mission in Life

        Communion experience. We can never love God enough. Our only mission in life should be to love the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind, as Jesus had commanded us. Let everything else follow from this.

**Our Response to God

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 13, Jesus told the crowd the parable of the sower:

        "A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear."

        How do you respond to the Word of God? Does it take root in you? How you respond will determine your eternal destiny! Something you definitely ought to be aware of.

**A Hurdle to Overcome

        Jesus makes it clear that we need to obey God. If we all do it, we would all be saints and have peace in the world. Therefore, obedience to God is the hurdle we are to overcome. Seeking to attain union with God is the way to meet that challenge. The key to success is to surrender yourself to God. If God is unavoidable, surrendering to him is in order and becomes unavoidable too. Once you attain union, you might think that you have reached the climax, but it's somewhat anticlimactic in the sense that you now find obeying God to be no sweat at all. In fact, it's exactly what you want to do. 

**Follow Christ like the Apostles

        Christ was here 2,000 years ago and, we do not see or hear him in person today. Nevertheless, since God transcends both time and space, we can confidently follow him as the Apostles did after he called them to follow him.  

**How God Relates to Us

          I am not able to attend Mass, so I looked up the Gospel reading. Today is the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene. The reading comes from John 20. Mary Magdalene saw that the tomb in which Jesus was buried was empty. She thought someone had taken him from the tomb, and started to weep. Then Jesus appeared to her and conversed with her. She first thought he was the gardener, then she recognized him. Jesus' last words to her were "Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, 'I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" Mary went to the disciples and reported everything to them.

        So Jesus regarded his disciples as his brothers. The fact that his Father is also our Father makes it clear that we are all brothers and sisters to him. It amazes me that we have a God who considers us to be equal to him. Knowing this, we can go to him with great confidence. Always remember that we have the same Father!

*Waiting on the Lord

        I've learned so much from writing this blog. Here's just one lesson. If I try hard to think up what to post, then what comes out would be mostly me and not the Lord. And I don't think I would have much to say either. So I just let the Lord tell my heart what to post and the process becomes natural and easy. For us who are anxious to serve the Lord, we run the risk of coming up with ideas not originated from God, at least not yet. My advice is that we always pray and wait until the Lord clearly shows what we should do next. We need to follow God's schedule. Patience is needed in order not to waste time. 

*How the Lord Treats Us

        Today's alternative Communion antiphon, Revelation 3.20: Behold, I stand at the door and knock, says the Lord. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me. This is how the Lord treats us. He stands at the door and knock, gently. If you ignore him, he continues to knock, never trying to break the door down. if you open the door to let him in, he's going to enter and dine with you! This is as nice a Lord as you can get! How unconscionable of us to continue offending him!  

**All for Jesus

        Today's Gospel reading from Luke 10 was about Martha and Mary, the sisters. While Mary chose to sit beside Jesus at his feet listening to him speak, Martha was burdened with serving. Martha came to Jesus and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me." The Lord replied to her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her." I'd like to focus on how Martha felt. I am sure we've all invited friends and/or relatives to our home for a meal, a party, or just a get-together. It doesn't take long to find out that there are always some who never lift a finger to help in any way and others who gladly volunteer to help. If no one offers any help, the host can feel not being appreciated and that it's unfair that he or she should do all the work with others reaping the benefits. Here is the solution I see. Do everything for the sake of serving (pleasing) Christ alone, not ourselves. Whether others help or not, it's between them and God.

*Questioning Ourselves

        Why do we reject God the Father who loves us with all his heart? Why do we reject Jesus the Son who died for us to save us from eternal damnation? Why do we reject the Holy Spirit who can guide and teach us to live a holy life, readying us for heaven? How can we be so blind, deaf, and dumb?

God and We, the Perfect Match

        I just see so clearly that God and we make a perfect match. We are made for each other! The Lord loves us and wants to save us and we surely need salvation. God is ever ready to welcome us back and we can be back in grace in no time. God and we can certainly make each other very happy. If we do not cooperate, then we are the big losers.

Getting Back to God

        Do you feel being lost, not knowing what the purpose of life is? Do sins rob you of inner peace? Do you feel that you are just not free, overwhelmed by the problems of life? If your answers are all yes, then here's the breakthrough for you: submit yourself to Christ to be back in harmony with your creator. We lose our way and become slaves to ourselves simply because we have strayed away from God. 

Fools Don't Want to Die

        To hold onto this life is like holding onto a sinking ship. It's only a matter of time that you are going to sink and hopefully not drown. I can talk like this because I am old enough to know that I can go anytime. The wise one does not cling to his own life, for he has made arrangement with the Lord already and is ready to move on whenever he calls. How foolish it is to attach yourself to anything that perishes in time! Let Christ free you from all bondage now. 

*Prayer for the Mass

        After witnessing the lack of reverence at many church Masses, I pray that:  

1. We would see that attending Mass is comparable to going to join Jesus at the Last Supper.  
2. We know that the sole purpose of attending Mass is to worship, adore, and praise God, and to receive the Lord present in the Holy Eucharist (so anything that distracts us from that focus would be improper). 
3. All attendees at Mass – priests, servers, ministers, musicians, ushers, the congregation – will show utter reverence in what they say and do. 
4. Silence would be observed inside the nave before and after the Mass.

***Following the Lord of All Things

        In today's Gospel's reading from Matthew 12, Jesus lets the Pharisees know that he is even Lord of the sabbath. In fact, Jesus is the Lord of all things! He is the Lord of my blog. There are days when he gives me many ideas or nothing at all. When I receive nothing, I know that all ideas did come from him. And I could hit post #10,000 in 2020 or stop having anything to say beginning tomorrow. Jesus is Lord when he responds to our prayer instantly or eventually, exactly the way we'd hoped or in a surprising way. The Lord gives and takes away as he wishes. We simply trust, obey, and follow him through thick and thin. This way of life may sound boring to most people; but on the contrary, it is living the most exciting and satisfying life on earth! Better yet, the very best is to come after you leave this earth.

**Surprises Death Brings*

        After we die, we'll either be surprised to find how beautiful heaven is or be so shocked to see how horrible hell is. It is my most ardent prayer that everyone will receive the delightful surprise and no one, no one, will experience the terrible shock after death.

**Where Is Your Home?

        From today's Communion antiphon from Psalm 84: As the sparrow finds a home and the swallow a nest to settle her young, My home is by your altars, LORD of hosts, my king and my God! Where is your true home? Surely, you don't want it to be the one you are in now on earth. Lost souls are lost because they do not have a true home. To be lost forever is to never have a place you can call your home – a terrible situation. Settle no less for a home in heaven where your Father lives, for with God, we can confidently aim heaven-high!

***Bold Approach to God

        Our relationship with God is revealed by how we interact with him. If you only think of him once in a while, then obviously, you hardly know him. On the other hand, if you know that he is your loving Father who will always help you and that nothing is impossible with him, and are always aware of his presence, are open to him, share everything in your heart with him, and ask boldly for what you need in serving him, then you are most likely in union with him already. The point I want to make is that God is not to be approached timidly, but boldly with full confidence and no hesitation. Being infinite, omnipotent, and most loving, he surely can handle everything you "throw" at him. An intimate relationship is developed when you open up to God and share everything with him. 

**Finding Rest in God

        Here is today's very short Gospel reading from Matthew 11. Jesus said; "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light." I think we all labor and are burdened living in this imperfect world. How should we exactly respond to the Lord? I believe we need to begin by being meek and humble of heart to acknowledge that we need his help and that he can help us. Then we let the Lord help us carry our burden to make it light. Instead of struggling on our own, we can now rest in him. It's this going to him, this trust, that makes all the difference.