God’s voice is not heard by minds preoccupied with their own agendas or selfish desires. That is why God shouts out to the people, “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove your evil deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil.”

If we would like to enter the kingdom of heaven, it is critically important to change our hearts, which are attached to what is of the earth.

The power that a mother has over her child(ren) is indeed undeniable. In Isaiah 66, even God compares his love toward humans in this way: “As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you.”

What we should subdue and prevail over is neither other humans nor forces of hell, but the selfish desires arising from our own heart.

Reflecting on the meaning of the Latin word merced, “price paid,” I cannot help but to think of redemptive work accomplished by the life and suffering of Jesus Christ. Jesus, Incarnate Divine, brought back what humanity lost: spiritual freedom.