Great Faith

The WORD today (See http://usccb.org/bible/readings/031615.cfm) reminds me that God honors our faith.

Asi Taulava is one of the players I look up to. Aside from his height and style, I look up to him now because of his love for family, discipline and attitude. At 42, he still plays competitive professional basketball, despite having setbacks in his career. Last year, there was a game wherein he was injured badly, with blood all over his face due to a bad cut, but despite it he still continued to play hard. I commented on his instagram account and asked him what he was thinking and why he went on to play despite being badly hurt. He replied that he did not want to leave the team. He knew the team depended heavily on him, so he did his best and honored that faith of his team in him.

IF a man can sacrifice like that, how much more will God honor the faith of those who really depend on him?

In the gospel, we see a royal official who trusted in Jesus. He wanted Jesus to come back with him to heal his son, but when Jesus told him that the son will live, he trusted in Jesus words. He went back home without grudging that Jesus did not come home with him. He went back home with faith on the words of Jesus that his son will live.

God honors our faith.

In the same way that Jesus honored the man’s faith and healed his son, he too until today honors our faith in Him. No trial is too big or too small for God. No situation is too hopeless for his love and power. We do not need to physically feel God’s presence for Him to do miracles in our lives. He is powerful and loving, and his love and power transcends time and space. We just need to make the decision to honor him and have faith in him no matter what, and he will do what we cannot do.

As we start another week, may we be inspired by the man’s faith and work to have faith like his.

Father God,

Thank you for today. Thank you for another week. Thank you for another opportunity to work and give my best for you. Thank you for the beautiful and inspiring reminder. Lord, I am sorry for the times I let the situation take control of my faith. Sorry for worrying too much and thinking that there is no way out. Sorry for putting you on a box and thinking that you cannot do anything with my situation. Help me have faith like the royal official. Help me put my faith in you. Help me have faith in your words. I know that as I do so, you will continue to surprise me and keep your promises. Amen.

Blessed week!

In Christ,

-g-

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March 16, 2015

Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Lectionary: 244

Reading 1 Is 65:17-21

Thus says the LORD:

Lo, I am about to create new heavens

and a new earth;

The things of the past shall not be remembered

or come to mind.

Instead, there shall always be rejoicing and happiness

in what I create;

For I create Jerusalem to be a joy

and its people to be a delight;

I will rejoice in Jerusalem

and exult in my people.

No longer shall the sound of weeping be heard there,

or the sound of crying;

No longer shall there be in it

an infant who lives but a few days,

or an old man who does not round out his full lifetime;

He dies a mere youth who reaches but a hundred years,

and he who fails of a hundred shall be thought accursed.

They shall live in the houses they build,

and eat the fruit of the vineyards they plant.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 30:2 and 4, 5-6, 11-12a and 13b

R. (2a) I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

I will extol you, O LORD, for you drew me clear

and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.

O LORD, you brought me up from the nether world;

you preserved me from among those going down into the pit.

R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

Sing praise to the LORD, you his faithful ones,

and give thanks to his holy name.

For his anger lasts but a moment;

a lifetime, his good will.

At nightfall, weeping enters in,

but with the dawn, rejoicing.

R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

“Hear, O LORD, and have pity on me;

O LORD, be my helper.”

You changed my mourning into dancing;

O LORD, my God, forever will I give you thanks.

R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

Verse Before the Gospel Am 5:14

Seek good and not evil so that you may live,

and the LORD will be with you.

Gospel Jn 4:43-54

At that time Jesus left [Samaria] for Galilee.

For Jesus himself testified

that a prophet has no honor in his native place.

When he came into Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him,

since they had seen all he had done in Jerusalem at the feast;

for they themselves had gone to the feast.

Then he returned to Cana in Galilee,

where he had made the water wine.

Now there was a royal official whose son was ill in Capernaum.

When he heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea,

he went to him and asked him to come down

and heal his son, who was near death.

Jesus said to him,

“Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.”

The royal official said to him,

“Sir, come down before my child dies.”

Jesus said to him, “You may go; your son will live.”

The man believed what Jesus said to him and left.

While the man was on his way back,

his slaves met him and told him that his boy would live.

He asked them when he began to recover.

They told him,

“The fever left him yesterday, about one in the afternoon.”

The father realized that just at that time Jesus had said to him,

“Your son will live,”

and he and his whole household came to believe.

Now this was the second sign Jesus did

when he came to Galilee from Judea.