Not Giving Up on You

The WORD today (see http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/022019.cfm) reminds me that Jesus will never give up on me. 

Almost everything in life should be learned. Even the simplest things. When we were kids, we did not know how to walk. It took multiple attempts and multiple failures before we were able to walk and run. Even eating. It was a slow process of learning how to eat. That is why we should never give up at once when we do not succeed. 

Jesus never gives up on us. 

In the gospel, the people brought a blind man to Jesus. It is interesting to see that Jesus took him away. He did not immediately heal him. He did not just touch him, like the people begged him to. He took him away outside the village. Away from the people. He wanted to have this intimate and personal experience with the man, away from the crowd, the spectators. When they were alone, he put spittle in the man's eyes and his hands. And when he still could not see clear, Jesus did not give up on him. He did not get mad. Instead, he did it a second time until the man saw clearly. 

God will never give up on you. God will never be frustrated at you. 

Usually, when Jesus heals, immediate results follow. Healing of sick people. Cleansing from demons. Even raising up from the dead. However, it was a different case with this blind man. Probably he did not have enough faith in Jesus. Probably his focus was not all on Jesus. Probably he just had a lot of concerns, fears and worries even when he was with Jesus. But Jesus did not give up on him. Nag effort ulit si Jesus para sa kanya. And that's what he will do to and for us, especially when we are hard to deal with. God will never let us go. God will be patient with us. God will be with us. Until we are better. Until we come to our senses. 

Do I have faith that God will never give up on me? What is my reaction when I do not understand things that are happening? How does God remind me that he will not give up on me? 

May we always remember that God will never give up on us, no matter what the situation is. And may this lead us to come to him whatever state we may be in. 

Father God,

Thank you for today. Thank you for another day to live. Thank you for another chance to love and serve you. Thank you for the reminder that you will never give up on me. Lord, sorry for the times I give up on myself. Sorry for being too hard on myself. And sorry for not coming to you for help. Help me be like the blind man. Help me humble myself and come to you. As I do, i know you will mold me and transform me to be pleasing to you. Amen. 

Blessed Day!

In Christ,

-g-

Daily Readings

February 20 2019

Wednesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 337

Reading 1 GN 8:6-13, 20-22

At the end of forty days Noah opened the hatch he had made in the ark,
and he sent out a raven,
to see if the waters had lessened on the earth.
It flew back and forth until the waters dried off from the earth.
Then he sent out a dove,
to see if the waters had lessened on the earth.
But the dove could find no place to alight and perch,
and it returned to him in the ark,
for there was water all over the earth.
Putting out his hand, he caught the dove
and drew it back to him inside the ark.
He waited seven days more and again sent the dove out from the ark.
In the evening the dove came back to him,
and there in its bill was a plucked-off olive leaf!
So Noah knew that the waters had lessened on the earth.
He waited still another seven days
and then released the dove once more;
and this time it did not come back.

In the six hundred and first year of Noah’s life,
in the first month, on the first day of the month,
the water began to dry up on the earth.
Noah then removed the covering of the ark
and saw that the surface of the ground was drying up.

Noah built an altar to the LORD,
and choosing from every clean animal and every clean bird,
he offered burnt offerings on the altar.
When the LORD smelled the sweet odor, he said to himself:
“Never again will I doom the earth because of man
since the desires of man’s heart are evil from the start;
nor will I ever again strike down all living beings, as I have done.
As long as the earth lasts,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
Summer and winter,
and day and night
shall not cease.”

Responsorial Psalm PS 116:12-13, 14-15, 18-19

R.  (17a)  To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
or:
R. Alleluia.
 How shall I make a return to the LORD
for all the good he has done for me?
The cup of salvation I will take up,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
R. To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
or:
R. Alleluia.
My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all his people.
Precious in the eyes of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones.
R. To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
or:
R. Alleluia.
My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all his people,
In the courts of the house of the LORD,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
R. To you, Lord, I will offer a sacrifice of praise.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Reading 2 SEE EPH 1:17-18

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
enlighten the eyes of our hearts,
that we may know what is the hope
that belongs to his call.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel MK 8:22-26

When Jesus and his disciples arrived at Bethsaida,
people brought to him a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.
He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village.
Putting spittle on his eyes he laid his hands on the man and asked,
“Do you see anything?”
Looking up the man replied, “I see people looking like trees and walking.”
Then he laid hands on the man’s eyes a second time and he saw clearly;
his sight was restored and he could see everything distinctly.
Then he sent him home and said, “Do not even go into the village.”