Courage and Faith

The WORD today reminds me how powerful courage and faith are. 

They say that if you want something so bad, you should be willing to do anything to have it. You should be willing to spend a lot of time improving yourself, getting better, studying, so you can be a step closer to getting what you want. We see this mindset in the leper. 

If you want something you never had, you have to be willing to do something you have never done. Great results do not come from mediocre actions. 

The gospel is a continuation of yesterday's. Jesus went to nearby villages to preach and drive out demons. So most probably, healing was not his main agenda. He probably must be walking or maybe even teaching when this leper came up to him and begged Jesus to heal him. Malakas ang loob. He had courage to walk up to Jesus, a very busy man and always with a lot of people, to beg for healing. He also probably broke some laws, since lepers were not supposed to mingle with others. He had courage. He wanted healing so bad that he really stepped out of his comfort zone for a shot at it. 

Aside from courage, he also had faith. Great faith. His faith was probably the foundation of his courage. Mahirap yung ginawa nya. He gave a lot of effort just to get a shot at being healed. But he did it because he had faith in Jesus. No matter what the world tells him to do, or not to do, he had faith that Jesus is greater. That Jesus is more powerful. That Jesus is loving. And he was not disappointed. 

We may be in the same situation as the leper. We may have problems. We may be in a tough situation. We may have concerns. We may feel we are at a disadvantage. However, we should act like the leper. We should have faith in Jesus. In his love. In his power. And we should have the courage to do things for Jesus, to step out of our comfort zone for him. And as we do this, we can be certain that we will be surprised. 

May we learn and be inspired to have faith in God, and have the courage to do things for Him. 

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. Lord, sorry for being weak. Sorry for being too shy to a fault. Sorry for not being willing to step out of my comfort zone and do things for you. Help me be like the leper. Help me have that faith in you no matter what situation I may be in. Help me have the courage to do crazy things for you. May my actions show you how much I love you and how much I trust you. Amen. 

Blessed day!

In Christ,

-g-

Daily Readings

• JANUARY 11, 2023
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Thursday of the First Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 308

Reading 1 

Heb 3:7-14

The Holy Spirit says:
    Oh, that today you would hear his voice,
        “Harden not your hearts as at the rebellion
        in the day of testing in the desert,
    where your ancestors tested and tried me
        and saw my works for forty years.
    Because of this I was provoked with that generation
        and I said, ‘They have always been of erring heart,
        and they do not know my ways.’
    As I swore in my wrath,
        ‘They shall not enter into my rest.’”
Take care, brothers and sisters,
that none of you may have an evil and unfaithful heart,
so as to forsake the living God.
Encourage yourselves daily while it is still “today,”
so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin.
We have become partners of Christ
if only we hold the beginning of the reality firm until the end.

Responsorial Psalm 

95:6-7c, 8-9, 10-11

R.    (8)  If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us bow down in worship;
    let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
    and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
R.    If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
    “Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
    as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me;
    they tested me though they had seen my works.” 
R.    If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Forty years I was wearied of that generation;
    I said: “This people’s heart goes astray,
    they do not know my ways.”
Therefore I swore in my anger:
    “They shall never enter my rest.”
R.    If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Alleluia 

Mt 4:23

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom
and cured every disease among the people.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel 

Mk 1:40-45

A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said,
“If you wish, you can make me clean.”
Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand,
touched the leper, and said to him,
“I do will it. Be made clean.”
The leprosy left him immediately, and he was made clean.
Then, warning him sternly, he dismissed him at once.
Then he said to him, “See that you tell no one anything,
but go, show yourself to the priest
and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed;
that will be proof for them.”
The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter.
He spread the report abroad
so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.
He remained outside in deserted places,
and people kept coming to him from everywhere.

./