Rise, Take Up Your Mat and Walk ~ by Ronnie Archer
Fr. Peter was our homilist again this week in honor of Black History Month.
In today's Isaiah reading, the Lord says to the Israelites, not to remember the past. God did not want His liberated people to dwell on their past - but to look forward to the new things that He would do for them.
The second reading, from St. Paul's Letter to the Corinthians, speaks of the constancy of God. Unlike us, sometimes wavering between "yes" and "no", God remains ever faithful.
Mark's Gospel today, emphasizes faith and forgiveness. The four friends of the paralytic man were so determined to get their friend close enough to Jesus, the one who they knew could heal him, that they "opened the roof" to do so. It was his faith and that of his friends that moved Jesus to heal him.
Sometimes it is so hard for us to forget the negative things of our past, instead of looking ahead to the future. At times, we have a hard time forgiving ourselves, as well as others and believing that we deserve something better than our current conditions.
We hold unto past hurts, being unforgiving to those who we feel have "trespassed against us"...we have a commandment from God that will help us to move on from our past, and that is forgiveness.
Barriers are not meant to stop us, but to force us to overcome. Many of us tend to give up at the slightest difficulty in life.
The barriers will disappear when we set our eyes on the goal and do what we can do to move forward. The paralytic had to "fight" his way to get to Jesus, and his friends were faithful in helping him to get there. The lesson we can learn here is that we cannot do it alone, and if we are to succeed, we need each other to encourage and help us.
The Lord gives us people who are ready to help us when we are ready, we have to make up our minds to act when we can.
Some people have no ambition at all and if you mingle with them long enough, you will have no ambition. Do not allow your past to keep you from improving your future, learn from mistakes, and do what is best for you.
We should be proud of our heritage. Each of us is entitled to, and can be the best there is, and achieve our goals in life; no one is greater than another.
Jesus says our sins are forgiven. Let us forgive ourselves, and each other; as well as loving and supporting each other.
Take up your mat and walk; AND GLORIFY GOD for what He has done in our lives.
~Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time ~
In today's Isaiah reading, the Lord says to the Israelites, not to remember the past. God did not want His liberated people to dwell on their past - but to look forward to the new things that He would do for them.
The second reading, from St. Paul's Letter to the Corinthians, speaks of the constancy of God. Unlike us, sometimes wavering between "yes" and "no", God remains ever faithful.
Mark's Gospel today, emphasizes faith and forgiveness. The four friends of the paralytic man were so determined to get their friend close enough to Jesus, the one who they knew could heal him, that they "opened the roof" to do so. It was his faith and that of his friends that moved Jesus to heal him.
Sometimes it is so hard for us to forget the negative things of our past, instead of looking ahead to the future. At times, we have a hard time forgiving ourselves, as well as others and believing that we deserve something better than our current conditions.
We hold unto past hurts, being unforgiving to those who we feel have "trespassed against us"...we have a commandment from God that will help us to move on from our past, and that is forgiveness.
Barriers are not meant to stop us, but to force us to overcome. Many of us tend to give up at the slightest difficulty in life.
The barriers will disappear when we set our eyes on the goal and do what we can do to move forward. The paralytic had to "fight" his way to get to Jesus, and his friends were faithful in helping him to get there. The lesson we can learn here is that we cannot do it alone, and if we are to succeed, we need each other to encourage and help us.
The Lord gives us people who are ready to help us when we are ready, we have to make up our minds to act when we can.
Some people have no ambition at all and if you mingle with them long enough, you will have no ambition. Do not allow your past to keep you from improving your future, learn from mistakes, and do what is best for you.
We should be proud of our heritage. Each of us is entitled to, and can be the best there is, and achieve our goals in life; no one is greater than another.
Jesus says our sins are forgiven. Let us forgive ourselves, and each other; as well as loving and supporting each other.
Take up your mat and walk; AND GLORIFY GOD for what He has done in our lives.
~Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time ~
Labels: black history month, ordinary time, sundayreflection
posted by mary ann @ Monday, February 23, 2009
0 comments
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home