Monday 19th January – Monday of week 2 of the year

Reflection: Mark 2: 18-22

LETTING GO OF THE PAST

“Some of us think holding on makes us strong but sometimes it is letting go.”  Hermann Hesse

As kids, we all had favourite dresses, toys, bags, plates and even chairs and perhaps some of us, after having outgrown them still try hard to fit ourselves into them until we destroy them and they become useless. The older we get the more experience we acquire and the more of memories we have of both good and bad. Remember, that there is time for sorrow, time for joy, time for mourning and time for dancing (Ecclesiastes 3: 4).

It is very easy for us to stick to bad memories but each time we do that it hurts. Therefore, let us learn to look back even more at all the good and joyous moments we have experienced and thank God for them. Let us see the good and the bad as God’s way of making us learn and forming us into whom He wants us to be. Christ says: “nobody puts a new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the wine will burst the skins and the wine is lost and the skin too. No! New wine, fresh skins! (Mark 2:22).

Beloved, it is time for us to get new skins for our fresh wine. God has great things in store for us, yet if we do not let go of the past and trust in His abundant grace, we may be unable to enjoy the blessings He has for us. Let us accept this grace and change our lives.

Remember that you cannot reach for anything new if your hands are still full of yesterday’s junks!

PRAYER: Help me lord to let go of my past tormenting memories and trust in your ever abundant grace to make my life beautiful. Amen.

KNOW YOUR FAITH: YOUCAT 524 – What does it mean to say, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us”?
Merciful forgiveness – the mercy that we show to others and the mercy that we ourselves seek – is indivisible. If we ourselves are not merciful and do not forgive one another, God’s mercy will not reach our hearts.
The deep blockade of being unreconciled is resolved only by looking to God, who adopted us “while we were yet sinners.”

HIDE A TREASURE: “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43: 18-19 RSV-CE

Readings for Today: Hebrews 5: 1-10; Psalm 110: 1-4; Mark 2: 18-22