Friday 26th June – Friday of week 12 of the year

Reflection: Matthew 8: 1-4

THE AUDACITY OF HOPE

“Then a leper came forward. He knelt before Him and said, ‘Sir, if you want to, you can make me clean.”

The audacity expressed by the leper is very commendable. Considering, that in the Jewish culture lepers were forbidden from coming into public arenas and mingling with people. This leper not only came to public view but also, went to meet our Blessed Lord for help. Such effrontery is the audacity of his hope. Dear friends, sometimes, like the historical lepers, we have been kept in a cocoon by our sins and unworthiness; we feel we are incapable of rising above our faults and thus remain complacent.

The boldness of this leper is a call for us to rise above our present limitations. Irrespective of how shamefully we might have lived, or how terribly we have failed in the past, today offers us another opportunity to take the bold step of beginning anew. No matter how bad our past might have been we can always begin anew. The leper said, “Sir if you want to…” His choice of words showed that the leper knew that only He who creates can renew. To begin anew, we must realize that only He who created us has the power to renew us.
Our Blessed Lord stretched forth His hands, touched him, and said, “I want to, be clean again.” Jesus is more eager to help us than we seek to be helped. Nevertheless, as St. Augustine said, “God created us without our consent but He will not save us without our cooperation.” Like the case of the leper, Christ is eagerly waiting to help us with our challenges, our relationships, our academics, or whatever our burdens maybe. He is waiting for us to just come to Him and He will make us clean.

Oh what peace we often forfeit, Oh what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? Are we weak and heavy-laden? Cumbered with a load of care? Take it to the Lord in prayer.

In His arms he will take and shield you and you will find a solace there.

PRAYER: Lord give me the grace to realize that no sin or fault of mine is greater than your love or mercy for me and help me to seek always for a new life in you. Amen

KNOW YOUR FAITH: YOUCAT 308 – What is hope?

Hope is the power by which we firmly and constantly long for what we were placed on earth to do: to praise God and to serve him; and for our true happiness, which is finding our fulfillment in God; and for our final home: in God.

HIDE A TREASURE: Ask and you shall receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened. Matthew 7:7 CCB

Today’s Readings: Genesis 17:1, 9-10, 15-22, Psalm 128:1-5, Matthew 8:1-4