Gods Message For You Today, January 7, 2015 Daily Bible Reflections for January 7, 2015 ------------------------------------------------ See Him beside you this whole Wednesday! ------------- DIDACHE ------------- COURAGE! “Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid!” – Mark 6:50 Wikipedia defines “courage” as the ability and willingness to confront fear, pain, danger, uncertainty or intimidation. Reading further down, it says, “Moral courage is the willingness to stand up when others want you to sit down.” When I first got involved in the Charismatic Renewal movement, one of the first things I learned was to “stand up for Jesus!” As a committed follower of Christ, I learned to do or not to do certain things for Him. Pray before meals. Bring my Bible and read it during the break. Go to Mass daily. Nicely refuse to work overtime on Sundays to serve Him. Refuse to lie even when superiors asked me to. I chose to do these because I wanted to grow in my relationship with God. Was it hard? Absolutely! Was there rejection? Definitely! There were people who ridiculed me and made fun of me. They called me “Father” or “Monsignor” in the office. At home, I experienced disapproval in painful ways. People couldn’t understand why I had to do such things. But I needed to make space for God in my life. Those times molded me to face life. It also allowed me to experience His love in a special, deeper way. Ariel Driz (adriz77@yahoo) Reflection: Making a courageous stand for the Lord is beyond “worth it.” It makes Him smile and it makes a difference. Lord Jesus, continue to grant me the courage to be Your witness in whatever situation I face. Amen. St. Raymund of Penyafort, priest, pray for us. ------------- COMPANION ------------- think: Are we with Jesus because we truly choose to be with Him? T O D A Y’S BLESSING LIST Thank You Lord for: __________________ ______________________________________ God’s special verse/thought for me today _____________________________________ READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Matthew 9-12 ------------- SABBATH ------------- NO FEAR! God knows how often I have been mortally afraid in my life. I was afraid once when traversing a treacherous portion of a climb we had when I was young, restless, adventurous and impulsive. A guest who planed in from the States convinced me he was an experienced climber. He was geared to the hilt! But when he saw what we were supposed to get through, he started shaking. Unknown to my young team in their teens, I was also shaking. I was afraid, too, for my life when I organized the community where I lived to fight a menacing social issue that targeted young and innocent lives. Everything was going well until I received a note that told me to stop everything if I wanted to continue celebrating Masses. Blessed Joseph Kowalski was a young Salesian priest in Krakow, Poland. As a young man, he probably had a premonition about his coming martyr’s death. He entertained thoughts about suffering for the Lord and he did so valiantly one day in 1941. He was killed mercilessly when he refused to trample on his rosary beads. St. John Paul II beatified him in Krakow in 1999. “There is no fear in love,” writes John the Evangelist. To be fearless, in this sense, means to have courage, and that courage is born, not of wistful thinking or of a lack of awareness of what danger lurks behind, but of an intimacy with God that one knows of deeply and personally. Life is a call to courage. It is a call to the heights of sanctity, understood as intimacy with God. The good psalmist understood it when he prayed: “I lift up my eyes to the mountains, from where shall come my help. My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.” Blessed Joseph Kowalski and all the holy martyrs were lovers first of God before being courageous martyrs. In their life and in their death, they proved beyond doubt that “God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.” Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB REFLECTION QUESTIONS: What are you afraid of? How do you face moments of fear? Dear Lord, teach me how to be brave and courageous, to meet every difficulty and especially the unknown, relying on the victory that You have won for me. -------------------------------------------------------- This reflection is courtesy of Kerygma Family, whose website is located at: kerygmafamily
Posted on: Wed, 07 Jan 2015 14:16:48 +0000
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