Day 61, Luke 17
Good day everyone! Today we begin the last third of our Gospel Journey with Jesus!
It is the last Friday before Holy Week and GOOD FRIDAY!
I see three earth shattering points in this chapter:
- Be on Your Guard
- Increase Our Faith
- Thanking Him
1- Be on Your Guard
I love seeing these words… Be on your guard! Jesus says over and over to guard – and to WATCH! Remember in the Gospel of Mark Chapter 13 and then in the Agony in the Garden – Jesus says to stay awake and watch!
That you don’t know when the thief will be coming and if you are awake you can guard better! If you fall asleep then he will come in the middle of the night and you will miss him!
Here Jesus is talking about the temptations to Sin!
“Things that cause sin will inevitably occur”
OK this is very comforting to hear Jesus say this! Like it is not out of the ordinary that there are occasions to sin!!!
BUT WOE He says… to the person THROUGH whom they occur!
So the real WOE is for the person who is causing others to sin!
However this happens more than we know — how about when we provoke someone to anger?
How about when we are in a conversation and we ask curious questions about others asking for private information about another person — and we lead that person to gossip!
Sometimes I don’t even like when we get into questions and start asking about someone else –
HOW IS KATHY? How are things going between she and her husband — I heard they were having trouble?
Well now — if the person knows intimate details they will have to say…. I don’t know? And Lie?
Or I can’t really discuss this because it is personal - best thing to me is that if you want to know about Kathy — ask her yourself!!!
Don’t make someone else tempted to sin over it!
I find in general that I get into too many conversations that start out with details out of compassion and concern — and after the fact turned into judgement and gossip!
But there is something we can do about really looking and seeing are we leading our brothers and sisters into sin???
We all need to put a guard on —- our mouths — our ears — our hearts — our eyes — and live like that — not just in the morning or certain times of the day -
- but watch always — and around certain people — unfortunately — that is just how it is!
2- Increase Our Faith
I am amazed here that I continue to find more verses with faith — of course that is what the Gospel is all about — FAITH!
When the apostles say to Jesus “Increase our faith” I feel like they had just had enough of the “OH Ye of Little Faith” comments!
Good for them! Jesus tells them that they just need the faith of a mustard seed — a little faith will go a long way!
The little seed of faith will then flourish when it is exercised! That is the key!!!!! Command a mulberry tree to be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it would obey you!
So we can ask for more faith — but if we are not going to use the little we have it won’t make a difference!
So we need to take leaps of faith all the time — we need to train in our faith and keep it growing by working it out like a muscle!
We pray we seek and we act!
I think it is then makes sense that the next section is about the attitude of a servant!
This section is a little hard to take if you read it correctly you should get convicted to some degree — otherwise you have achieved sainthood already!
The servant should serve and then continue to serve!! IE we don’t serve God and then sit back and expect to be like God —
We don’t serve God and then retire and kick back thinking that God should reward us for being such a good servant –
Or think that we are done!!! We are never done growing, learning, and serving — until we are ready for heaven!
There will be our reward — so while we are here we take for our example the suffering servant and know that …
“We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do”.
3- Thanking Him
I love the story about the lepers being cleansed! But it kills me that only of them came back to glorify God!
But reading a little more specifically and we see … that…
As they were going they were cleansed!
And one of them… realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;
AND He fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked HIM!
So the key here is that this leper REALIZED he had been healed!
How many healings have we received and we don’t even realize it!!!
We have to be constantly in tune with what God is doing — we are healed in Mass — in Confession — in prayer — there are so many ways that God heals us!
Do we realize it? Do we give God the glory or do we give men or institutions or drugs the glory when we are healed?
I love that the one who returned was the Samaritan — not thought of to be as good as the Jews –
What a point here Jesus is making! This leper not only came back but …
he fell at the feet of JESUS!!!
Sounds like our Mary Sister of Lazarus who cried tears of repentance and washed Jesus feet and dried them with her hair!
At the feet of Jesus is the place to be!!! How beautiful! The ultimate thanksgiving is to come back to Jesus — and throw yourself at His feet and thank Him!
Come back to Jesus Glorifying Him and singing His praise!!!
You see we usually are blessed and then we just keep on going!!! WE move on to the next prayer the next thing we want God to do for us — so we miss the recognition of the healing!!!
Jesus still heals!!! Jesus always — preached and healed!! And he still does today! That is why we see in the Mass — Preaching and then the Healing — the EUCHARIST!!!
The EUCHARIST also is the ULTIMATE THANKSGIVING!
So we have it all in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass!!!
When we come to Mass at least every Sunday— we are coming back to Jesus just like this leper did and we are saying thank you for our week– our month — our year — our lives!
We make sure to stop on Sunday — at least == and thank Him by joining in the offering of Jesus by being present!
There is no greater love than to lay down your life for your friends — this is what Jesus did for us!
Throw yourself at the feet of Jesus and thank HIM!!!
I have to tell you that my friend Lisa and I visited Bernadette again in the Intensive Care unit of the hospital yesterday — and we prayed and we decided to sing the Divine Mercy Chaplet right in the ICU!
The Doctor walked in on the prayer — and said — he would come back!! He seemed cool — just wanted to get out of there — quickly — but we prayed and sang — and all I could see were Bernadette’s eyes -
- at peace and believinig in JESUS!!! Trusting in Him — we prayed for healing in the name of Jesus and believed that she received!!!
We blessed and anointed her feet! I am telling you —she is JESUS in that hospital bed — and I just wanted to stay and go back today because I can sense Jesus’ presence!! SO COOL!
Thanks for your prayers!!!
Let’s share in thanksgiving for all the ways God has continued to heal us!!!
Please share!
