Luke 17:11-19 Stand Up and Go

Luke 17: 11-19 Stand Up and Go

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Why is faith so important? It allows us to stand up and go!

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC #26) states that Faith is man’s response to God: “I believe.” On a very personal level, faith is a journey that I willingly undertake to go and seek the solution to my existence. Like the ten lepers that met the Lord as he was traveling. They went out, into dangerous terrain, the open fields, and they met the Lord. Their faith, possibly a “blind faith”, led them to be cured and at least for one, to be saved. To believe in the Lord means to go out and to trust in Him. He alone is the one that can move mountains and rise from the dead. He alone is the one that can save me from death and place me upon his shoulders, the highest of mountains! He alone can move the toughest of mountains, my heart!

Faith allows me to stand up, to see my littleness, and be joyful! The Lord does not belittle anyone. The Lord loves me, even when I cannot love myself. He knows everything about me and he still reaches out to me. The sun shines on the righteous and the wicked; the stars perform for all mankind while the rain pours on the deserving and undeserving. All creation points to Him. “The Lord is my Shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.” (Ps 23:1) My littleness is his jewel. My littleness is what makes me great! “When I am weak, then I am strong.” My littleness allows me to easily pass through the eye of a needle. My child-like heart gives thanks for all that He has done. Regardless of my past, I will forever be a child in the eyes of God. If I feel as if I am too great, too strong, too tall, then the Lord provides a solution to it all: fall to your knees and make yourself small.

Faith in the One True God, the God of Love, our God who is a Father, opens his ears to my call. I call out and He calls me son, daughter, my beloved in the midst of pain and suffering, twisted upon a cross and left to die. The ten lepers were just as sinful as the Twelve Apostles, maybe even less. Regardless, He heard their cry and swept them off their feet. “The one leper fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.” My faith is a response to His grace. Justice demands that I go and thank him. Love demands that I love Him in return.

Thank you Jesus for being my Lord, my Savior, and my all.

With all this said and done, we cannot forget the most important reason for our faith, the faith of our fathers, the faith in Our Father, and that is to reach out to the foreigner. To proclaim the Truth! To proclaim that the Lord Jesus is King! He is King of the Universe and King of my life. The Universe is one with me in proclaiming the glory and majesty of the Lord. The Lord provides us with EVERYTHING: a family, a home, a universe. Sin distorts and twists it beyond belief! But, although it is hidden away, it is there for all to see. I must show myself to the priest! I must give a reason to believe. I cannot waste my time with slander, malice or envy. “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deluded, slaves to various desires and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful ourselves and hating one another.” (Ti 3:1-3)

Stand up and go. Live a life that is pleasing to the Lord. Do something beautiful today. Respond to God’s presence by taking a chance and living life to the full. Enjoy the most amazing gift that the Lord has given to you: this day.