Readings:
1 John 5:5-13
Luke 5:12-16
Reflection:
“If you want to, you can cure me,” says the leper to Jesus (Luke 5:12). An act of faith not unsimilar to those words uttered by Jesus himself in the Garden of Gethsemane. “If you want to, take this cup from me, but your will not mine be done.” The man leaves the decision with Jesus just as Jesus leaves his with God.
Relinquishing control over decisions in our lives, to let go and let God, is truly difficult. It takes so much patience and strength to live with debilitating illness, suffering and death, yet, at some point, we will face them – perhaps we live with them now – paths that at times may seem unbearable and beyond our capacity. Can we take the leap of faith that the leper did and simply place our need before God? Can we, like Jesus say, “Your will be done”?
In times of trial, I am comforted by the words of Joan Chittister, who reminds us,
“When I am feeling battered by life—sometimes even by life at its best—I take a deep breath and remember that though God is in all of it, God is also greater than all of it. Then, both what I lose in the battering and what I become because of it are simply chances to be more of the real thing, to become more than the thing itself. At the end of everything is God” (Called to Question p. 200).
Angela Marquis works for the Passionists at St Joseph’s in Tasmania, and with WATAC (Women and the Australian Church), and is a founding member of the Australian Women Preach organising team.