Courage

The Liturgy of the Word of today's Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time speaks to me about the courage. Though there is not a single word about the courage itself. But what is genuine humility spoken about in the Holy Scripture, the humility understood and defined by God Himself, if not our courage to trust God and go beyond our fear and need to stay in the comfort of the known world to us?


The Christian or better - the Gospel courage has become one of the major themes in my meditations and reflections. The humility of Abram in Ur, the humility of Old Testament prophets, the humility of Mary of Nazareth, the humility of Joseph who woke up in the middle of the night and did what he was told to do in his dream - without a trace of objection or reasoning, the humility of so many people who were challenged by God in the course of the history of salvation and - though seeing how they were filled with 'nothingness', showed humility to accept God's challenge and set on the path of the unknown... walking by pure faith and not by sight (as St. Paul writes in one of his letters)?

This humility is nothing else but a pure Gospel courage of a human being, aware of her/his limitations yet trusting more in God's Word thus setting on a path of a journey that God wants her/him to undertake for her/his benefit and for the benefit of the whole Church and humankind...

The decision one makes when faced by God - either to say or no to the God's proposal for one's life - echoes in eternity and has an impact on life of the whole world. As Maximus said before the battle in Gladiator movie - 'what we do in life, echoes in eternity'...

The 'yes' of Mary gave us hope and salvation who live twenty centuries later and benefit from that 'yes'. The same applies to every 'yes' decision of anyone of us wherever we may be...

The second reading challenges us to look closely at our vocation. There is no one in the world who can say she or he has no vocation given to her or him by God. Everyone of us has unique vocation and unique task to do. Do I know what my vocation is? What is my answer to this challenge, to this life plan given to me by God?

Is my answer to this God's plan for me and through me for the benefit of all - 'yes' or 'no'?

As I look closely to my vocation, I am happy and grateful to God who enabled me to say always 'yes' to His plan for me. God's reward for this 'yes' has been unspeakable, immense, amazing. By surrendering to God's will I have not become limited or have become an object in His hands. I have become totally free and happy and open to others and to the whole world which has become my oyster...The sky is the limit. This 'yes' I pronounced on several occasions set me on such a wonderful path of life and enabled me to meet so many amazing people and to see and experience things I would only dream of or read in the adventure books....

I may become excessively repetitive in my posts, but believe me. The real humility is nothing else that a genuine courage to leave the known world and follow God in the fog of faith to the unknown which is a breathtaking life experience for which we must be absolutely grateful.