Today's Gospel

Get Your Boldness Back

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where each day we listen to the gospel together and ask the Holy Spirit to point out a word or a phrase or an idea that can help us live the gospel more fully today in our everyday life. Today's reading is from the Gospel of Mark 9: 41-50. "For truly I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose his reward. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it will be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to hell to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. Everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltness, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another." That's what jumps out at you here today. It's sort of like several little readings, right? Jesus starts by saying, "Whoever gives you a drink of water because you bear my name," talking about their reward. And then he goes into, those who cause anyone of these little ones to lose their way, it'd be better to be thrown in the sea with a millstone around your neck. And then to the famous ones about, if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off, your foot and your eye.

But what jumps out at you? Is there a particular word or a particular phrase or a particular idea? And then, of course, Jesus closes with the phrasing about salt and losing our flavor. And have we lost our flavor? Have we become tasteless? Have we become just plain, just vanilla? We just blend it in. And I think about that a lot. Our motto, be bold, be Catholic. That's like to have lots of salt, right? To be bold, be Catholic is to have lots of salt. It's not to have lost your flavor. If you've lost your flavor, if you've become lukewarm, you're not going to be able to be bold, be Catholic. And so I think that's a good-- sort of a good litmus test. But how salty is your Christianity? How salty is your faith? Or is your faith losing its flavor? And if it is losing its flavor, how have you got your flavor back in the past, right? We go through seasons in our spiritual lives, and we go through times of great engagement, and we go through times where we do disengage. And then we've got to recognize, well, hold on a minute. I'm disengaging a little bit. I'm losing my flavor. And how have you re-engaged in the past? And is that something that can help you re-engage now, or do you need something else to help you re-engage and get your flavor back, get your boldness back for the faith at this time in your life? Have a great day, and remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.

I hope you're enjoying the Daily Gospel Reflections. It's one of the things I love doing, spending this time with you each day. Recently, I released a book called 33 Days to Divine Mercy. If you haven't had a chance to check that out yet, I encourage you to do that today.