Youth for Christ Sto. Tomas Cluster

01252012, Wednesday

Acts 22:3-16 or Acts 9:1-22, Psalm 117

Gospel: Mark 16:15-18

Feast of the Solemnity of St. Paul

Jesus Appears to the Eleven

He said to them, “Go throughout the whole world and preach the gospel to all people.Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.Believers will be given the power to perform miracles: they will drive out demons in my name; they will speak in strange tongues; if they pick up snakes or drink any poison, they will not be harmed; they will place their hands on sick people, and these will get well.”

Photo By: Momon Ramos

Most of us already know the story of Saul. The bully, back in the day, who persecuted Jesus and all his disciples. The man, who seemingly made it his mission in life to turn the world into a living hell for the followers of Jesus.

Most of us also know what Jesus did. He changed Saul — from a persecutor to a follower. Jesus revealed himself to Saul, showed him His majestic miracles, and ultimately transformed Saul to Paul– from a man of anger and hate, to one of His greatest disciples of all time.

We’re all familiar with this story. Even in our own lives, at one point or another, we’ve met or heard of someone who’s life took a hundred-eighty degree turn, and moved from one end of the spectrum to the other, and it is through these stories that we realized and proclaimed how great, powerful, and merciful God is.

Most of us know the story of Saul, and most of us know what Jesus did, but very little of us know of a man named Ananias.  Only few of us know of how Jesus, at a crucial moment, used Ananias, his disciple, to free Saul from his blindness.

When Ananias was called, he was already a follower of God, but at that time, he also knew of Saul. So when God asked him to go to Saul to lay his hands on him so that he may see, Ananias answered: “But Lord, I know of this man, and I know that he persecutes your followers. And now he is given the authority by the chief priests to bind all those who proclaim your name.”

At that moment, Ananias seemed scared.

Wouldn’t we all feel the same? We call ourselves disciples of Jesus, but most of the time, when we look back at our lives; we realize that we are gravely driven by fear. We choose not to act on what should be acted upon for fear of being persecuted or hurting ourselves. In this age full of Sauls, full of persecutors of Christ, we hear God’s call to fight for Him and to stand up to those who persecute Him, but most of the time, we remain scared.

Today, God reminds us of our calling as His disciples – to fight for His name and to proclaim His goodness and miracles to the world, even if it scares us. He handpicked each and everyone of us to fight this battle for Him. God could have easily transformed Saul, but He chose to use Ananias instead. God chose and handpicked you. Because just as how God chose and used Ananias, to be the instrument of change for Saul, God has chosen you and wants to use you as His instrument as well.

And not only will He use you, but He promises that you will be equipped with every weapon that you will need, and that He will be there every single step of the way. Ananias had a great, special place in history because He chose to believe and trust in the power of God even if he was scared. God has reserved a special place for you too. He wants you to be the Ananias to the Sauls of today.

Think about it, out of all the battles that God sent you for, when did He ever fail you?

Writer: Kristine Rey | Artist: Momon Ramos

via CFCYOUTHFORCHRIST.NET