God Sees You and Your Suffering 03/11/2026

“Those who suffer because that is God’s will for them must entrust themselves to a faithful creator and continue to do what is good.” 1 Peter 4:19 (GW) Some people think that if they’re suffering, then they must be sinning. They think their suffering is a result of being outside of God’s will. But the Bible says that sometimes we suffer according to God's will. "Those who suffer because that is God’s will for them must entrust themselves to a faithful creator and continue to do what is good" (1 Peter 4:19 GW). Sometimes it's God's will for you to suffer. Sometimes it's God's will for you to be sick. Sometimes it's God's will for you to have problems and be harassed for your faith. Why? Because God is more interested in your character than your comfort. He's more interested in growing you to be like Christ than he is in making your life easy. So what should you do when the bullies and harassers come at you? You should trust in your faithful God who has promised you his presence and eternity in heaven. And you should keep on doing good. You’re still going to face trouble and opposition. This is part of the Christian life! I learned a long time ago that people can laugh at you or say things about you, but they can't stop you. They have no ability to stop you from believing and doing the right thing. How you respond to others—in retaliation or in love—will always be your choice. And you can always make the right choice with the help of the Holy Spirit in you. Keep going. Remain faithful. Just keep doing the right thing. You don't need anybody else's approval to be happy. You don't need to be part of the cool club. You don't need a smart reply for your enemies. You just need to persevere in doing what is right. God sees you. He will take care of you. And he will keep his promise to be with you forever. Talk It Over Is it comforting to know suffering is sometimes part of God’s will? Why or why not? What are the things you should be doing as a Christian, even when you are bullied? How has remembering God’s promises helped you persevere through a challenging time?

How to hear the voice of God

How to hear the voice of God

When Jesus says, “Follow Me,” how do we know it’s Jesus and not just our own imagination? Who wouldn’t like to know more precisely how to hear the voice of God?

Those of us who are already following Jesus need to be constantly on the alert for more “Follow Me” commands.

In every decision we face, where is Jesus and what is he trying to lead us into? What do we need to better learn how to hear the voice of God?

Are there any areas of our lives where we are not following Jesus? If so, what voices are pulling us away from the will of God?

Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice and they follow me” (John 10:27). As our Good Shepherd, he wants what is best for us — from the perspective of the Kingdom of God. We wish we could hear his voice clearly every time he speaks to us. He is never silent. He loves us too much to deny us any information that could help us follow him well.

Meanwhile, there are many wolves in shepherd’s clothing who demand our obedience, not the least of which is our own misdirected will. Here’s how to hear the voice of God successfully and discern that from all other voices and noises:

1. Relationship with Jesus
2. Repentance
3. Renewal through the Holy Spirit
4. Relationships with others who are also filled with the Holy Spirit

(1) To hear the voice of Jesus and follow it, first we must be in a good relationship with him. We need to know him as our Savior without whom we will never reach Heaven. We need to know him as a personal friend who cares about us. We need to relate to him by connecting our lives to his life, our burdens to his burdens, our sufferings to his sufferings, and our joys to his joys.

(2) Next, we must examine our consciences in light of scripture and the traditional teachings of the Church: What have you heard that you have rebelled against? We must examine our decisions: What are you deaf to because you’d rather believe it’s really not from Jesus? We must examine our lives: What area of your life is not fully given over to Christ and filled with Christ? (For example, are you sure that all of your political views have been taken over by Jesus Christ? Have you voted for a politician who has policies that are anti-christ, anti-life, immoral?) Whenever we cannot hear or we fail to hear the voice of Jesus, we need to admit that we’ve been separating ourselves from him, we need to obtain supernatural grace through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and we need to desire to increase our holiness with the help of the Holy Spirit.

(3) To hear the voice of Jesus and follow him well, we definitely need the help of the Holy Spirit. We must have a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit. Give the Holy Spirit permission to take over your life, your heart, and your soul. Start every morning with a prayer something like this: “Come Holy Spirit, fill me. Come Holy Spirit, open my ears to hear Jesus. Come Holy Spirit, change me.”

(4) To discern the voice of Jesus amidst uncertainty and contrary voices, we benefit greatly from relationships with others who are also filled with the Holy Spirit. God confirms what he’s telling us by reiterating it through Christian community. It’s possible to successfully hear him in our hearts and yet remain uncertain. We long to hear God externally, in an audible voice. Although sometimes he does it that way, he usually echoes what he has spoken to our hearts through other externals (for example, a supernatural Word of Knowledge that someone speaks in a prayer meeting, or a friend being anointed during prayer and receiving an idea that matches what you’ve been thinking).

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Four Ways to Use Your Spiritual Gifts - Pastor Rick's Daily Hope

 Give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.”

Romans 6:13 (NLT)

God has given spiritual gifts to every single follower of Jesus. How do you start using the spiritual gifts God put inside of you? Here are four ways to get started:

1. Discover your gifts.
You’ve got to know what your gifts are before you can use them. Stop ignoring the fact that inside of you are some dormant gifts that you’re not even using, and figure out what God has put in you. The Bible says in 1 Timothy 4:14, “Do not neglect the spiritual gift that is in you” (GNT).

2. Dedicate your gifts to God.
The Bible says in Romans 6:13, “Give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God” (NLT).

Maybe you already know what you’re good at, but you’re just not using it for the Lord. You’re using it for yourself. You need to humble yourself and dedicate to the Lord every gift you have. Push all of your excuses out of the way and say, “God, I dedicate back to you what you gave to me.”

3. Develop your gifts.
Gifts are like muscles: The more you use them, the bigger they get. You can strengthen and develop and grow what God has given you. Any gift that God gives you can and should be developed. You’ll get better at it by practicing, studying, and by learning from other people who have the same gift.

I’ve learned that when God gives you something, he will give you even more of it if you use it well—more talent, money, influence, relationships, or responsibility. He says, “I can trust that person. I’m going to give that person more and more and more.”

4. Deploy your spiritual gifts.
“Deploy” means to put into service. You get out on the field, and you start doing something. Romans 12:6 says this: “We are to use our different gifts in accordance with the grace that God has given us. If our gift is to speak God’s message, we should do it according to the faith that we have” (GNT).

What’s the best way to discover and dedicate and develop and deploy your spiritual gifts? In a small group. It’s a testing ground! If you are not in a small group, I encourage you to get connected to one this week so that you can test and develop your spiritual gifts in the safe and supportive environment of friends who will encourage you.

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What’s holding you back?

As we work at building up our faith and our personal connection to Christmas, we need a better understanding of our calling to give birth to Christ in partnership with Mary and the Holy Spirit. We need to get more in touch with how and why we can succeed at spreading the Good News more fully into the world, which so desperately needs him. For this purpose, we can use today’s first reading to uncover what’s still holding us back:

1. How is your life like a desert, dry and lifeless except for a few prickly cactuses? 

2.Are you thirsty for more of God? In what area of your life do you feel parched?

3. Are you feeble in your attempts to become a better evangelizer? 

4.Are your knees weak as your travel the difficult road of holy living?

5. Are you controlled and paralyzed by fear? Any fear — even the smallest one — paralyzes us from moving ahead into the success that awaits us. 6.How are you blind? Are you unable to recognize the talents, knowledge and wisdom you have that God wants you to use for taking Christ to others? 

7.What has God been telling you that you can’t hear? Maybe it’s his guidance? Or his love song that he sings to you? Or his dreams for you? 8.What part of giving Christ to others is too difficult for you? What lame excuses are you using to sit down and do nothing? 

9.How has fear kept your tongue silent when you could be sharing a story about your faith life? Or what have you been saying that’s so unlike Jesus that you give a bad impression of who Jesus really is? 

10.In what areas of your life are the jackals who tempt you still lurking, keeping you from being a good witness of what Jesus is really like? 

11.In what ways do you act foolishly? What the world considers wise the Lord knows to be foolish. What worldly wisdom is holding you back from imitating Jesus? 

12.How are you like a lion? Is there anyone you’ve been devouring with unkind words or impatience or contempt or bullying instead of giving them the unconditional love of Jesus? 

Well, the Good News is, as Isaiah points out: The Lord has ransomed us! Today’s Gospel reading reveals that Jesus was overflowing with God’s power so that he could minister to people. He wants to minister to you, too. We all need this help to fulfill our calling as evangelizers. It’s Jesus who strengthens the hands that are feeble and the knees that are weak. We are like the paralytic who allowed his friends to lower him to Jesus for a healing. By humbling ourselves and allowing Christian friends to help us, we reach the power of Christ. And then he says to us, “My friend, your sins are forgiven.” With that Word, we are healed. With that Word, all the good things that Isaiah prophesied are becoming true for us.

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Seven Characteristics of Mercy

“The wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy.” James 3:17 (NLT) Mercy is like a diamond; it is multifaceted. Today we’re going to look at seven facets of mercy. And I guarantee that learning how to be an agent of mercy will transform your relationships. 1. Mercy means being patient with people’s quirks. The Bible says in James 3:17, “The wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy” (NLT). The wiser you become, the more patient and merciful you become. 2. Mercy means helping anyone around you who is hurting. You cannot love your neighbor as yourself without being merciful. Proverbs 3:27 says, “Whenever you possibly can, do good to those who need it” (GNT). 3. Mercy means giving people a second chance. When somebody hurts you, you normally want to get even or write that person off. But the Bible says, “Stop being bitter and angry and mad at others . . . Instead, be kind and merciful, and forgive others, just as God forgave you because of Christ” (Ephesians 4:31-32 CEV). 4. Mercy means doing good to those who hurt you. Mercy is giving people what they need, not what they deserve. Why should you do that? Because that’s what God does with you: “Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back . . . Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:35-36 NIV). 5. Mercy means being kind to those who offend you. You need to be more interested in winning people to Christ than in winning an argument. Jude 1:23 says, “Show mercy to others, even though you are afraid that you might be stained by their sinful lives” (GW). 6. Mercy means building bridges of love to the unpopular. This is what I call premeditated mercy, because you intentionally build friendships with people who don’t have friends or who are not accepted at work or in society. When the Pharisees questioned why Jesus ate with tax collectors and other unpopular people, Jesus said, “‘I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.’ For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners” (Matthew 9:13 NLT). 7. Mercy means valuing relationships over rules. Romans 13:10 says, “Love fulfills the requirements of God’s law” (NLT). If you want to show mercy, put people before policies. Put their needs before procedures. Put relationships before regulations. Choose love over law.

New Growth in Faith

Name your stump. Today’s first reading contains that often-quoted, sometimes sung prophecy in Isaiah about the coming of the Messiah, a new branch growing from the dead stump of the tree of Jesse. Jesse was the great King David’s father. Out of this family tree, Jesus was born. The tree of Jesse was a healthy, fruitful family because of their faith in God, which inspired them to be good servants of his kingdom. David became a servant-king 1,100 years before the human birth of Jesus. His reign was strong and branched out into the whole nation of Israel. During much of his son Solomon’s reign, the tree continued to flourish, but then it became diseased. Israel cracked in two, divided and weakened by a civil war after Solomon’s death. Foreign enemies came and cut down the tree, taking the Israelites into captivity. The Jews never again had a king as great as David. Through the prophet Isaiah, God promised that the tree of Jesse would spring back to life. In the midst of suffering and loss, God was offering a reason for hope based on faith in him. Think of a chopped-down tree in your own life. What relationship has been cut off? What ministry has died? Has a job been axed? Has a dream withered? Name your stump. The Jews thought that when the new shoot finally grew from the stump of Jesse’s tree, it would be a new king like David and he would rescue them from their human enemies. Of course, we know that Jesus was the Messiah that Isaiah had prophesied, and he was quite a different sort of king. The branch of Christ grew into Christianity and its many branches of Christ-rooted ministries. Jesus rescued us from the spiritual enemy and its weapons of sin. Faith-filled followers serve God’s kingdom, producing many good fruits. Now think of your own tree stump. If we watch for our stumps to come back to life and grow the same old tree, we will fail to see our Messiah. A cut-off relationship cannot be restored unless Christ becomes the center of it and each person’s heart is converted and healed from the cut. A dead ministry will take new shape only when Jesus resurrects it; the roots will be the same, but the new growth will be surprisingly different. Christ’s life is springing forth from the axed job as he points the way down a path that will glorify God. The withered dream will pass through the cross of Christ to be resurrected into a glorified new goal that will be empowered by a Pentecost of the Holy Spirit. When we allow Isaiah’s prophecy to come true for us in our current situations, we hear Jesus say, as we read in today’s Gospel passage, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!” Do you have faith to see? Fertilize your tree stump by increasing your prayer time, scripture reading, other spiritual reading, and participation in parish programs. Jesus himself is the new growth that will be born in you, but you have to nurture your soil. For more on this, use our video, “3 Keys in Turbulent Times to Grow Closer to Christ” @ gnm-media.org/3-keys-in-turbulent-times-to-grow-closer-to-christ/. © 2022 by Terry A. Modica

Making the most of divine opportunities

 Mark 10:46-52

bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/102421.cfm

After Jesus touches our lives -- answers a prayer, gives us a healing, provides a life-changing insight, or makes any other kind of difference -- what do we do next? Our life has been changed by divine grace. Do we make the most of this new opportunity?

God never forces us to take a new direction or follow a certain path, not even if we've made a bargain with him, such as: "Lord, if you heal me, I will go to Mass every day."

Jesus says to us what he said to Bartimaeus, the man he healed in this Sunday's Gospel reading: "Go your way; your faith has saved you." Go where?

Sometimes his instructions are a little more informative than that. When he cures someone from sin, he adds: "Go and sin no more". Okay, but go where?

Every step we take is important. Where we go and what we do next makes a difference that ripples off into the future with ramifications (blessings and/or woes) that are impossible for us to predict. Jesus isn't down-playing the significance of this. Rather, what happens next is so important that he wants us to have full control over it.

Jesus told Bartimaeus "Go your way." And what did Bartimaeus do with that freedom? He "followed him on the way." He opted for the best possible direction. His life changed dramatically, not only because he had been blind and now he had good eyesight, but because he wanted to learn from Jesus and become one of his followers.

How many times have we returned to an old familiar path after an encounter with Christ? If following him means taking a new direction, getting involved in a new ministry, or changing careers or friends, we too often settle back into old routines. Comfort zones are hard to leave. But following Jesus is a life-changing adventure if we're sincere about our faith.

Following Jesus and learning from him should be our highest priority. Every encounter with Christ should change us -- even at Mass when we reunite ourselves to him in the Eucharist.

Questions for Personal Reflection:
Think of the last time Jesus responded to your need for help. What changed afterward? How long did the change last?

Questions for Community Faith Sharing:
Describe a time when you changed directions in your life because of an encounter with Christ. What did Jesus do for you? How did you figure out which way to go afterward?

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