The Catholic Defender: Jesus Never Tapped Out
Courage is one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. This can be manifested in many different ways.
Courage can be shown by telling the truth even though you could be in trouble. Taking responsibility or being responsible sometimes takes courage.
Courage can also take place when a tragic happening takes place. We sometimes see greatness thrust upon people who reacts heroically to terrible crisis.
Soldiers in a war zone are many times placed in conditions where quick decisions are made and heroic actions take place. In Iraq, we have had Medal of Honor recipients who gave their lives to save others.
Firefighters many times will place themselves where saving a life is most important. Many have risked their lives to save others and many gave the highest sacrifice to save others. Police Officers can identify with this on a daily work schedule.
One never knows what the day will bring in but they must have a readiness about them that as things can happen at any moment. So courage can come from taking a moral stand to do the hard right, and sometimes it can be dangerous.
St. Paul took courage when he arrived in Rome and people came from as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns. He remained under house arrest along with a guard. Uncertainty can be a huge challenge, but if we place our trust in the Lord, we can find ourselves achieving more than we ever thought possible.
Courage must have a foundation based in love. Love for God, for one’s family, and for one’s country. Many times in sports we see great courage, sometimes it can be brutal such as some of the tough man competitions.
The WWE use to be very popular, and still is for entertainment, but these tough man competitions have really grown the past few years. Instead of seeking to pin a challenger, they seek to get an opponent to “tap out” through various holds.
Sometimes great courage comes from these competitions. The highest example of courage comes from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The agony in the garden reveals a great deal of courage our Lord had for love of us. “He began to feel sorrow and distress”, and he prostrated himself before the Father praying, ‘Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet, not as I will, but as you will”.
Jesus knew what was going to happen, he still did not “tap out”! His whole purpose in coming to the world was for this moment and he was made ready for this moment through love.
Lent is an opportunity for us to follow the way of sorrows, to gather strength in our own lives so that we do not tap out of life. We are to be encouraged because by His stripes, we are healed.
Jesus has inspired countless people to pick up their cross and follow Him. The Catholic Faith has a whole wall of fame honoring those who gave their all for the Lord. Heaven’s “Hall of Fame” is open for all to visit right in the privacy of your home or in shrines built in honor of them.
The Catholic Church has had many examples of such heroic faith, many being crucified, thrown to wild beasts, ridiculed, burned at the stake, all of this as Jesus foretold to his Apostles.
Whom shall you serve this day? In your house, will you walk and serve the Lord, or will you tap out to the lures of this world. Today, we should take the love for God and grow in His love.
With His love for us, great is your reward! He offers His Divine Mercy!
“I desire that this mercy flow out upon the whole world through your heart. Let no one who approaches you go away without that trust in my mercy, which I so ardently desire for souls.
Pray as much as you can for the dying. By your entreaties, obtain for them trust in my mercy, because they have most need of trust, and have it the least”. Jesus (Divine Mercy Diary, 1777)
Jesus was laid in the tomb to await resurrection that offers of hope and gives us the courage to never give up.
