Tuesday January 11, 2022

What I have...

Then Peter said to him : I have neither silver nor gold, but what I have I give to you : in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk. Acts of the Apostles 3.6

Faced with a cripple from birth who had to be taken to the right place to claim alms, Peter and John could feel helpless. Not even a few coins to slip into his bowl. But they knew the One who could raise him up, and they could heal him in his name.

We may have very little material means in the face of the immense suffering of so many of our fellow human beings. What can our intervention be if not a drop of water in the ocean ?

We still have a lot more than Peter and John had. But what do we do with what we have ? Ah ! If God had given me the fortune or the gift of healing ! What interests the miserable is not what I might have, but what I have. And that, what do I do with it ?

I have the opportunity to empathize, to offer a smile. Not much, you will say. More than you think ! Is my retirement not famous ? I have enough to give... And then, above all, I know the same God as Peter and John and I have the extraordinary grace of being able to address him to intercede.

What do I do with what I have ? I think back to Jim Elliot's quote : "He is not a fool who loses what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose". A famous digest of wisdom ! To live without waiting, knowing that this is the essential, the indemonetizable !

Richard Douliere

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Proposed reading : Acts of the Apostles chapter 3, verses 1 to 8

Source (Live Today)