Living with Jesus.

Doing good is from God – yes or no? Good is pointed out in the movie “Warn,” even when the hero loses a leg. They save his life. Jesus says: “No one who works miracles in my name will …speak evil of me” (Mk. 9:40).

We realize the importance of Jesus’ words. Sin is not something that harms only in this world. We, after all, are to pass from this life to eternal life. And scandal and temptation and sin are the very things that take us away from this journey, that lead us more or less elsewhere than to the fullness of life with God. And when we persist in sin, when we give in to temptation, when we do not resist temptation, we close the gate to eternal life. And that is why the words about cutting off an arm, a leg, or plucking out an eye are so appropriate. We are more aware of absolute values before false ones. We need to choose the eternal over the temporal. To prefer friendship with God to fellowship with sin.

My mother has high diabetes. The doctors are talking about amputating her leg. Mother knows from talking to the doctors that she may lose her sight if she doesn’t. The children come to the hospital. The mother asks, “Will you take care of me if I am without a leg?” Tears fall down the cheeks of the adult children, and after a while, the son says: “Mom, always! At least you’ll see how you raised us, that we love you.”

Yes, God loves us, and He has the right to ask for such sacrifices as amputation and especially to be strict with His eyes… We should realize how the Divine Surgeon, Jesus, is doing us. It is by His permission that we endure hardships. These are for our good. Mortification, self-sacrifice, self-control when we act knowing God’s will, receive strength, grace, and grow in love for God. They help us rid ourselves of faults and habits and increase in resistance to sin.

It is good that we know what we want. Those who don’t know what they wish to do correctly will very quickly end up where they don’t want to be. Jesus warns us against false happiness. God made us with eyes, hands, and feet so that we would receive eternal rewards, not eternal punishment. Though we must often and hard to resist the temptations of sin, with Jesus, our destination is inevitable.

In the movie “Warn,” a man lost his leg, but his life was saved. With today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us of salvation to eternal life.