Daily Gospel Reflection

Can You Keep a Secret?

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant. Can you keep a secret? Can you be confided in? That's the lesson in today's reading. We're exploring the genius, the simplicity of the Gospel, and learning to apply it to our lives. Today's reading is from Mark, chapter 1, verses 40 through 45. "And a leper came to Jesus beseeching him and kneeling, said to him, 'If you will, you can make me clean.' And moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, 'I do will it. Be clean.' And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. And he sternly charged him and sent him away at once. And he said to him, 'See that you say nothing to anyone. But go show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded for a proof to the people.' But he went out and began to talk freely about it and to spread the news so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town but was out in the country, and people came to him from every quarter."

So the idea that jumps out at me today is, can you be confided in? Can you keep a secret? When someone asks you to hold something in confidence, are you able to hold that in confidence? Jesus has radically altered this person's life, and he's made a small request, a simple request, a clear request. Keep it to yourself. But the man's gone out and has told everyone he's encountered. So today, let's think about, are we able to be confided in? Can someone come to you and confide in you and trust that you will hold whatever they share with you in confidence to yourself? It's a powerful gift of friendship. It's a powerful, powerful gift of relationship. We all need to confide in people from time to time about sensitive things, about intimate things. And we need to know that that person will honor what we are sharing with them. Let's be that person. God bless you. Have a great day. And remember, don't just be yourself. Be the very best version of yourself, all that God created you to be.