Read­ing Time: 2 minutes

Introduction

To be determ­ined is to make up one’s mind for some­thing. It is firm­ness of pur­pose. That is, the qual­ity of being determ­ined to do or achieve some­thing. Gen­er­ally, determ­in­a­tion requires con­cen­tra­tion and does not admit dis­trac­tions. This is what we find in this Sunday Gos­pel read­ing. The blind beg­gar whom Jesus met sit­ting by the road­side as he walked away from the city of Jericho, was determ­ined to meet him (Jesus). Such determ­in­a­tion is seen in his insist­ence as he implored Jesus to have mercy on him, des­pite being scol­ded by many to keep quiet.

Jesus, have pity on me

“As he and his dis­ciples and a large crowd were leav­ing Jericho, Bar­tim­aeus (son of Tim­aeus), a blind beg­gar, was sit­ting by the road­side. When he heard that it was Jesus of Naz­areth, he began to shout out and say, Jesus, Son of Dav­id, have mercy on me!” (Mark 10:46–47). Why “Son of Dav­id?” Because in Jesus’ time, many believed the anti­cip­ated Jew­ish Mes­si­ah would be a des­cend­ent of King Dav­id. The phys­ic­al con­di­tion of the man forced him to depend on what he gets from oth­ers for his sur­viv­al. The blind man pleaded with Jesus to have mercy or pity on him because he did not just desire to sur­vive. He wished and wanted to live. Gen­er­ally, grace means favour and there are vari­ous forms of favour. Hence.….

The power of determination

Suc­cess and fail­ure are two sides of the same coin. Many fail because unknow­ingly, they choose to fail. People think they must fol­low a par­tic­u­lar pat­tern or dir­ec­tion in order to suc­ceed. This is wrong. It is also reas­on such people fail. Suc­cess has many dir­ec­tions. If one dir­ec­tion does not favour you, aban­don that dir­ec­tion and fol­low a dif­fer­ent course. When the blind man of the Gos­pel implored Jesus to help him, many people shouted at him and asked him to keep quiet. But he refused. He shouted the more. And it was this his increased shout­ing that attracted.….

Conclusion

Noth­ing worth doing comes easy. There are no short cuts, no quick fixes. It takes determ­ined efforts, com­mit­ment and per­sist­ence to achieve one’s most cher­ished dreams, whatever they maybe. There will always be obstacles, risks, dis­ap­point­ments, fears, doubts, set­backs, even moments of des­pair. But determ­ined people will turn these chal­lenges into oppor­tun­it­ies. Their cour­age and com­mit­ment gen­er­ate enthu­si­asm and pos­it­ive energy, which rein­force their determ­in­a­tion, until their dreams become reality.

How­ever, determ­ined people can become both tyr­ants and saints. What dif­fer­en­ti­ates them is their pur­pose and aspir­a­tions. In oth­er words, determ­in­a­tion could be for good or for evil. Nat­ur­ally, the power of determ­in­a­tion as sus­tained in this reflec­tion is solely for good. Dreams do not become real­ity through magic. It takes sweat, determ­in­a­tion and hard-work to suc­ceed. Atten­tion! It is not enough to dream. As J. Owens said, we all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into real­ity, it takes an awful lot of determ­in­a­tion, ded­ic­a­tion, self-dis­cip­line, and effort.

FOR DETAILS, GET YOUR OWN COPIES OF THE BOOK “THE WORD OF LIFE: SUNDAY REFLECTIONS” (vols. I and II)!! The reflec­tion for the 30^th Sunday of the year (B) is found in vol. II pages 477–488. Happy reading!

For details on how to get it, con­tact the author on this link: https://m.me/uchennabiblia?fbclid=IwAR2yeg4a6sDGBp9QGkIvKj6FSADumMokN6lshdE0zuo-JHs6qOmlhA7jyHo or email me at: postmaster@uchennabiblia.com or simply send an SMS on 08116100926, and I will get back to you.

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