5th Week, Wednesday, Feb 8:
Genesis 2:4-9, 15-17 / Mark 7:14-23
As yet there were no humans; So, God formed a man.
In one of his books, Dr. James Dobson cites an essay written
by a third-grader. Called “What Is a grandmother?” it makes delightful reading.
Here are three excerpts from it. “Grandmothers don’t have to be smart, only
answer questions like, ‘Why isn’t God married?’ and ‘How come dogs chase
cats?’”
“A grandmother is a lady with no children of
her own.... She likes other people’s little girls and boys.” The
third-grader concluded, saying, “Everyone should have a grandmother, especially
if they don’t have TV.”
***
Do we hold people—especially the very young and the very
old—in reverence as a sign of God’s creative love for us? “Age is a matter of
mind; if you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” Author unknown
****
After the creation poem of Gen 1, we get a second version of
the creation, especially of the Earth Man (Adam, drawn from adamah, earth) in a
down-to-earth story. The human person breathes with the same life-giving breath
(spirit, ruah) as God, at least in the sense that he or she has to breathe at
the same rhythm as God. Then the human person is placed in a royal garden,
paradise, to cultivate it.
Divided, too, were the hearts of the Pharisees, as
Jesus points out in the gospel; their interior attitude did not correspond to
their outward practices. The question of pure/impure was very important for the
early Church, as it was one of the strongest traditions of the Jews and a point
of contention for them. Hence, the Christians coming from Jewry asked
themselves whether they could eat from the same table with non-Jews. According
to Mark, in the light of creation that sees all foods as created good and pure,
in the kingdom the rules about food are abolished.
****
In the Bible, the verb "to eat" has a deeper
meaning than just consuming food. To eat can mean to be in communion with
another person or persons, or to be in an intimate relationship with someone.
So, for the Jews, who they eat with is significant and important. Another
meaning of the verb "to eat" can also mean to know, or to have
knowledge of something or someone.
For the Jews, they had a long-standing tradition of what is
ritually clean and unclean foods. So when Jesus said that nothing goes into
a man from outside can make him unclean, he actually knocked away one of
the pillars of their cultural and religious tradition.
On the other hand, Jesus connected the act of eating with
the knowledge of what is sin. Similarly, in the 1st reading, God commanded Adam
and Eve not to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and
evil.
When we sin, we eat of the fruit of evil and our hearts
become filled with evil, and death and destruction happen from within.
In the Eucharist, we gather to partake of Jesus, who is the
Bread of Life so as to be in communion with Him. May we be filled with the life
of the Spirit so that we will speak words of love that will give life to
others.
***
Encountering Christ:
1. Attentiveness
and Understanding: How fascinating and humbling that God became a man
and then asked us to pay attention to his words. God never forces his messages
upon us nor does he demand our attention. He desires our free and open
response, for only with that can he work in our lives with generosity and love.
He turned to the crowds and to his followers, asking them to listen closely.
Here, now, in this moment of prayer, Jesus is also inviting us to listen
closely to his words in Scripture and also to his words in the silence of our
hearts, the circumstances of our lives, and even the suffering we experience
today. Are we listening?
2. Jesus
Seeks to Nourish Us: The Jewish people had many rules about almost all
aspects of life, including food. Certain foods were clean, others unclean.
Foods also needed to be prepared and eaten in a certain way. Such an ordinary
part of life was raised to the level of religious practice and became a matter
of individual righteousness. Jesus wanted to restore the image of God’s
goodness and providence. From the moment of creation, God gave us everything to
enjoy as a gift and to care for as its stewards. Jesus wants us to enjoy all
that God has provided for us, down to the food we eat, so that we can be
nourished and not scrupulous. How easy it is to sometimes put certain things
into categories of “good” or “bad” based on subjective opinions. This Gospel is
an invitation to see all of creation with God’s eyes and to use his gifts
wisely.
3. The
Heart of the Matter: Clearly, the point of the passage is not what
should be eaten for dinner. Rather, it is about something much deeper and very
precious to Jesus: the human heart. Jesus came to establish his kingdom, not
with armies or castles, but through grace and conversion of the human heart. He
sees the evil we sometimes do–unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed,
malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly–and he
passionately desires to enter and possess each person’s heart, so that he can
transform it into a vessel of his love and light. Yet, he cannot enter without
our consent. He stands outside our inner door and knocks softly, waiting for us
to open the door and allow him in.
Conversing with Christ: Jesus, I want to sit at
your feet and allow you to teach me today about what is most important to you.
You are interested in entering my heart— purifying it and transforming it for
your glory. Jesus, please enter my heart now. Show me what is really there and
make it like yours in all things.
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will
carry you with me in my heart. Grant me the grace to listen to you, not only in
this time of prayer but all throughout my day. May your words teach me to see
my day through your eyes and to focus on what is most important.
***
Opening Prayer
Father, God of the ever-new covenant, you have tied us to
yourself with leading strings of everlasting love; the words you speak to us
are spirit and life. May your Spirit make us look at the commandments not as a
set of observances. May they move us to serve you not in a slavish way, but as
your sons and daughters who love you and whom you have set free through your
Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen
***
Saint Josephine, Bakhita, c. 1868-1947
Feast day February 8
“It is an act of justice for the rich to help the poor.”
Saint Josephine, affectionately known as Bakhita (“fortunate
one”), was born in the southern Sudan region of Darfur. She was kidnapped as a
child and sold into slavery, eventually working in Italy as a nanny for a
wealthy family. It was during this time that she was introduced to formal
religion and came to know the Daughters of Charity of Canossa, or the Canossian
Sisters. Bakhita was drawn to the Catholic Church. She was baptized in 1890 and
given the name Josephine. Six years later she entered the Canossian Sisters
convent in Schio, Italy.
At her canonization ceremony on October 1, 2000, Pope John
Paul II said of St. Josephine: “In today’s world, countless women continue to
be victimized, even in developed modern societies. In St. Josephine Bakhita we
find a shining advocate of genuine emancipation. The history of her life
inspires not passive acceptance but the firm resolve to work effectively to
free girls and women from oppression and violence, and to return them to their
dignity in the full exercise of their rights.”
Bakhita knew the reality of being a slave, an immigrant, and a spiritual seeker. Even while she was outwardly denied freedom and human dignity, her spirit was free. It was that freedom of spirit that allowed her to follow her heart and live her true vocation.