Category: Uncategorized

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Genesis: 3: 1-8

Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals
that the LORD God had made.
The serpent asked the woman,
“Did God really tell you not to eat
from any of the trees in the garden?”
The woman answered the serpent:
“We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden;
it is only about the fruit of the tree
in the middle of the garden that God said,
‘You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.’”
But the serpent said to the woman:
“You certainly will not die!
No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it
your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods
who know what is good and what is evil.”
The woman saw that the tree was good for food,
pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom.
So she took some of its fruit and ate it;
and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her,
and he ate it.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened,
and they realized that they were naked;
so they sewed fig leaves together
and made loincloths for themselves.

When they heard the sound of the LORD God moving about in the garden
at the breezy time of the day,
the man and his wife hid themselves from the LORD God
among the trees of the garden.

The Word of the Lord.

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The opening chapters of the Book of Genesis provide the foundation for a Judeo-Christian understanding of the world. Here we are introduced to themes like: creation, humanity, good, evil, suffering, and death. All of which remain, to some extent, mysteries. 

However, there are many parallels between Genesis and the Gospels, helping us to understand the deeper dimensions of Christ’s public ministry.

Consider two examples today.

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First, God creates Adam, then he gives Adam one commandment: “You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden, except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. From that tree you shall not eat; when you eat from it you shall die” (Gen. 2:17).

This gives the impression that God already knows Adam will disobey him. Yet, in the very next verse, God decides to create Eve. The universe continues to unfold.

Adam and Eve live peacefully in the garden until Satan, the ancient serpent, slithers around the tree of knowledge, convincing Eve to eat from it, as we hear in our first reading today.

This act of disobedience breaks humanity’s relationship with God.

Jesus reverses this curse thousands of years later in John’s Gospel by telling the crowds: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him on the last day” (John 6:54). 

Thus, communion with God was lost – and is now restored – by eating. 

Adam and Eve ate disobediently from the tree of knowledge, while Catholics now obediently consume Christ’s flesh and blood in the Eucharist.

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Secondly, Jesus’ public ministry stands in stark contrast to the evil actions of Satan. 

Whereas Satan ruptured humanity’s ability to see God and to hear his voice in Eden, Christ restores the faculties of a man – and by extension all of us – in today’s Gospel, allowing us to see Jesus as Lord, and to listen to his voice.

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While themes like creation, suffering, and redemption are ultimately mysteries, as we study the scriptures, we begin to make sense of them. As it’s written: “Wisdom will enter your heart, knowledge will be at home in your soul” (Proverbs 2:10).

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Image credits: (1) Security Sales and Integration (2) Micha Redding (3) Hillspring Church

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Gospel: Mark 7:24-30

Jesus went to the district of Tyre.
He entered a house and wanted no one to know about it,
but he could not escape notice.
Soon a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him.
She came and fell at his feet.
The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth,
and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter.
He said to her, “Let the children be fed first.
For it is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs.”
She replied and said to him,
“Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.”
Then he said to her, “For saying this, you may go.
The demon has gone out of your daughter.”
When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bed
and the demon gone.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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This is one of only two miracles in the Gospels that Jesus performs at a distance. In both cases, the person being healed is not physically present.

Today it’s a desperate mother who falls at the feet of Jesus, telling him that her daughter is being tormented by a demon. 

In the ancient world, a “demon” could’ve been many things – something as mild as a temper, more serious like mental illness, or actual demonic possession.

We don’t know what the case was, only that this little girl needed help. 

The second miracle Jesus performs at a distance is the healing of another child, Jairus’ twelve-year-old daughter. Interestingly, both children are Gentiles, not Jews.

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Why would Jesus heal a Gentile? And why from a distance?

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To emphasize two things:

First, Jesus came to save all people.

Second, healing a person from a distance re-enforces the intercessor’s faith – in both cases, it was the faith of the parent that saved their child.  

This Gentile mother has no proof that her daughter has been healed other than Jesus’ words, “You may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter.”

Yet that was enough, which is why the Lord says elsewhere, “Not in all of Israel have I found such faith.”

Only from a Gentile.

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So, what does this mean for us?

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Just as the Lord healed children at a distance, all we need to experience his power from on high is a strong intercessor, or better, a heart filled with faith.

As it’s written in the Letter of Saint James, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful indeed.”

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Image credits: (1) iStock (2) A Parent’s Faith, Joy Margetts (3) Studio Now

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Gospel: Mark 7:14-23

Jesus summoned the crowd again and said to them,
“Hear me, all of you, and understand.
Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person;
but the things that come out from within are what defile.”

When he got home away from the crowd
his disciples questioned him about the parable.
He said to them,
“Are even you likewise without understanding?
Do you not realize that everything
that goes into a person from outside cannot defile,
since it enters not the heart but the stomach
and passes out into the latrine?”
(Thus he declared all foods clean.)
“But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him.
From within the man, from his heart,
come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All these evils come from within and they defile.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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“Nothing that enters one from outside can defile,” Jesus says, “but the things that come out from within are what defile.”

In Judaism, to be “defiled” meant that a person lost access to the Temple, and therefore access to God. In order to remain pure – or undefiled – religious scholars created over 600 commandments that observant Jews needed to follow.

This included everything from the washing of hands and dishes to the treatment of birds. Jesus overrides these commandments, insisting upon one thing only:

Access to God comes through having a pure heart. And, conversely, such access is lost when the heart is darkened and defiled.

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The Native Americans believe in a similar idea, stated in a different way.

They say there are two wolves living within each of us. One wolf feeds on negative things such as selfishness and greed, while the other feeds on positive things like faith, hope, and love.

The question is: “Which wolf wins?”

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Inevitably, the one feed.

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How do I feed that good wolf within? And how do I feed the bad wolf?

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May the Lord give us the grace we need to follow the path of love by feeding that good wolf within.

In so doing, our heart will be purified, allowing Him to draw ever closer to us.

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Image credits: (1) Neighborhood Church Chico (2) Medium (3) One Walk With Jesus