MY daily reflection and prayer:
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
The Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Dear my friends,
Here is the Gospel for us today according to St. Mark 7:1-13
Now when the Pharisees gathered together to him, with some of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands, observing the tradition of the elders; and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they purify themselves; and there are many other traditions which they observe, the washing of cups and pots and vessels of bronze.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?” And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, `This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’ You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men.” And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition! 10 For Moses said, `Honor your father and your mother’; and, `He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die’; but you say, `If a man tells his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is Corban’ (that is, given to God) – then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God through your tradition which you hand on. And many such things you do.”
This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.
***
IN the Gospel today we meet Jesus Christ who teaches us to be true worshipper of God. We are called to honor God not only with lip service, but with our heart which is close to him.
We have to offer God true worship. In fact, true worship begins with humility by realizing that all of our goodness comes from God.
Jesus critizes the Pharisees who offer no real worship to God since, they worship only themselves by relying more on their talents and goodness than on the goodness that comes from God. The Pharisees use the talents and gifts God not for God’s glory, but for their own personal gain.
In the Perpetual Adoration of the Eucharist we learn to offer God true worship of God, by placing God above all else. There we worship God not only with lips service but with all our heart.
Let’s pray: Lord Jesus Christ, bring us closer to you. Take from us everything that distances us from you. Grant us everything that brings us closer to you. May we use all we have to love you, the source of all good, and serve others now and forever. Amen.
Kredit foto: Ilustrasi (Ist)
