Friday - February 15, 2019
We must therefore be dead to every desire and interest of self and have in view only the desires and interests of Jesus within us. He is there only to live again for the glory of His Father; He gives Himself in Holy Communion in order to foster this ineffable union and make it closer.
-- St. Peter Julian Eymard
We must therefore be dead to every desire and interest of self and have in view only the desires and interests of Jesus within us. He is there only to live again for the glory of His Father; He gives Himself in Holy Communion in order to foster this ineffable union and make it closer.
-- St. Peter Julian Eymard
February 15 2019
Friday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 333
Reading 1 GN 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.
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.
Responsorial PsalmPS 32:1-2, 5, 6, 7
R. (1a) Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven.
Blessed is he whose fault is taken away,
whose sin is covered.
Blessed the man to whom the LORD imputes not guilt,
in whose spirit there is no guile.
R. Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
my guilt I covered not.
I said, “I confess my faults to the LORD,”
and you took away the guilt of my sin.
R. Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven.
For this shall every faithful man pray to you
in time of stress.
Though deep waters overflow,
they shall not reach him.
R. Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven.
You are my shelter; from distress you will preserve me;
with glad cries of freedom you will ring me round.
R. Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven.
Blessed is he whose fault is taken away,
whose sin is covered.
Blessed the man to whom the LORD imputes not guilt,
in whose spirit there is no guile.
R. Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
my guilt I covered not.
I said, “I confess my faults to the LORD,”
and you took away the guilt of my sin.
R. Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven.
For this shall every faithful man pray to you
in time of stress.
Though deep waters overflow,
they shall not reach him.
R. Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven.
You are my shelter; from distress you will preserve me;
with glad cries of freedom you will ring me round.
R. Blessed are those whose sins are forgiven.
AlleluiaSEE ACTS 16:14B
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Open our hearts, O Lord,
to listen to the words of your Son.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Open our hearts, O Lord,
to listen to the words of your Son.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelMK 7:31-37
Jesus left the district of Tyre
and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
into the district of the Decapolis.
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment
and begged him to lay his hand on him.
He took him off by himself away from the crowd.
He put his finger into the man’s ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
“Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”)
And immediately the man’s ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly.
He ordered them not to tell anyone.
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it.
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
“He has done all things well.
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
into the district of the Decapolis.
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment
and begged him to lay his hand on him.
He took him off by himself away from the crowd.
He put his finger into the man’s ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
“Ephphatha!” (that is, “Be opened!”)
And immediately the man’s ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly.
He ordered them not to tell anyone.
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it.
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
“He has done all things well.
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
******************************
OPENING OUR EARS WIDER
In today's first reading, we see a classic illustration of a fault that we all have: hearing what we think we should hear, filtering out what we actually heard, and putting our words (or someone else's words) into God's mouth.
The serpent asked: "Did God really tell you not to eat from any tree in the garden?" No, that's not what he said, but did the woman catch this twisting of the truth? Listen to her answer: "God said all trees were okay except one." This part is true, but then she put words into God's mouth: "You shall not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil or even touch it." God had said nothing about touching it (see Genesis 2:16-17).
Eve started to sin when she acted as if she could be "like a god", by adding to God's words. We do that, too, whenever we jump to conclusions by supposing that we know more than we actually do.
This original sin is repeated today when we make up our own minds about the teachings (i.e., the "Deposit of Faith") that the Church Magisterium has protected from error throughout the centuries. To justify the decision to disobey a Church teaching, we put words into God's mouth: "If your conscience says it's okay, then it's okay."
For example, many Catholics don't trust the Church's teaching about using natural methods to responsibly determine the timing and frequency of conceiving children. I can testify that the Natural Family Planning method recommended by the Church is trustworthy unless the woman has a health issue that interferes with it, and when that happens, the Church does offer other options. Contrary to a common misunderstanding, the Church does not promote huge families; what the Church promotes is the value of family.
Consider any Church teaching that's controversial. Remove the temporal (earthly, temporary) human desires from the debate, then research it humbly, asking the Holy Spirit to help you understand what the Church is really trying to teach about love underneath whatever sounds wrong in it.
Although Church rules that deal with cultural problems are changeable and do evolve over time, we sin if we live by our own rules when it comes to moral (divine, eternal) laws, putting our words and personal preferences into God's mouth.
Let us ask Jesus to do for us what he did in today's Gospel passage. He wants to heal our imperfect hearing so that we can listen to the truth more accurately. Jesus is saying to us: "Ephphatha!" (that is, "Be opened!").
Eve didn't like being told that there was something she was not allowed to do. She did not understand (and she did not ask for understanding) why God would forbid anything. She chose not to trust that God had a good reason for his rules nor that his law benefited her. We are given the same choice. Will you trust what God is saying through his Church?
Today's Prayer:
Dear Lord, grant me the grace to be obedient to Your Word so that I may be the instrument of evangelization that You desire. Amen.
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God Bless You.....
Rosary Family
The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”
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