DAILY- HOMILY

FEBRUARY 8, 2011
MEMORIAL, ST. JEROME EMILIANI
TUESDAY 5TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR I

Gn 1:20—2:4 / Ps 8:4-5, 6-7, 8-9 / Mk 7:1-13

GENESIS 1:20—2:4
God said, "Let the water teem with an abundance of living creatures,
and let birds fly above the earth under the ceiling of the sky." God
created the great monsters of the sea and all living animals, those
that teem in the waters, according to their kind, and every winged
bird, according to its kind. God saw that it was good. God blessed
them saying, "Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the waters of
the sea, and let the birds increase on the earth." There was evening
and there was morning: the fifth day. God said, "Let the earth produce
living animals according to their kind: cattle, creatures that move
along the ground, wild animals according to their kind." So it was.
God created the wild animals according to their kind, and everything
that creeps along the ground according to its kind. God saw that it
was good. God said, "Let us make man in our image, to our likeness.
Let them rule over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air,
over the cattle, over the wild an¬imals, and over all creeping things
that crawl along the ground." So God created man in his image; in the
image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God
blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number,
fill the earth and subdue it, rule over the fish of the sea and the
birds of the sky, over every living creature that moves on the
ground." God said, "I have given you every seed-bearing plant which is
on the face of all the earth, and every tree that bears fruit with
seed. It will be for your food. To every wild animal, to every bird of
the sky, to everything that creeps along the ground, to everything
that has the breath of life, I give every green plant for food." So it
was. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. There was
eve¬ning and there was morning: the sixth day That was the way the sky
and earth were created and all their vast array. By the seventh day
the work God had done was completed, and he rested on the seventh day
from all the work he had done. And God blessed the seventh day and
made it holy, because on that day he rested from all the work he had
done in his creation. These are the successive steps in the creation
of the heavens and the earth.

MARK 7:1-13
One day the Pharisees gathered around Jesus and with them were some
teachers of the Law who had just come from Jerusalem. They noticed
that some of his disciples were eating their meal with unclean hands,
that is, without washing them. Now the Pharisees, and in fact, all the
Jews, never eat without washing their hands for they follow the
tradition received from their ancestors. Nor do they eat anything when
they come from the market without first washing themselves. So the
Pharisees and the teachers of the Law asked him, "Why do your
disciples not follow the tradition of the elders, but eat with unclean
hands?" And Jesus commented, "You have a fine way of disregarding the
commandment of God in order to implant your own tradition. For
example, Moses said: Do your duty to your father and your mother, and:
Whoever curses his father or his mother is to be put to death. But
according to you someone could say to his father or mother: `I already
declared Corban, which means "offered to God," what you could have
expected from me.' In this case, you no longer let him do anything for
a father or mother. So you nullify the word of God through the
tradition you have handed on. And you do many other things like that."

REFLECTION
To imagine what Jesus and his disciples were up against, the
prescribed ritual of the washing of hands was as follows: First the
hand is held with finger tips pointing upward. Water is poured over
the finger tips to trickle to the wrist. Next the palm of each hand
must be cleansed by rubbing the fist of the other into it. Finally,
water is again poured, this time from the wrist running to the finger
tips pointing downward. Then and only then were the hands considered
clean.

How did such an irksome ritual come about? For the Jews, the most
sacred thing in the world is the TORAH which consists of the Law which
is the Ten Commandments and the Pentateuch which is the first five
books of the Old Testament. The Law preaches a series of great moral
principles of life, least of all rules and regulations. But this was
not enough for certain Jews. Acting on this belief, the Scribes, who
were the experts of the Law, began to develop and elaborate on the
TORAH until thousands of rules and regulations began to evolve. For
the Pharisees and Scribes, these rituals became the essence of
religion.

In contrast, Jesus looked upon religion not as following rituals but
as loving and serving God and one's own fellowmen.

PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray …
… for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the
unborn.
… for the speedy recovery and healing of
- Rita P. Cuerva
- Ely Lara
- Josefina Hong, Kyla C. Arabia, Sarah M. Fuentes, Janine Dy, Mark
Anthony, Lao, Esther V. Dizon, Lolit Arthur Alvin Roman, Ernesto Vela
- Nel de Leon
- Jo Marcelo
- Jun Lee
… for the personal intentions of Titong V
… for the eternal repose of the soul of Ricardo A. Garcia. Eternal
rest grant unto him and may perpetual light shine upon him. May he and
all the dearly departed rest in peace.
… for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Birthday: Bayani R. Reyes
- Birthday: Cora Cabral
- Birthday: Quinta Atienza
- Birthday: Marge Lim
- Wedding Anniversary: Emmanuel Hao & Lilia Uy Hao
- In Memoriam (+): Jose Gopioco
… for world peace and reconciliation.

Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers
and for those who need our prayers the most.

Have a good day!

**************************************************

These reflections are distributed free and are for personal use only.
Feel free to send the Daily Prayer reflections to your friends,
colleagues and relatives; however, if you do, please include the
following:

+================================================+
| The Daily Prayer, a service and an apostolate of the
| priests, laity and friends of Mary the Queen Parish
| http://www.marythequeen.org
| Distributed free and for personal use only.
+================================================+

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GoogleGroup Address: http://groups.google.com/group/daily_homily
To subscribe from this free mailing service, send email to: dailyhomily@earthlink.net
To unsubscribe: daily_homily-unsubscribe@googlegroups.com

© 2011 Daily-Homily