DAILY- HOMILY

February 10, 2015 TUESDAY, 5TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

St. Scholastica, Virgin

Memorial, White

Gn 1: 20–2: 4a / Mk 7:1-13

[St. Scholastica (480–547), twin sister of St. Benedict, founded the Order of Benedictine nuns, following the rule of her brother St. Benedict.]

Reading: Gn 1: 20–2: 4a

     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 animals, 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 evening 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.

Gospel: Mk 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. . . . And there are many other traditions they observe. . .

     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?"

     Jesus answered, "You, shallow people! How well Isaiah prophesied of you when he wrote: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. . . .You even put aside the commandment of God to hold fast to human tradition."

     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. . . .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:

     Like those men who went to great lengths to confront Jesus, we see in our society today many people who are just as ignorant as they were. These are people who take a holier-than-thou attitude, and speak so much about fulfilling the word of God, yet hide within themselves their own selfish desires and intentions. They in fact already abandon the word of God, and substitute instead their own flawed interpretation.

     The truth is, there is no long checklist of requirements that one must fulfill in order to be worthy of God. All we need to do is acknowledge and listen to the Holy Spirit within us, which is God speaking through our conscience. We must be humble enough to realize that we are sinners, prone to making mistakes, and that we need God's guidance in our lives. After all, how can we claim to know God's word if we do not bother listening to it in the first place?

     Many times in our life we are faced with difficult decisions. During those times, did we listen to God, or did we instead substitute our own interpretation of events? Maybe it is time we started to listen a bit better.

WE PRAY FOR MTQ DAILY PRAYER DIARY INTENTIONS:

BIRTHDAY

     ATTY. JUN NARIO JR.

     CATRINA EVER I. NGO

     JOEL LABII

     MARK RICHMOND YU

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!

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