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The Catholic Calendar for Tuesday, February 11, 2003 The Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Our Lady of Lourdes Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word: Genesis 1:20--2:4 Psalm 8:4-9 Mark 7:1-13 A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture: "You nullify the word of God in favor of your tradition...." (Mark 7:13) Today's readings trace humanity's spiritual and moral decay while also offering us one great hope. Our Creator has given us the ability to reverse our downward direction through Jesus Christ, our Savior. Some scoff at the idea of "decay", claiming we live in the best of all possible worlds with giant strides in science, medicine, engineering, etc.. However, such progress becomes harmful if it is divorced from the moral values inherent in our God-given Commandments based upon His genuine love that also expresses His absolute truth. Once we negate the Spirit of Love, we cannot discern truth and therefore will build a society, as we presently have, based upon lies. Genesis emphasizes man's original goodness created in God's image. We, through the very life that He breathed into us, were to be holy, fruitful and subdue the earth. God gave us this world to rule, but only in connection with Him. Sin, our willful disobedience, broke this connection, causing us to become a greedy, envious and aggressive race; and now we are once again poised with weapons of mass destruction on the verge of self-extinction. This is a far cry from Psalm 8 which reminds us of our God-given glory and honor and our need to live in His love. Our Gospel illustrates how God's law can be corrupted by those who have no true knowledge of Him. The Commandment clearly states we are to honor our father and mother; but the Pharisees ironically were scandalized that Jesus' disciples ate with unwashed hands. Yet they followed another man-made rule, "corban," that allowed people to neglect their parents' needs, to ignore the Commandment to "Honor thy father and thy mother," if they claimed that their assets were all dedicated to the Temple. The world is now entangled in loopholes that are destroying the fabric of human morality. O Glorious God, through Your Son, Your Holy Word, lead us to all truth; restore us to the honor and glory for which we were created. Amen. - Marie L. Bocko, ocds ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) YOU CAN HELP to evangelize the Word of God: Please recommend our website to your friends and Catholic webmasters at: http://www.borg.com/~joachim/DailyMeds.html (case sensitive) BLOG? The meditations are also available at our new blog at: http://dailymed.blogspot.com ARCHIVED Meditations: http://www.abcsoffaith.com/quiet/quietplace.html also at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] and: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ FOR ALL COMMUNICATIONS, including subscribe/unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] The FINE PRINT: (c)1986-2003 The Way, The Truth, The Life. Permission granted to make reprints of the meditations or to post on any web page, except for profit. Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible with Revised New Testament and Revised Psalms (c)1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copy-right owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.Text from the New American Bible: http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/index.htm Lives of the Saints: http://www.christdesert.org/public_texts/martyrology/ |
Title: Meditation: Tuesday, February 11, 2003
