Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Daily Mass Reading & Meditation for Thursday, 27 February 2014 - Catholic Meditations

Daily Mass Reading & Meditation for Thursday, 27 February 2014 - Catholic Meditations
Meditation: Mark 9: 41 For whoever will give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you are Christ’s, most certainly I tell you, he will in no way lose his reward. 42 Whoever will cause one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if he were thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around his neck. 43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having your two hands to go into Gehenna,[a] into the unquenchable fire, 44 ‘where their worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched.’[b] 45 If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life lame, rather than having your two feet to be cast into Gehenna,[c] into the fire that will never be quenched— 46 ‘where their worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched.’ 47 If your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out. It is better for you to enter into God’s Kingdom with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna[d] of fire, 48 ‘where their worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched.’[e] 49 For everyone will be salted with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt. 50 Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, with what will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
Footnotes:
a. Mark 9:43 or, Hell
b. Mark 9:44 Isaiah 66:24
c. Mark 9:45 or, Hell
d. Mark 9:47 or, Hell
e. Mark 9:48 Isaiah 66:24
7th Week in Ordinary Time
If your hand causes you to sin … (Mark 9:43)
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus offers words of hope to repeat offenders—that’s all of us who fall into the same sins again and again. We may not recognize it as a hopeful word, though, unless we hit the “pause” button right here in the middle of verse 9:43 (and in verses 45 and 47). So before racing on to what Jesus says about amputating wayward hands, feet, and eyes, let’s linger over that verb: to cause to sin.
In the Greek in which the Gospel was written, this phrase means to place an obstacle that causes someone to stumble. That sounds like something an enemy would do, doesn’t it? But as we have all experienced, we do it to ourselves. By the way we act (symbolized by the hand), the places we go (the feet), and the things we let into our lives (the eyes, the windows to the soul), we often sabotage our best intentions and go astray from God’s plan.
We don’t have to remain in this conflicted state! Jesus wants us to know the joy and peace that come from living with integrity—with every part of us working together and open to God’s grace. Despite harsh-sounding words like “cut it off” and “pluck it out,” he is not telling us to mutilate or abuse our bodies. The human body is his Father’s handiwork, and Jesus spent his life restoring people’s bodies to wholeness! Remember, he has just healed a withered hand, paralyzed feet, and blind eyes (Mark 3:1-6; 2:1-11; 8:22-26).
So why does Jesus use such strong language? Because he wants to jolt us into getting the message: Sin is deadly. It separates you from the love and life God offers you. Take action! That action might be a small thing, like cutting short a conversation that is tending toward gossip. Or it might involve radical self-denial, a spiritual amputation that’s necessary to save a life. Whatever it is, Jesus stands ready to help us see and do the next thing that will bring us closer to him. Let’s do it!
“Jesus, your word says, ‘Present yourselves to God as raised from the dead to life and the parts of your bodies to God as weapons for righteousness’ (Romans 6:13). Show me how to live that out today.” Amen!
James 5:1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you. 2 Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be for a testimony against you, and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up your treasure in the last days. 4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies.[a] 5 You have lived delicately on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous one. He doesn’t resist you.
Footnotes:
a. James 5:4 Greek: Sabaoth (for Hebrew: Tze’va’ot)
Psalm 49: 14 They are appointed as a flock for Sheol.[a]
    Death shall be their shepherd.
The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning.
    Their beauty shall decay in Sheol,[b]
    far from their mansion.
15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol,[c]
    for he will receive me.
Selah.
16 Don’t be afraid when a man is made rich,
    when the glory of his house is increased.
17 For when he dies he shall carry nothing away.
    His glory shall not descend after him.
18 Though while he lived he blessed his soul—
    and men praise you when you do well for yourself—
19     he shall go to the generation of his fathers.
    They shall never see the light.
20 A man who has riches without understanding,
    is like the animals that perish.
Footnotes:
a. Psalm 49:14 Sheol is the place of the dead.
b. Psalm 49:14 Sheol is the place of the dead.
c. Psalm 49:15 Sheol is the place of the dead.
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