Responsorial Psalm Ps 104:1-2a, 27-28, 29bc-30
Gospel Mk 7:14-23
Be careful of what comes from within.
In the Gospel reading today, Christ tries to show us
what really matters most. It is not the eating of ritually unclean
food that brings about defilement but what issues from within us (Mk.
7:15) that can leave the most culinarily pious person spiritually filthy.
From the beginning, God wished for us to share in His goodness and His beauty found in His creation. As our first reading attests (Gn 2:4b-9, 15-17), God only asked from us one thing: obedience.
But because our first parents allowed the evil seed of pride to germinate in their hearts, they forever
changed how we – as their progeny – relate to God.
No longer can we see God immediately in the
things of this world; we can only barely intuit from creation the fact that “something/someone” must
have created it. This natural law, inscribed on our souls, was
meant to be so much more, but because of what came from within the hearts of Adam and Eve, our God had to send His Son to die in
order that we might again have the ability to truly know him.
Be careful of what comes from within.
What resides there is a powerful thing;
and the power it has is based on a knowledge we have inherited.
Its roots extend to the deepest parts of our
souls, tapping into our thoughts, our
desires, our very wills.
From it grows fruit that is as enticing to us
as fresh meat is to a lion, and yet is as deadly to us as antifreeze
is to a dog.
Be careful of what comes from within.
Because what resides there is a cunning thing;
and the cunning it has is shaped by the ignorance we have inherited.
Its leaves shade our intellect from the light
of truth, blinding our thoughts, our
desires, our very wills.
From it springs branches that cling to us as a
spider web does a fly, and their embrace is just as deadly.
Be careful of what comes from within,
because what
comes from within is the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil; the same tree that became the first instrument
of death in this world. It is the knowledge
and the ignorance that we have inherited, and which holds sway in our hearts as much as
it came to hold sway in the hearts of our first parents.
With God’s help, let us strive to uproot what comes from within, so that He may plant His Tree of Life in its place.
This is what really matters most.
