Daily Scripture Reflection & Prayer: February 12, 2025

Date: Wednesday of the 5th Week in Ordinary Time

Scripture Text: Mark 7:14-23

Jesus summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.”

When he got home away from the crowd his disciples questioned him about the parable. He said to them, “Are even you likewise without understanding? Do you not realize that everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine?” (Thus, he declared all foods clean.) “But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him. From within the man, from his heart, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile.”

Breaking the text open – background and summary:

The gospel text for today from Mark recounts Jesus’ teaching on what defiles us as human beings, clarifying that it is not the food that we consume but our morals, our ethos, that make us unclean and in need of purification.

Meditating on the text with personal questions:

Do I seek to build a healthy spirituality as hard as I seek to build a healthy body?

Praying:

LORD, You made us as we are. You created us from love, by love, in love and for love. And all You ask of us in return is to be your loving children, loving You with all our being and loving one another. It is simple, LORD, yet it is not always easy. Send the Spirit to strengthen us so that we might set down those desires and emotions that lead us away from You and away from the ones You created us to be. Grant that we may live our lives fully and lovingly this day and all days. Amen.