Mystery of the day: Sorrowful
Celebration: Ferial
📖Table of the Word
First Reading: James 1:12–18
Gospel: Mark 8:14–21
Theme: Seeing Beyond the Bread...
REFLECTION
Today’s liturgy speaks about seeing, understanding, and spiritual maturity.
In the Gospel, Jesus warns His disciples:
“Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”
Yet the disciples misunderstand Him, thinking He speaks about bread (cf. Mark 8:14–21). They were physically close to Jesus but still spiritually slow to grasp His meaning.
This reveals a profound truth that:
One may walk with Christ and still fail to truly see. The act of seeing beyond bread is "faith-in-action."
To buttress this, St. James in the first reading talked about trial and faith (cf. James 1:12–18)
Here St. James reminds believers:
“Blessed is the man who perseveres in temptation.”
James teaches that trials are not signs of God’s absence; rather, they purify faith. God does not tempt us with evil — instead, He gives every good gift.
However, by implication, temptation often clouds spiritual vision and perseverance gradually opens the eyes of the heart.
Just as physical eyes adjust slowly to light, faith matures through patience. No wonder Christ warns that small attitudes, if ignored, can shape the whole heart.
Beloved in Christ Jesus, the greatest blindness is not of the eyes, but of the heart. That is whyJesus came so that the blind may see (cf. John 9:39), and St. Paul in his Epistle to the Church in Ephesus says: “May the eyes of your heart be enlightened.” (Ephesians 1:18ff.)
Moreover, the Church Fathers often interpreted spiritual blindness as a failure to recognize God’s action in ordinary life. St. Augustine of Hippo taught that faith is a journey from seeing outwardly to seeing inwardly. Conversion is therefore not merely moral correction but illumination.
The Eucharist, prayer, and Scripture become the medicine that clears spiritual sight.
Beloved in Christ, like the disciples, we sometimes worry about “bread”: daily anxieties, material needs, or misunderstandings, while Jesus is speaking about something deeper.
Today the Lord invites us to:
- Examine the influences forming our mindset.
- Pray for clarity of spiritual vision.
- Read Scripture slowly, listening beneath the surface.
- Trust God’s providence instead of anxiety.
- Grow through trials rather than complain about them.
Finally, the journey of discipleship is gradual. Even those closest to Jesus needed time for their eyes to open. Christ does not reject slow learners; He patiently teaches them to see.
May the Lord remove every spiritual blindness in us.
May our hearts be enlightened so that we may see Him beyond the ordinary bread. Amen.
Peace, be with you!
© ARCHIVE 17022026
No comments:
Post a Comment