Today’s reading may, at
first glance, be experienced as repulsive. How can Jesus say, I asked, if you
sin with an eye, gouge it out. If your hand or foot causes you to sin, chop it
off. “Better to go to Gehenna maimed than with both hands and feet and eyes.” Granted, Jesus is overstating a point because sin is a
serious offence against God. An insult, in fact! God came to earth, assumed
human nature, subjected Himself to humankind’s inhumanity toward each other in
order to save us from sin and all of its effects. How is it that I could possibly take sin
lightly!
As I ponder both the
first reading, Sirach 5: 1-8, and the Gospel, Mk 9: 41-50, the following prayer
surfaced from the depth of my being:
Lord, how easy to use my ears to listen to gossip, my lips and tongue
to spread gossip, my feet to walk away from a beggar, my hands to withhold that
which would ease the pain of another, my eyes to look away from a desperate
person hoping for mercy May that not be
so today and less and less so as time for me progresses toward eternal life. I
want to see as You see, hear as You hear, speak as You speak, use my hands and
feet as You used Yours to heal people and to approach people as one who cares
about and for them, as persons who are my sister and brother in Christ Jesus.
Lord, forgive me when I used my hands, feet, eyes, ears and any other
of my senses in selfish, sinful ways. Transform me, Lord into a vessel of grace
this day and every day.
The Lord then reminded me
that God saves, God heals, God sanctifies, God makes us whole.
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