FrNikola

6th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday, Year I

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The story of the Tower of Babel teaches us in today’s First Reading that communication leads to communion, and where there is a lack of one, the other is soon to disappear. The people constructing the tower today shared the same language, but, ultimately, their plans reflected pride and egotism: they wanted to make a name for themselves. No society built on pride and egotism will last, because it never truly sets aside an unhealthy individualism as the expensive of others. The people at Babel had communication, but they didn’t truly have communion, and the world, plagued by the effects of Original Sin, had lost communion with its deepest source: God.

We can learn from this in today’s world, still wounded by sin, that communion is necessary for true progress, and communication is needed for that. It’s no coincidence that at Pentecost the Apostles receive the gift of tongues: it was a reversal of the disharmony brought at Babel. The Church seeks to unite humanity with its true source and foundation: God.

This teaching doesn’t just hold true on the macro-level of society and humanity; it holds true on the micro-level of family and friends. Let’s take stock of any Babel in our life today in order to restore communication and communion with the Holy Spirit’s help.

Readings: Genesis 11:1–9; Psalm 33:10–15; Mark 8:34–9:1. See also Thursday after Ash Wednesday, 18th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday, Year II, 18th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday.

6th Week in Ordinary Time, Thursday, Year I

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In today’s First Reading the Lord make a second covenant with Noah and all living beings after the waters of the Flood subside, a covenant marked forever by the rainbow, symbolizing that the Lord has hung up his bow (and arrow, so to speak) and will no longer wage war on the living via flood. Even today the dove, the olive branch, and the rainbow are symbols for peace, all images taken from Genesis.

The Lord reminds us today that all plants and animals are given to us as sustenance, but also that we must use and treat them responsibly. Shedding blood simply for its own sake is an abuse of life, and the Lord says we’ll be accountable for it. Food is a gift to us from God. Like Noah, we should acknowledge that with thanksgiving. The Lord also puts the blood of mankind on a different level: mankind has been made in the image of God, therefore striking down man is an offense to God as well as man.

Let’s say grace at meals today with a renewed spirit of Thanksgiving for the gift of sustenance.

Readings: Genesis 9:1–13; Psalm 102:16–23, 29; Mark 8:27–33. See also 25th Week in Ordinary Time, Friday and 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C.

6th Week in Ordinary Time, Wednesday, Year I

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Today’s Gospel recalls a miracle, but with a bit of a yuck factor. Why does Our Lord have to put spittle in the eyes of the blind man in order to heal him? In that moment of history the spittle of a holy man was believed to have healing properties. It shouldn’t shock us that healing sometimes requires distasteful things: visiting a doctor’s office or a hospital when you’re ailing is rarely fun.

The path to spiritual healing also often involves distasteful things. We have to be nice to unpleasant people. We have to ask forgiveness. We have to cut down on the things we enjoy that are coming between us and our loved ones. We have to be more caring and concerned for everyone. We have to make more time for Our Lord. Like the blind man in today’s Gospel these things open our eyes, little by little, to the bigger picture and help us see that they’re means to an end. Things are not as distasteful if we see them as having a purpose: they can be a medicine for our soul.

The cure is not worse that the disease. Let’s embrace the cure Our Lord offers for whatever spiritually ails us.

Readings: Genesis 8:6–13, 20–22; Psalm 116:12–15, 18–19; Mark 8:22–26.

6th Week in Ordinary Time, Tuesday, Year I

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In today’s First Reading the Lord looks upon his creation and sees that it is almost completely polluted by sin. It renders his creation so ugly that he wonders if it would have been better to not have created it at all. Sin is like pollution and toxic waste; it seems containable at first, but with neglect it grows to such proportions that it becomes more of a question of containment than eradication. Yet it started small.

The Lord decides that it is easier to contain the last unstained elements of his creation in order to protect them and start anew. The Ark is to protect them from the evil that has overcome the land. However, he does not just seek containment; like a car wash at a gas station, it’s windows up and closed while the Lord washes away the muck of sin. The flood is considered a pre-configuration of Baptism; just as the flood washed away the sin and its pollution from the earth, Baptism washes away all the filth in us due to Original Sin and our own sins.

We were born into a polluted world. Our Lord has the remedy. Once we’ve cleansed ourselves through his grace, let’s keep it clean.

Readings: Genesis 6:5–8, 7:1–5, 10; Psalm 29:1a, 2, 3ac, 9c–10; Mark 8:14–21. 

6th Week in Ordinary Time, Monday, Year I

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Last Friday we recalled the sad moment when sin entered into the world, and with today’s First Reading we recall when death entered into the world for the first time. It was about as unnatural a death as you can imagine, an older brother killing his younger brother out of envy and anger. Abel had done nothing other than be pleasing to God. Cain was more complicated; he didn’t give the best of what he had to God, and God called him out on it. Yet he didn’t blame God; he blamed Abel for making him look bad. The Lord tried to explain to him that the true cause of his resentment and gloom was that he didn’t do a good job. It was not too late to change for the better, and Cain was in spiritual danger if he didn’t.

Cain failed on so many levels. An older brother should watch over his younger brother, and he killed him instead. Cain owed the Lord the best of everything, and he gave him second best. The Lord gave him good advice, and he ignored it. This was the second time in salvation history, but it wouldn’t be the last. The deep sigh today of Our Lord in today’s Gospel is the sigh of a big brother who does want his brothers and sisters to do the best, and to help them do it, even when they don’t.

Let’s turn to our big brother today knowing he will always watch out for us, and with his advice, we’ll never let him down or our Father.

Readings: Genesis 4:1–15, 25; Psalm 50:1, 8, 16b–17, 20–21; Mark 8:11–13.