Daily Readings Reflection 2/13/09

Reflection on the Daily Readings for 2/13/09 by Fr. Bertrand Buby, SM

Today’s Readings


Scripture: Friday of 5th week.  Genesis 3:1-8. Psalm 32:1-2.5.6.7. Mark
7:31-37. Lectionary # 333:

"He has done everything well! He makes the deaf hear and the mute
speak." This is how the crowd reacts to Jesus' authoritative power over
sickness and any form of evil.  Mark shows us that Jesus does the will of
God and does it well with his inner authority and strong spirit of
loving-kindness. He lives out the goodness that God shows in every aspect
of creation as we have learned from the stories of creation in Genesis. We
recall how God saw that everything that was created was "tov m'aod"  VERY
GOOD.

Adam and Eve however fail in doing what Jesus would do.  They saw the
tree of good and evil that it was pleasant and for them tempting. They
chose the fruit of that tree even though they had been warned by God not to
tamper with that tree in the middle of the garden of Eden.  They now know
the differences between good and evil and since they choose against God's
will they now feel shame, they are fearful, and they hide themselves.
Intimate friendship with their Creator has been broken and they feel like
children who have played with fire.  They will soon be discovered by God
and their punishment will take them out of the calm and goodness of Eden.
They await the punishment of their mortality in several domains of their
life, but somehow they realize that God is good and they were good and can
return to God's love even though their lives will be limited to a certain
time here on earth.  So the simple story of the Yahwist gives us their
plight and ours too.  We share in the story of Genesis and it was written
for us as well as for those who came long before us.

Fortunately, we know as did Adam and Eve there is hope in the message
of salvation God promises them.   The Psalm sings out their and our hope:
"Happy are those whose sins are forgiven."  We recall this scene at our
Easter Vigil and we remember that in the singing of the "Exsultet" the
words applied to their fall are " O happy fault...."  For now there is
promise of a redeemer who will come to vanquish all evil symbolized in the
person of the Devil (we learn this from Revelation where the serpent is
called Satan).  We all have great hope that no matter how we imitate them
in their sin, we have hope in Christ the promised one who forgives us just
as he heals people and casts out the demons who possess some people. We
learn from the story not to be complacent.  We are all in this together and
realize that we were created in goodness and that our daily agenda should
be to show that goodness in all we do.  As the crowd said of Jesus, we, too
should lead others to say "They have done everything well."

The scene from Genesis chapter three should lead us to another
chapter three; this time it is from John's Gospel:  "Yes, God so loved the
world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him may not die
but have eternal life. God did not send the Son into the world to condemn
the world but that the world might be saved through him." Amen.  (John
3:16-17)