Daily Gospel Reflection for February 7, 2024

Join us as we reflect, ponder, and pray together inspired by today's Gospel.

Today's Gospel: Mark 7:14-23

In today’s Gospel, Jesus does something extraordinary. He declares “all foods clean.” The eating of some foods and not others came from the Law of Moses and was designed to separate the Israelites from the neighboring pagan nations. It was part of what was to set them apart as a holy nation. Jesus changes this, extending the Fatherhood of God to all nations. Peter will later dream about this very thing in Acts 10:9-35.

Following rules just for the sake of following rules does not automatically put us into right relationship with God. Good rules, especially God’s rules, are meant to guide us into interior conversion, to a change of heart. Jesus replaces the law of Moses with a call to an interior conversion of heart, to hearts made of flesh. These hearts are living. They beat. They pulse with blood. Unlike stone, they can be injured and harmed. Our hearts also reveal what we treasure the most, for good or for bad.

Jesus reminds us that it is in our hearts where evil thoughts can lurk, thoughts of “unchastity, theft, murder” and the like. It’s our thoughts, springing from our hearts, that then determine what we say and what we do, our words and our deeds. Jesus wants our hearts to become like His heart, so that we can respond to others in the same way He would. Rules can guide us, but they don’t replace our need for continual conversion. Let’s thank Jesus for allowing His own heart to be pierced for love of each of us, and for giving us the grace to become like Him.

Ponder:

What treasure, good or bad, do I hold deeply in my heart?

Pray:

Lord Jesus, help me every day to make my heart a little more like Your heart and my thoughts a little more like Your thoughts, so that my words and actions will reflect Your love.