Daily Gospel Reflection for February 8, 2022

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

Today's Gospel: Mark 7:1-13

Sometimes it’s easy to read Gospel stories where Jesus admonishes the Pharisees and feel pretty righteous ourselves. Those silly Pharisees who cling to their rules and rituals and forget that the most important commandment is to love! We would never be like that.

Or . . . would we? We may not perform ritual washings like the Pharisees, but how many of us cling to words and rituals of other kinds? How many of us have words on our lips that praise God and yet, deep inside, our hearts are far from him?

It can be tempting sometimes to feel like we can earn our status with God. If we just do all of the “right” things, we think, we can earn our way into heaven. But we can do all of the “right” things -- praying, going to Mass, raising our kids Catholic, doing volunteer work, giving money to charity, and outwardly living out our faith -- and still not love God and our neighbor in the way we are called to.

God knows our hearts, and God wants our hearts. He wants us to offer everything to Him and to trust in Him for everything we need. Those of us who are busy working on our personal holiness like it’s something we can achieve for ourselves -- like a school project we are going to get a grade on at the end of our lives -- are missing the point. Those of us who profess to love God and yet fail to love a neighbor who says something annoying on Twitter, votes for a different political candidate, or cuts us off in traffic are also missing the point. Today, Jesus asks us to examine our hearts and see if there is some way we can draw ourselves closer to God.

Ponder:

How well does my heart match what I say and do on the outside?

Pray:

Lord, help me to see the ways that I fail to love. Open my eyes to all the big and small ways that I might pull my heart away from You, and give me the grace I need to change and grow.

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It can be tempting sometimes to feel like we can earn our status with God. If we just do all of the “right” things, we think, we can earn our way into heaven. #dailygospel

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