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Arch Bishop Micheal Ralph Vendegna S.O.S.M.A.

Gospel/Homily

  • Tuesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

     

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    Gospel text (Mk 8:14-21): The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. Jesus enjoined them, “Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” They concluded among themselves that it was because they had no bread. When he became aware of this he said to them, “Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread? Do you not yet understand or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear? And do you not remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?” They answered him, “Twelve.” “When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?” They answered him, “Seven.” He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

    “Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees”


    Today, —once again— we can see the wisdom of our Lord Jesus. His behavior is amazing, as it is so different from the rest of the people…, it is original. He has just made some miracles and now He is going somewhere else where the Grace of God must also reach. In such a context of miracles, before a new group of people who is waiting, He warns them: “Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” (Mk 8:15), for they —the Pharisees and Herod’s— do not want the Grace of God to be known, and they rather spend all their time by spreading all over the World bad yeast while sowing discord.

    Our faith does not depend on our deeds, for “a faith which we ourselves decide about is not a faith in absolute” (Benedict XVI). On the contrary, they are our deeds that depend upon our faith. To have a true and authentic faith implies an active and dynamic faith; not a conditioned faith that stays only on the surface, in the external appearance, that gets off the track… Ours must be a genuine faith. We must look at things with the eyes of God, not with the sinner man’s eyes: “Do you not yet understand or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened?” (Mk 8:17).

    The Kingdom of God expands in our World just as the yeast grows in the dough, without our knowing why. The authentic faith must be like that, a faith that grows in our love for God. Let nothing and nobody, therefore, befuddle us of the encounter with our Lord and His redeemable message. Our Lord never misses an opportunity to teach and, today, He keeps on doing it: “We must free ourselves from the false idea that faith has nothing to say to today’s men” (Benedict XVI).

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