In our liturgical celebrations, we find the children most noisy. Some would be running around making their parents or guardians running around as well. There would be some of who feel annoyed at this, some are more tolerant. Yet, despite the children’s seemingly annoying behavior to us adults, it is our call as a church that our children find a welcoming and embracing church for them.
Children are very special to Jesus because the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them. Although at that time, people believed that children had no social status. Children did not have anything to play in the Jewish society. This was the reason why the disciples tried to stop those who brought the children near Jesus. The disciples believed that there was no reason for Jesus to waste his time with these insignificant children.
Yet, what we have heard from the Gospel was the other way around. Jesus became “indignant” at the treatment his disciples showed to the children. Jesus despised that kind of treatment towards children because in his heart, the children takes a very special place.
Thus, Jesus made that event to teach something very important to the people at large. The Lord said, “Let the children come to me, do not prevent them!” This expressed the affection of Jesus towards the children. It also showed His affection towards all those who had been despised and mistreated by others. Jesus knew that the very innocence of the children desires nearness with God. Children who are most dependent to adults also manifest our dependence to God.
This is how Jesus teaches that children are more open and trusting, hence, “the Kingdom of God belongs to them.” Children are open to the surprises of God. Their humility, simplicity and innocence make them sensitive to God’s presence.
This is the invitation and call for us today, as Jesus reminds us, “whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.”
Let us make our hearts be free from hatred and indifference. Let us remove discontentment and condemning attitude towards others. Let us also allow ourselves be surprised by God because we become open and welcoming of God’s presence. Our sensitivity to God’s presence shall move us too to become welcoming and aware of the needs of others. These childlike attitudes make us self-giving and life-giving to others where the Kingdom of God grows in us. Hinaut pa.
Human as we are, we fail and sin. However, this is not an excuse not to desire perfection and holiness before God. In fact, the Gospel of Mark today reminds us to be more aware of our selfish tendencies and evil desires so that we will be able to respond to the temptations that may come to us.
What Jesus told us in the Gospel is not meant to be understood literally. “if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off… if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off… If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out,” – if this is to be understood literally, then, each of us here will have no hands or feet or eyes or even more than that.
Jesus actually wants us to cut off sin from our system that only separates us from Him and from others.
The Book of Sirach also reminds us of the danger to solely rely on human strength, power and wealth that feed our selfishness. Having such desires to only cloud our mind and heart will make us indifferent to the needs of others.
Thus, when our thoughts are filled with lust and evil thoughts, then, Jesus wants us to stop that, and instead fill our thoughts with God’s Living Word that will inspire, challenge and confront our hearts. Read the bible, then.
When our heart is filled with anger, hatred and bitterness, fill it with God’s forgiveness and peace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
When our hands remained close to those who need our help, then, open them and express your gratitude to God by extending help and kindness to people around us.
When our feet remained paralyzed with fear in taking risks, then, be embraced and be confident in God’s love for you so that your feet will be free from fear and take the risk of building close and intimate relationship with others. Go and come nearer to your loved ones, spend more quality time with them.
When our eyes will only tend to see what is ugly, negative and imperfect, then, open our eyes wider to see and realize the beauty of others, the wonders of the world and the goodness of our neighbors.
In this way, we lessen our tendency to nurture our insatiable desire for self-gratification. We begin to see others rather than ourselves alone. We become more self-giving rather than self-serving.
This will hopefully allow us to deepen our relationships, whether in marriage, or in the context of a family with children, or among our friends and colleagues.
Indeed, Jesus calls us to become persons not driven by selfish desires, but to become persons driven by the desire to love and to give oneself for the sake others. In this way “we keep the salt in ourselves and have peace with one another” because Spirit of God dwells in us and among us. Hinaut pa.
How would you feel at the success of others? Of a friend or classmate who is so popular in your group? Or with your spouse who has been receiving a lot of appreciation from your relatives? Or sibling who has been so successful with his/her business? Or a colleague or workmate who was just promoted recently?
When we are truly secured and grounded as a person, we will surely be happy at the success of others and celebrate with them. We will be inspired and excited particularly with people who are close to us. Yet, it can also happen that at the outside we express happiness, but inside having a feeling of insecurity, jealousy and worst resentment and envy. While looking at the success of others, we could have wished and believed that “it should have been me” or “that should be mine.”
This becomes a reality in us when what we saw in others was something we really want for ourselves. Others have enjoyed it, while we don’t. This becomes more intense when we too have the tendency to “compare ourselves and compete with others.” To some degree, it’s okay, yet to some extent as well, it can be damaging to ourselves and to our relationships with others.
With this, let us explore our readings today and discern how God’s invitations are revealed and manifested in our human experiences.
In the Gospel of Mark, the disciples seemed to be worried that there was another man who was capable of healing others through the name of Jesus. They stopped the man because they felt that it was not right since he was not ‘one of them’ and did not belong to their special group. Their worries reached to their feeling of insecurity. They value so much their reputation and image before other people. Thus, the disciples seemed to be entitled by the fact that they were Jesus’ disciples. It was their own way of asserting that they were the only persons who were knowledgeable and capable.
Remember, days before this event, the disciples also felt troubled because they were unable to heal a boy who was possessed by a mute spirit. Jesus himself had to intervene to heal and free the boy from the evil spirit. He reminded his disciples that it can only be done through prayer.
With that failure and brewing insecurities and self-entitlement of the disciples, these made them to be unwelcoming and jealous at the success of others, of those who were not part of their special group. Other people seemed to go to that person because he was able to drive out demons in the name of Jesus. The disciples felt uneasy because of this. As a consequence, they failed to recognize how God also works in the life of other people.
Yet, as a teacher and Lord, Jesus constantly formed his disciples to purify their intentions and their hearts. The response of Jesus to them came from a heart that was secured, confident and most especially, wise. In Jesus’s wisdom, he was not worried about the man who did healing miracles in his name. Jesus was more worried for his disciples who felt insecure, entitled and envious.
Hence, Jesus wanted them to understand that God’s favor and grace is not limited to a particular and special group of people. God reveals the Divine-Self even to those whom we do not expect. For a disciple to understand this, he or she needs wisdom and not entitlement or mere recognition. This is what we have heard from the first reading. The Lord will embrace those who seek wisdom, says the Book of Sirach.
As the Word was made flesh, and so is wisdom, personified in Jesus. This was the reason why the man who did the healing miracles was actually wise, because he sought Jesus in his life. By seeking wisdom, God embraced him by making him a healer in the name of Jesus. Jesus wanted also his disciples to realize this, and that was to always seek Him because he is wisdom.
Wisdom, then, helps us to see how God works not just through us but also through the people and the whole creation around us. Wisdom makes us more aware of God’s presence among us. Wisdom makes us welcoming of God and others.
Thus, Jesus invites us today to learn from him, from his wisdom that constantly seeks the presence of God. This wisdom is not envious at the success of others but sees it as God’s revelation of Divine-Self in others. This wisdom allows us to recognize the face of God in the lives of our brothers and sisters, whoever they may be.
There are two invitation for us today.
First, learn to celebrate the success of others – that we may be able to truly express our joy by acknowledging the hard work and sacrifice that others have to make or the grace that God has given to that person. Yet, when we feel jealous about it, then, learn to accept it and to sleep over it.
Second, seek wisdom rather than praise. This also begins by humbly recognizing and owing our own inadequacies and inconsistencies. This will hopefully lead us to understand better ourselves and able to discern Jesus’ invitations to growth and maturity for us.
May Mary, Our Mother of Perpetual Help, guide us to Wisdom and brings us closer to Wisdom. Hinaut pa.
What would happen when we become “overconfident”? How would such attitude affect our relationships, work or any endeavors in life? In one way or another, you might have already met a person who was so overconfident or perhaps that has become also our very own attitude. Overconfidence portrays towards others the ability to over-estimate our capacities, knowledge and talents. In fact, it is a kind of “cognitive bias” meaning having “the tendency to act in an irrational way because of our limited ability to process information objectively.[1]” This means that we create and believe a different reality from people around us.
This would explain why when we become overconfident, we believe that we know more than others even with those who are actually experts. We could easily brag or boast ourselves and the achievements or experiences that we have as if ours were so unique and exemplary. Thus, we focus more on ourselves and putting the spotlight directly at us. It is not new then, that we would usually exaggerate things in the way we talk and we do things. It is a kind of proving others that we are indeed “so capable.”
However, being an overconfident person, it would also be so difficult for us to accept criticisms or corrections. As a result, it is easy for us to find someone or something to blame for the failure or the mistake that may happen. Moreover, we would tend to make poor decisions because we don’t acknowledge what is really happening. It is also true that we find it hard to adjust or to learn new things and new ways because we have become fixated to what we already have and know.
This is how an overconfident person could impede team or community building because we don’t listen and accept other perspectives and knowledge. We become annoying to the point that people around us would not really believe in us. In a relationship, an overconfident person can also easily dismiss a partner’s opinion, needs and concerns. This will later create more issues in the relationship.
These are just few scenarios when we become overconfident. Yet, it is also important that we become grounded and we learn to accept our limitations so that we continue to grow, mature and be more wise.
And so, let us discover today how such attitude also affected the disciples of Jesus in their ministry and realize how “prayer and wisdom” play significant contributions in our Christian life.
Some of the disciples of Jesus were arguing with a crowd of people and some scribes. It happened that a man brought his son possessed by a mute spirit. However, the disciples couldn’t do anything.
Before such event, the disciples were already sent by Jesus to help in the ministry. They have been given the authority to heal the sick and drive out demons. They were successful in their previous interventions. Yet, this time. They were unable to do so.
It was not surprising at all how Jesus responded to their question, “Why could we not drive the spirit out?” Jesus answered, “This kind can only come out of prayer.”
So, what happened to the disciples then? We can only presume that the disciples, indeed, forgot that the power to heal and give freedom to the possessed come from God alone. They who had been so successful in their previous healing miracles must have thought that those were made possible because of their own abilities and power.
The disciples somehow over-estimated their human strength and abilities. They became overconfident to the point that they argued with people instead of asking the grace from the Lord in prayer. They must have been trying to heal the boy in their name and forgot Jesus. This was the reason why Jesus blurted out, “O faithless generation, how long will I be with you?”
Yet, after giving freedom and healing to the boy, Jesus has to remind his disciples the importance of self-awareness, of being able to accept one’s limitations and to truly recognize God’s powerful presence. Being able to do so will make us wise. The Book of Sirach reminds us of this. “All wisdom comes from the Lord… and prudent understanding from eternity.”
These are now the invitations for us today.
First, overconfidence makes us only stupid and truly incapable and not wise. This will rather prevent us to grow as a person and to develop healthy relationships.
Second, it is in humble acceptance of our limitations and weaknesses that we become truly wise. Indeed, we become open to learn and unlearn things.
Third, prayer makes acknowledge that true power comes from God. We are able to bring healing, life and freedom because we make ourselves instruments of God’s grace. Hinaut pa.
The human heart, though in medical science, is made up of muscle and tissue responsible for pumping blood to flow in our entire body. Yet, the human heart since the ancient times is understood spiritually as the person’s inner core. The Holy Scriptures teach us that our human heart symbolizes our inner self, the totality of our person that includes our mind, spirit and emotions. It is in our heart that we too find our hopes and dreams, our desires and passions. And it is in our heart that we encounter God, who gives us the breath of life.
Moreover, as Jesus reminds us today in the Gospel of Mark, from our heart we also shall find our selfish desires and wicked intentions from which our actions and words can bring harm, evil, and corruption to what surrounds us. This is something that the Lord wants us to realize today so that we may be able to see and discern better on what values, beliefs and spirit should we foster in our hearts.
The Book of Genesis presents to us the second account of the creation story. In this account we are reminded how the Lord created the world and us humans, particularly. The Lord God being portrayed like a potter, formed us out of the clay and blew into us the “breath of life.” That breath indeed, gives us life and it comes from the Lord. That breath still remains with us, a reminder that God’s spirit is within us.
In God’s divine wisdom, the trees of life and of the knowledge of good and evil were planted. The man was expected to exercise discernment, self-control and respect to what God has commanded. In that garden, the man was settled in order “to cultivate and care for it.” This expresses the creative power given to man, that certainly, we have the capacity to nurture and care what has been entrusted to us.
Yet, when we also choose to separate from the grace of God and forget that we are indeed given the breath of life, evil begins to consume us. We shall become dissatisfied with what we have even when we have enough. We become entitled, ungrateful and self-centered as if we are the creator and the giver of life. As the heart distances from the grace of God, the more we become indifferent from others.
This is what Jesus affirmed in today’s Gospel. Jesus said, “From within the man, from his heart, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.”
What makes us unclean, therefore, are not those from the outside but those from within our heart. Jesus particularly refutes the belief of the Pharisees and scribes who developed restrictions on what to eat and what not to eat. Every creature that has been made by God is good.
It is rather that comes out from our heart is what would defile us and would bring corruption and evil around us. It is a call, then, for us to watch out on what we nurture and foster deep within our hearts.
What kind of intentions and motivations do we have then? What desires and passions that fuel our heart? What thoughts and aspirations that have become important for us?
As we bring ourselves to reflect on these matters, let us also remind ourselves that at the very beginning, God gave us the breath of life. Deep within us, God resides; with us, God recreates; and through us, God manifests the divine.
Let us retrieve and reclaim that creative power of the Lord so that our hearts will rather be more attuned and at home with God’s presence. This may hopefully constantly transform our actions and words to become more like Jesus so that we too will be able to bring goodness and kindness into our homes and communities. Hinaut pa.
A DOSE OF GOD TODAY 