Gospel:
Mark 9:41-50
Jesus
said to his disciples: “Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because
you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.
“Whoever
causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better
for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into
the sea. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to
enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the
unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut if off. It is better
for you to enter into life crippled than with two feet to be thrown into
Gehenna. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better for you to
enter into the Kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into
Gehenna, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.
“Everyone
will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if salt becomes insipid, with what
will you restore its flavor? Keep salt in yourselves and you will have peace
with one another.”
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Reflection:
What
makes us sin? It’s the absence of Jesus in our lives and not taking seriously
His teachings. What will make us avoid sin? It’s the presence of Jesus in our
lives and it’s in carefully observing His teachings.
In our
gospel for today, Jesus gives us the grave punishment of sins. It involves
maiming and cutting off of body parts. Of course these are just figures of
speech but this conveys a message to all of us that there are many punishments
for sin.
If we
will not repent for our sinfulness we have to pay for it, there’s no free rides
as far as sin is concerned we have to pay for our sins somewhere along our
journey. However, if we repent as soon as possible our punishment will forever be
written off.
But come
to think of it, why do we sin and why are we not averse to sin? The answer is
very simple, we love this world more than we love God thus there’s a void of
the presence of God in our hearts.
Yes, we
know God and yes we go to church to worship Him. But it ends there, we leave
Jesus in our church. We don’t bring Him home, we don’t allow Jesus
to have a permanent home in our hearts and we don’t live His teachings.
Would you
allow Jesus to carve a home in your heart? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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