Reflection for February 7, Wednesday of the Fifth Week; Mark 7:14-23

Gospel: Mark 7:14-23

Jesus summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.” When he got home away from the crowd his disciples questioned him about the parable. He said to them, “Are even you likewise without understanding? Do you not realize that everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) “But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him. From within the man, from his heart, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile.”

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Reflection:
There’s a story about a married man who had an adulterous relationship with his officemate. The wife told him, “I never thought that you would be capable of doing that to me because we always go to Holy Mass every Sunday and we practice our catholic faith.

It’s really hard to comprehend why many of us commit sin and don’t live our faith. Yes, we go to church for Holy Mass and yes we practice our catholic faith. Yet when tempted to sin we easily sin. Why is this so? I don’t know why? Perhaps, this is brought about by our weak and superficial faith thus, we embrace the devil and we set aside Jesus.

Jesus in the gospel mentions that nothing that enters us make us sin but what comes out of us makes us sin. We therefore have to be careful and discerning about the things that we do. If we think that our actions would make us sin then by all means we should not do it.

If there’s a strong temptation to sin, we should run away from it before it captures us. The problem with sin is it will never stop until it completely destroys us. For example, the sin of adultery, couples who are into this would continue to engage in this adulterous relationship until they are caught.

They enjoy this sin very much for the simple reason that this is made more attractive by the devil in their eyes.  Since they are already under the spell of the devil they continue to do it without guilt of conscience The same devil whose hidden and only desire is to destroy them.

Come to think of it, why is it that even if we know that what we are doing is sinful many of us still agree to do it? The simple answer is many of us choose to embrace the devil than Jesus. Many of us choose to gamble our very lives with the devil than invest it with Jesus.

When you choose to be with the devil you will be destroyed by it sooner or later. However, when you choose to walk away from it and you choose to be with Jesus. Jesus will never stop until He rids you of all of your sinfulness. – Marino J. Dasmarinas