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."
Dawg's thought:
Today's prayer intention is for peace in Iraq and for the safe return of those in the military stationed there.
Pope John Paul II's "Theology of the Body" has been en vogue for quite some time now. I talk to a lot of people who have been to the seminars and who have read the books, but there seems to be a disconnect when it comes to application. I still see men who look at women as a means for "their good" versus seeing them as "good."
If we know the truth, how does that affect us? Do we take the knowledge of scripture and theology and allow it to transform us from within? Are our hearts fertile soil or rocky ground?
In today's reading, Christ reminds us that we are in need of transformation from within our hearts. If we strive for holiness "externally" where people can see us, but inside we hold on to any one of the "evil thoughts" outlined by Christ in today's reading, then we are not holy. We must live up to our call to be holy and it happens from within. Take care and God Bless.
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