Daily Reflection for Friday, February 10, 2023
Peace and Blessings, Friends and Parishioners!
We encourage you to reflect on Friday’s readings at this link:
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/021023.cfm
If you prefer to use your own Bible, the readings are:
First Reading: Genesis 3:1-8
Responsorial: Psalm 32:1-2,5,6,7
Gospel: Mark 7:31-37
Our reflection on Friday’s readings:
But the more he ordered them not to, the more they proclaimed it. Mark 7:36
Several times in the gospel of Mark, Jesus instructs His disciples and followers to not speak about the miracles they have witnessed Him perform. Scripture scholars refer to this as the “Messianic Secret”. It’s curious that if Jesus’ goal was to spread the Good News, then why would He ask people to stay silent and not share what they had seen? Perhaps Jesus worried about becoming a celebrity and people not listening to His message. Perhaps He worried that creating too much publicity for His ministry would accelerate His ultimate fate before He had a chance to deliver all His messages. Or perhaps this was a writing tool that Mark used to communicate that the ministry of Jesus was just too exciting to keep under wraps, that what people witnessed was just too amazing to keep to themselves.
This is what I take away from today’s gospel. I have the physical ability to hear and speak, unlike the deaf man with a speech impediment. How am I using that ability in service of God? Do I really listen to what God is saying to me -- through scripture, through the people that I encounter, through the words I hear from others, by sitting in silence – or am I deaf to God’s message? And what am I doing with what I hear? Am I living according to the messages I receive? Am I willing to learn and grow and change from those messages? And how do I proclaim what I see and hear and believe to others?
Jesus isn’t instructing me to stay silent. He is asking me to spread the Good News and help others to know Jesus through the way that I show up every day – my words and actions. My faith is not something to keep to myself, but something to be freely and joyfully shared.
May our ears and hearts remain open to hear what God is telling us and may we use our power to speak to proclaim the Good News whenever we have the chance.
Peace to you all,
Andra Liepa