Pollution of Our Souls

Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile. Mark 7:15

Defile. What is defile? Defile is unclean, filthy, dirty. This Gospel reading is telling us that our sins come from inside of us. It's not the food we eat, or the people around us, it's what is inside of us and the decisions that we make for ourselves that creates the pollution of our souls.

When I think of pollution, I think of dirty, cloudy air that makes it difficult to breathe. I can't see things good and it destroys our Earth little by little. The same thing happens to our souls when we sin. When we make the choice to show malice, commit adultery, be arrogant, or act with envy, we are polluting our souls with sin. That sin slowly eats away at our souls until we bring them to God and repent for them.

So how will you cleanse your soul today? Are you going to go to Confession? Are you going to "come clean" with your sins that you and you alone have committed?

Lord, I know that it is I who have committed my sins. Please lead me down Your path of righteousness so that I may rightfully confess my sins and cleanse my soul.

Overcoming Rules as a Barrier

You disregard God's commandment but cling to human tradition. Mark 7:8

Boy am I learning a lot by reading the Bible... go figure.

Anyway, Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees here. They were concerned because some of His apostles had not washed their hands before eating. This disturbed them very much because it was a tradition of the elders. So Jesus basically told them that they should be more worried about what God commands, instead of what human beings command.

Rules generally keep order in our society, don't they? But what happens when there are too many? What happens to us when we start making rules that are petty? I know for me I feel like I want to rebel more because I'm feeling controlled. Something comes to mind from a recent conversation I had with a friend: Make sure you pass a bicyclist with 3 feet of space. There is an effort around here to make that a LAW. I believe in rules and laws, but there are also things that we as human beings need to use our best judgment on and we need to keep God's rules first.

So how are you going to honor His rules today? What rules are you following that are human, and perhaps against God's?

Lord, Your commandments are the most important to me. Help me to follow these throughout my day.

Reach Out to Him

They scurried about the surrounding country and began to bring in the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. Mark 6:55

Jesus was a healer and the word spread fast! I know if I was in need of healing, I would have found Him too. So what holds us back now? Why don't we seek Him more readily when we need healing nowadays? Is it our lack of faith? Or maybe we feel like we don't need Him because we can take care of things ourselves.

Well, we can't. Without our Lord and His healing ways, we have nothing. Without our faith in His ability to help us and heal us, we have nothing. Granted, He doesn't always reach out and heal us directly. Remember, he also uses others to help us heal.

But it takes humility to admit that we need healing doesn't it? It takes a certain amount of admission of a failure to help ourselves. And that takes courage! So let's be courageous today!

How are you going to reach out to our Lord today? What is it that you need healed? Something physical? Something emotional? Something psychological?

Lord, I am bringing you my sufferings and worries. I am open to Your healing.

Quiet, Rest, Peace

[Jesus] said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." Mark 6:30

"Rest? Rest?! No time for rest!" we say. How can we rest when there's laundry to do, kids tugging on my leg, dirty dishes in the sink, and my husband is calling me?? Where are we supposed to rest?

We are supposed to find time to rest, to find quiet, peaceful moments to pray. Jesus took time during His teachings to find quiet and pray. It's essential to us as human beings, as followers of Christ, to find that time to pray. Leave the laundry. Leave the dishes. Give your children a job to do or a toy to play with. Tell your husband to wait a minute. :) Go find some quiet and pray. Even if it's for a few minutes. Take that time for yourself.

I'm not saying that I do this often, but when I make time to pray, it makes a big difference in my attitude towards others. I prayed my Rosary Monday morning because I was feeling grumpy. I knew that I was going to start my day off bad if I didn't take some personal time with the Lord or our Blessed Mother. I sat on the couch, took out my Rosary beads, and prayed the Rosary. WHEW! It really helped. It usually does. But just that 15-20 minutes that it took me to get through it was enough to refocus on my life, on my kids, on my house, on the goals I set for myself that day.

So take some quiet time to rest, find peace, and pray today. How will do you that?

Lord, help me to follow Your example in prayer. I want it to be an essential part of my life.

Entertaining Angels

Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels. Hebrews 13:2

Hospitality can mean so many different things. When I think about it, showing hospitality for our neighbors can be scary nowadays. We don't really know our neighbors the way we used to. Because of that, a lot of us, including myself, fear reaching out because we don't know what they will/could do.

But there are alternatives to visiting with a stranger. We don't have to go knocking on their door and have tea. We can do little things like let a car come into the long traffic line. Wait for a mom and her kids to cross safely across the street or parking lot. We can let a customer go ahead of us that has 2 items over our 100. We can help our elderly to their car and load their groceries for them.

Those are also acts of hospitality. It doesn't have to be award-winning, just thoughtful and done to help each other as human beings. I think we have lost this, but it only takes a few to get the ball rolling, and maybe some of those we help, will pay it forward and we can slowly turn our society around and entertaining more angels....

So what will you do today to show your hospitality?

Lord, I want to make your angels smile. Help me to keep my mind open to this today.

Determining Our Freedom

He summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits. Mark 6:7

Have you ever called someone immature? I have. But I also know that I myself have been immature for most of my 31 years of life. I was immature because I was out having fun. I was hurting people that hurt me. I was stubborn in a hateful way. I was angry in a very angry way. I was out doing what I wanted to do without thinking about what God wanted for me.

Isn't that what immaturity is? We are immature when we live our lives with that sense of freedom. That sense of, "I can do what I want and who cares!" But now I live with more maturity and the freedoms that God creates for me. I actually use my senses when I make a decision and think about our Lord and other people before I celebrate "freedom."

I'm so glad that the Lord gave his Apostles this power to cleanse us of those unclean spirits that make us feel "free." Once I came to terms with the fact that this "freedom" I was feeling wasn't freedom at all, I was able to repent. I went to confession and the priest was able to talk to me about the things I was there for. Now I'm able to turn my life into freedom with our Lord. I have found that the rules He gave us creates freedom, not stifles it.

So how are you going to determine your freedom?

Lord, thank you for sending your Apostles out to cleanse us. Thank you for giving me chance after chance after chance to repent and show my love for you and live according to You.

Faith Can Lead to Healing

So He was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying His hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith. Mark 6:5-6

Jesus cannot heal us without our faith in Him. We need to keep our hearts and our minds open to His teachings. Through this openness and acceptance, we learn to trust Him. All of this leads to a greater faith in the works of our Lord.

We all need some sort of healing don't we? While Jesus is not literally walking the earth any longer, healing us with His touch, He is still all around us. He uses us to heal each other. He uses our strong faith in Him to heal those that need healing, but He may also heal us Himself.

He cannot do these works without us. Well, I suppose He could, but He doesn't want to. He wants us to believe in Him and have faith in His love and power.

How are you going to show Jesus your faith in Him? How are you going to show Him your openness to His love and generous acts of healing?

Lord, my mind and heart are open to You. I trust You. Heal me of all my physical and emotional pain according to Your Will.