January 27, 2018

Gospel: Mk 4:35-41
On that same day, when evening had come, Jesus said to them, “Let’s go across to the other side of the lake.” So they left the crowd, and took him along in the boat he had been sitting in, and other boats set out with him. Then a storm gathered and it began to blow a gale. The waves spilled over into the boat, so that it was soon filled with water. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. They woke him up, and said, “Master, don’t you care if we drown?” And rising up, Jesus rebuked the wind, and ordered the sea, “Quiet now! Be still!” The wind dropped, and there was a great calm. Then Jesus said to them, “Why are you so frightened? Do you still have no faith?” But they were terrified, and they said to one another, “Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey him!”

Reflections
CREATE A CLEAN HEART IN ME
O LORD
What does a clean heart mean? Somehow in the development of our spirituality, we associate cleanliness with chastity, and relate it mainly to the 6th and the 9th commandments. But actually purity of heart is much wider than this. To have a pure heart means to have a heart free of falsehood, of evil intentions, of scheming thoughts and plans. Stated positively, it means authenticity, simplicity, guilelessness. Our constant prayer is for God to create a clean heart in us because we know that our ego is so tricky that it worms its way into everything we think and do even in our good deeds and intentions. When we admonish someone we convince ourselves that it is for his/her own good but if we examine our hearts carefully there can be a secret satisfaction lurking there in discovering some defect in our neighbor and we can become smug and self-righteous about not having that defect. When we say we are doing good things for other people, don’t we sometimes use people to make us appear good and generous? CREATE A CLEAN HEART IN ME, O LORD!

© Copyright Bible Diary 2018