Gospel: February 28, 2025
February 28, 2025 (Friday)
7th Week in Ordinary Time
Psalter: Week 3 / (Green)
Ps 119:12, 16, 18, 27, 34, 35
Guide me, Lord, in the way of your commands.
1st Reading: Sirach 6:5-17
A gentle word makes many friends, an agreeable tongue calls forth gracious replies. Let your friends be many; but your counselors, one in a thousand! If you would gain a friend, begin by testing him and do not put your confidence in him too quickly. For there is the friend who is such when it suits him but he does not remain faithful in the time of your adversity. There is the friend who becomes an enemy and, to your confusion, makes known why you quarreled.
There is the friend who shares your table but does not remain faithful when things go against you. In times of prosperity he will be like your shadow and he will speak freely to those of your household. But if you are humiliated, he will turn against you and will avoid meeting you. Distance yourself from your enemies and be careful about your friends.
The faithful friend is a secure refuge; whoever has found one has found a treasure. A faithful friend is beyond all price; hold him as priceless. A faithful friend is a lifesaving remedy, and those who fear the Lord will find one. Whoever fears the Lord will make true friends for, as a man is, such will his friend be.
Gospel: Mark 10:1-12
Jesus then left that place and went to the province of Judea, beyond the Jordan River. Once more, crowds gathered around him and, once more, he taught them, as he always did. Some (Pharisees came and) put him to the test with this question: “Is it right for a husband to divorce his wife?” He replied, “What law did Moses give you?” They answered, “Moses allowed us to write a certificate of dismissal in order to divorce.”
Then Jesus said to them, “Moses wrote this law for you, because you have hearts of stone. But in the beginning of creation God made them male and female; and because of this, man has to leave father and mother and be joined to his wife; and the two shall become one body. So, they are no longer two, but one body.
Therefore, let no one separate what God has joined.” When they were indoors at home, the disciples again asked him about this, and he told them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against his wife; and the woman who divorces her husband and marries another, also commits adultery.”
Reflection:
“Be lovable.”
Sirach counsels, “a gentle word makes many friends, an agreeable tongue calls forth gracious replies.” The Roman poet Ovid also advised, “If you want to be loved, be lovable.” Speak gentle words and you will amass friends; be lovable, and you will be loved. However, what are our motives behind our words and actions? Are our kind words and good deeds mere show to gain other people’s favor, or are they genuine? If they are mere show, using other people to our advantage, then we are not being a true friend to our neighbor, and our charity is hollow.
Our gentleness, charity and loyalty to others should be built upon the bedrock of truth and honesty, and upon an imitation of Christ’s self-giving love. These are essential qualities in marriage, too, so that it is truly lived as a faithful, loving and fruitful friendship of mutual self-giving, where the two “become one body.” May our hearts not be fickle, selfish or made of stone, but filled with the love of Christ, a love which prompts us to act with genuine concern for the good of others and not simply out of self-interest.
