Gospel: February 17, 2025
February 17, 2025 (Monday)
6th Week in Ordinary Time
Psalter: Week 2
(Green/White)
The Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order, religious
Ps 50:1 & 8, 16bc-17, 20-21
Offer to God a sacrifice of praise.
1st Reading: Genesis 4:1-15, 25
Adam had intercourse with Eve his wife; she became pregnant and gave birth to a child. She named him Cain, for she said, “I have got a man with help from the Lord.” She later gave birth to Abel, his brother. Abel was a shepherd and kept flocks, and Cain tilled the soil. It happened after a time that Cain brought fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. Abel for his part brought the firstborn of his flock, and some fat as well. Now the Lord was well pleased with Abel and his offering, but towards Cain and his offering he showed no pleasure. This made Cain very angry and downcast. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry and downcast? If you do right, why do you not look up? But if you are not doing what is right, sin is lurking at the door. It is striving to get you, but you must control it.” Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go to the fields.” Once there, Cain turned on his brother Abel and killed him. The Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother, Abel?” He answered, “I don’t know; am I my brother’s keeper?” The Lord asked, “What have you done? Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now be cursed and driven from the ground that has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood that your hand has shed. When you till the soil, it will no longer yield you its produce. You will be a fugitive wandering on the earth.” Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. See! Today you drive me from this land. I must hide from you and be a wanderer and a fugitive on the earth, and it will so happen that whoever meets me will kill me.” The Lord said to him, “Well then, whoever kills Cain, will suffer vengeance seven times.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain to prevent anyone who met him from killing him. Adam again had intercourse with his wife and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth; for she said, “The Lord has given me another child in place of Abel since Cain killed him.
Gospel: Mark 8:11-13
The Pharisees came and started to argue with Jesus. Hoping to embarrass him, they asked for some heavenly sign. Then his spirit was moved. He gave a deep sigh and said, “Why do the people of this present time ask for a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this people.” Then he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side of the lake.
Reflection:
“Be alert to the signs of the times.”
“Am I my brother’s keeper?” asks Cain. Do we see society as fundamentally “dog-eat-dog” or built on friendship and community? Do we have a sense of our connection to one another and a sense of our responsibility for the good of others as the human family and as fellow children of God? Pope Francis challenges the culture of indifference and narcissism which is so prevalent in our day, an indifference which fails to feel the pain of others. The opposite of indifference is solidarity and the cultivation of a civilization of love. Where that love and solidarity are lacking, we lack the impetus to care for others, to tend to their needs, and to care for the world we have been given by God. This means that we remain impassive to “the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor” (Laudato Si’, 49), and we ignore the signs God gives us to care for the whole of his creation rather than exploit or neglect it. Unlike the Pharisees who can’t see the signs, let us be alert to the signs of the times and to the signs of God and respond in love and solidarity.
