Gospel: February 20, 2025
February 20, 2025 (Thursday)
6th Week in Ordinary Time
Psalter: Week 2 / (Green)
Ps 102:16-18, 19-21, 29 & 22-23
From heaven the Lord looks down on the earth.
1st Reading: Genesis 9:1-13
God blessed Noah and his sons and he said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth. Fear and dread of you will be in all the animals of the earth and in all the birds of the air, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea.
They are given to you. Everything that moves and lives shall be food for you; as I gave you the green plants, I have now given you everything. Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is its blood. But I will also demand a reckoning for your lifeblood. I will demand it from every animal; and from man, too, I will demand a reckoning for the life of his fellow man.
He who sheds the blood of man shall have his blood shed by man; for in the image of God has God made man. As for you, be fruitful and increase. Abound on the earth and be master of it.” God spoke to Noah and his sons, “See I am making a Covenant with you and with your descendants after you; also with every living animal with you: birds, cattle, that is, with every living creature of the earth that came out of the ark. I establish my Covenant with you.
Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” God said, “This is the sign of the Covenant I make between me and you, and every animal living with you for all future generations. I set my bow in the clouds and it will be a sign of the Covenant between me and the earth.
Gospel: Mark 8:27-33
Jesus set out with his disciples for the villages around Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” And they told him, “Some say, you are John the Baptist; others say, you are Elijah or one of the prophets.” Then Jesus asked them, “But you, who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Messiah.” And he ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
Jesus then began to teach them that the Son of Man had to suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law. He would be killed, and after three days, rise again. Jesus said all this quite openly, so that Peter took him aside and began to protest strongly. But Jesus, turning around, and looking at his disciples, rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind me, Satan! You are thinking not as God does, but as people do.”
Reflection:
“Not as God does, but as people do.”
“Be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth. … Abound on the earth and be master of it.” To be master or have dominion over the earth has been interpreted in the past as if it gave free rein to use and abuse the earth, to exploit its resources, and to treat its plants, animals, and fellow human beings with contempt. This is to think “not as God does, but as people do,” in a self-interested way, rather than with love, generosity and responsibility.
Jesus criticizes the same attitude in Peter in the Gospel, as his concern for his Master does not think of the bigger picture, but just focuses on one’s own interests and the “petty securities” of oneself and one’s group (Fratelli Tutti 55, 166). Are we aware of how our choices affect the wider society and the environment? Are we willing to make sacrifices for the good of others, in imitation of Christ? Are we willing to act as responsible stewards of creation and generous brothers and sisters to our neighbor?
