Gospel: February 27, 2025
February 27, 2025 (Thursday)
7th Week in Ordinary Time
Psalter: Week 3 (Green/White)
St. Gregory of Narek, abbot and doctor of the Church
Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 & 6
“Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.”
1st Reading: Sirach 5:1-8
Gospel: Mark 9: 41-50
If anyone gives you a drink of water because you belong to Christ and bear his name, truly, I say to you, he will not go without reward. If anyone should cause one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble and sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a great millstone around his neck. If your hand makes you fall into sin, cut it off! It is better for you to enter life without a hand, than with two hands to go to hell, to the fire that never goes out. And if your foot makes you fall into sin, cut it off!
It is better for you to enter life without a foot, than with both feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye makes you fall into sin, tear it out! It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, keeping both eyes, to be thrown into hell, where the worms that eat them never die, and the fire never goes out. The fire itself will preserve them. Salt is a good thing; but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.”
Reflection:
“Salt of the earth.”
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux tells us to keep things in proper balance. If we think only of the mercy of God, we might take his compassion for granted, and slide further and further into sin. If, however, we think only of God’s justice, we might become paralyzed by a fear of his just judgment. The answer, says Saint Bernard, is to remember that justice and mercy are united in God, just as Christ, the Word made flesh, has two feet.
Therefore, he teaches us to kneel humbly before Christ in prayer and kiss both feet: the foot of justice and the foot of mercy. In this way, we acknowledge our sins against God, but accept that he is also our salvation. To live up to our vocation to be “salt of the earth,” that is, to season the world with Christ, we must rely on the Lord and not on ourselves or possessions or status. Salt in the Old Testament was used in covenant sacrifices. Therefore, in our weakness and propensity to fall into sin, we also need to stay salted with both God’s strength and his mercy to keep us faithful to his covenant.
