Seventh Week of Ordinary Time
23rd May 2024 (Thursday)
Psalter: Week 3
Reading of the Day
First Reading: James 5:1-6
Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the labourers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.
Psalm 49:14-15c, 15d-16, 17-18, 19-20 (R. Matthew 5:3)
R/. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Gospel Acclamation
V/. Alleluia
R/. Alleluia
V/. Accept the word of God, not as the word of men, but as what it really is, the word of God.
R/. Alleluia.
Gospel : Mark 9:41-50
At that time: Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung round his neck and he were thrown into the sea. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
Daily Gospel Reflection
Thursday – Seventh Week of Ordinary Time
Guidelines: Living a scandalous life and giving a bad example will certainly invite God’s wrath and judgment. For it is not only self-ruin but also ruining others through misguidance
Jesus comes heavily on scandals and bad examples. Those who cause scandals and influence and lead others to sin deserve to be killed. He bluntly declares: Whoever causes others to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.
In this context, St James in the first reading gives us one dominant cause of scandal and that is lust for riches. Men in their riches become unwise and arrogant, indifferent to God, unconcerned and unjust toward others, and deceptive and corrupt. God will condemn them.
Therefore, whoever gives scandals to others, whoever lives a deviated life, whoever misguides others to wrong ways, whoever deceives and manipulates others with cunningness and falsity, whoever creates, justifies, and promotes evil, instead of avoiding it, is liable to God’s displeasure and death
But alas how many are least bothered about setting a bad example to others? How many politicians, famous and influential people, religious leaders, parents, and elders continue to give bad examples to others?
That indifference to God, that lack of prayer, those quarrels, that anger, that needless anxiety, that irresponsibility, that negligence in faith matters, that deception, that greed, that selfishness, that failure to guide, to counsel, to correct, to inspire, that lack of tenderness, understanding, and kindness, whether in the families or in the parish or in the neighbourhood or in the places of work – all these, are they not scandals which we give to our dear ones, to our neighbours or colleagues?
One great antidote to this disease is awareness of the gravity of sin. Sin is not fun. It is something serious. Its consequences are grave. Losing our limbs is preferable to committing sin. It is better to go to heaven handicapped rather than go to hell with all the limbs.
Another remedy is to help and support those who belong to and work for Christ. Jesus says, “Whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward”.
Further, another way to counter the pull toward scandals is to be more responsible for our role of being salt. Just as salt preserves things from decay and deterioration and adds flavor, so also with our saltiness of a good example, we can salten life.
Practice: Time and again we are surrounded and shocked by scandals and bad examples. In such a context, on the one hand, we need to increase our immunity to resist their negative influence; on the other hand, we need to enhance our strength for positive influence and a good example
