Word of the day

A reading from the Letter of James
Jas 1:12-18

Blessed is he who perseveres in temptation,
for when he has been proven he will receive the crown of life
that he promised to those who love him.
No one experiencing temptation should say,
"I am being tempted by God";
for God is not subject to temptation to evil,
and he himself tempts no one.
Rather, each person is tempted when lured and enticed by his desire.
Then desire conceives and brings forth sin,
and when sin reaches maturity it gives birth to death.

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers and sisters:
all good giving and every perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of lights,
with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change.
He willed to give us birth by the word of truth
that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

From the Gospel according to Mark
Mk 8:14-21

The disciples had forgotten to bring bread,
and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.
Jesus enjoined them, "Watch out,
guard against the leaven of the Pharisees
and the leaven of Herod."
They concluded among themselves that
it was because they had no bread.
When he became aware of this he said to them,
"Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread?
Do you not yet understand or comprehend?
Are your hearts hardened?
Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?
And do you not remember,
when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand,
how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?"
They answered him, "Twelve."
"When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand,
how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?"
They answered him, "Seven."
He said to them, "Do you still not understand?"

Let us think of the four ideological groups of Jesus’ time – the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes and the Zealots – they have hardened their hearts to carry out a project that was not God's, as there was no place for compassion.

When the heart hardens, one forgets the grace of salvation and of gratuitousness. A hardened heart leads to quarrels, to wars, to selfishness and the destruction of the brother and sister because there is no compassion.  The  greatest message of salvation is that God has had compassion on us.  And the Gospel often repeats that Jesus had compassion on seeing a person or a painful situation. “Jesus is the compassion of the Father,”. “Jesus is the slap to every hardness of heart.” Every one of us, has something that has hardened within our hearts.  “Let us remember and let it be the Lord who gives us a righteous and sincere heart where the Lord dwells.”  “The Lord cannot enter hardened and ideological hearts.  He enters hearts that are like His heart: open and compassionate,” May the Lord give us this grace. (Santa Marta, 18 February 2020)