Daily Catholic Reflection: Thursday, February 20, 2025, Thursday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Genesis 9:1-13

Psalm 102:16-18, 19-21, 29 and 22-23

Mark 8:27-33                          Full Readings

Saints Jacinta and Francisco Marto

But You, Who Do You Say I Am?

Today, we read from the book of Genesis, the first covenant ever made between God and a person, Noah, after the Flood, and the covenant was that nothing of the flesh shall ever be swept away, no more flood to sweep the earth again, while giving a sign that will always signify this covenant, the Rainbow. More importantly, God blessed them, just as he blessed the first man, to fill the world and rule it but they were not to eat flesh with blood. Why was this law very important?

Daily Catholic Reflection: Tuesday, February 17, 2025, Tuesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Genesis 6:5-8; 7:1-5, 10

Psalm 29:1a, 2, 3ac-4, 3b & 9c-10

Mark 8:14-21                           Full Readings

Blessed John of Fiesole

We are Leavens Ourselves

The story of Noah and the Flood is not only a well-told epic but also marks the great divide between the world of the ancient myths, swept away in the flood, and an approach approximating more nearly to a historical presentation, which starts gaining shape as from Gen 13. God here is angry, regretting why he created humanity, which had turned into evil, and so decides to destroy the whole humanity and all created things. However, Noah won favour before God and was instructed to build the ark to save that which would bring life again after the great flood. Noah, by faith, obedience, and listening, heeded God's call. Do we sometimes make God regret why he created us?

Daily Catholic Reflection: Sunday, February 16, 2025, Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Jeremiah 17:5-8

Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4 & 6

1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20

Luke 6:17, 20-26                     Full Readings

Saint Gilbert of Sempringham

Living a Blessed Life

Pope Benedict XVI, in his Spe Salvi writes: "Obviously there is a contradiction in our attitude, which points to an inner contradiction in our very existence. On the one hand, we do not want to die; above all, those who love us do not want us to die. Yet on the other hand, neither do we want to continue living indefinitely, nor was the earth created with that in view. So what do we really want?...ultimately we want only one thing—” the blessed life," the life which is simply life, simply “happiness” (Spe Salvi 11). But how do we find this blessed life, a life of happiness, and how do we attain it?

Daily Catholic Reflection: Thursday, February 13, 2025, Thursday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Genesis 2:18-25

Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5

Mark 7:24-30                      Full Readings

Saint Giles Mary of Saint Joseph

Humility When Praying

In the second account of the beginning of all things, the way in which man continues the creative work of God is shown by his naming the animals. A thing with no name cannot be fully grasped and is not really complete. Under the friendly guidance of God, man completes the divine work of creation. Having joined in the act of creation, the man will take affectionate care of what he has completed. But none of these is a fit companion, and man remains solitary, miserable, and incomplete without a partner, so God made a woman out of the man's rib. Sometimes, this reading is used to justify the dominance of men over women, but truly, the man cannot claim that he is superior as the source of the material that made a woman, for the LORD God does the work of moulding the woman from the rib just as he had moulded the man from earth. The act of creating a woman from the rib of a man didn't imply dominion of man over woman but shows that God can do anything he wants, and we should not interpret it in our own way to suit what we want.

Daily Catholic Reflection: Wednesday, February 12, 2025, Wednesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Genesis 2:4b-9, 15-17

Psalm 104:1-2a, 27-28, 29bc-30

Mark 7: 14-23                   Full Readings

Saint Apollonia

It's Our Inner self that Matters.

The second creation account, which we read today in the first reading, is somehow different from the first. In the previous account, no material had been used for the creation of Adam (or of anything else), but here the LORD God uses dust or crumbly earth, and the likeness to God is expressed by the breath of God breathed directly into the nostrils of the man. In the previous account, the Spirit was there already, hovering over the waters, but in this case, it is the spirit of God that gives life to the man. The man actually receives the life of God. The application of this reading in today's world of vices and immoralities, especially murder and suicide, is that man cannot create his own life and also, he may not take his own life; this is a unique gift of God, given in trust, the symbol and guarantee of dependence on God.

Daily Catholic Reflection: Tuesday, February 11, 2025, Tuesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Genesis 1:20—2:4a

Psalm 8:4-5, 6-7, 8-9

Mark 7:1-13                        Full Readings

Our Lady of Lourdes

Worshiping From the Heart

Brethren, Why did God create us? Simple and basic catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that he created us to know him, love him (then worship him) and be with him in heaven forever. In the first reading, in the account of creation that we read in Genesis, human beings are created last, as a sign of our dignity.  We are created in God’s image and likeness with intelligence and free will.  Male and female, He created us. Both genders are fashioned in the image of God, not one greater than the other.  We reveal God’s image in us when we show compassion, fidelity and care for others.

Daily Catholic Reflection: Monday, February 10, 2025, Memorial of Saint Scholastica, Virgin

Genesis 1:1-19

Psalm 104:1-2a, 5-6, 10, 12, 24, 35c

Mark 6:53-56                        Full Readings

Saint Scholastica

Extraordinary Faith

Brethren, in the first reading we see the first creation story, an explanation of how the universe came into being. The two slightly different accounts of the creation are not meant to be historical; they can’t be! One difficulty is that it is now firmly established scientifically that the universe existed for countless billions of years before humans existed to record what was happening. Another more obvious difficulty is that the sun and the moon are said to have been created only on the fourth day: what could be meant by a ‘day’ without sunrise and sunset? Nevertheless, they are true in that they teach us significant truths, not so much about what happened but about ourselves today, our relationship to the Creator, whom we call ‘God’, our environment, and one another. The creation stories answer many of our fundamental questions of humanity, like what is the origin of the universe, the origin of man, the origin of evil and suffering, and many others, and are necessary for our faith in God.