Leprosy is a symbol of deadly sin.

"A leper came to him and kneeling down begged him and said, “If you wish, you can make me clean.”  Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, “I do will it. Be made clean.” (Mark 1: 40 - 41).

Sunday 14th February 2021, in the 6th Week of Ordinary Time. Last Sunday before the holy Season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, 17th February.

Lent is all about Metanoia, Conversion. The Scripture Readings in this Sunday's Liturgy prepare our minds and hearts for a good Lent.

In the Gospel, our key Scripture, Jesus heals a leper by touching him and said: "I do will it. Be made clean.” Jesus wants to touch us too during the coming 40 Days of Lent.

The second Reading explains to us modern people the drastic consequences of leprosy on the unfortunate individual in the early Israelite history:
“The one who bears the sore of leprosy shall keep his garments rent and his head bare, and shall muffle his beard; he shall cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean!’ As long as the sore is on him he shall declare himself unclean, since he is in fact unclean. He shall dwell apart, making his abode outside the camp.” (Leviticus 13:  45 - 46).

Leprosy is a symbol of Sin. Our Sins are invisible to our mortal eyes but not to God. Some saintly Confessors have the gift of seeing the state of one's soul. They describe some nasty sights that remind us of the man "full of leprosy."

"The Responsorial Psalm 32 encourages us to deal with sin with Confession:
"Blessed is he whose fault is taken away, whose sin is covered.
Blessed the man to whom the Lord imputes not guilt, in whose spirit there is no guile.

"Then I acknowledged my sin to you, my guilt I covered not.
I said, “I confess my faults to the Lord,” and you took away the guilt of my sin." (Cf Psalm 32).

To have a good Lent, you need a good plan. To have a good plan, you need some time in prayer seeking light and guidance from the Holy Spirit. The reward of a good Lent is huge.

Daily Bible Verse @ SeekFirstcommunity.com

Mary as Warrior.

"I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; They will strike at your head, while you strike at their heel. (Genesis 3: 15).

Saturday 13th February 2021, in the 5th Week in Ordinary Time.

#1. Who is the woman in our key Scripture?
#2. Who are "they"?
#3. How does the woman fight?
#4. What is the witness of history to the woman's place in the history of the Church?

#1. Although Christian tradition has speculated endlessly as to the identity of the "woman". In this reflection, we follow many Church Fathers, Doctors of the Church in saying that the woman in question is Mary, Mother of the Redeemer. She is full of grace whose Son Jesus will redeem the world from sin. No surprise that Christians see Genesis 3: 15 as Protoevangelium, the Gospel-in-Genesis.

#2. Following #1 above, we can identify "They" as Jesus and Mary. Mary is the perfect disciple of Jesus and the only person who witnessed the unfolding of the Gospel from the Annunciation of Archangel Gabriel to the Crucifixion to the birth of the Church on Pentecost Sunday. And this is no accident.

#3. How does Mary wage war against the sworn enemy of mankind? The humble Virgin of Nazareth fight with the weapons provided by God: "The weapons of our battle are not of flesh but are enormously powerful, capable of destroying fortresses. We destroy arguments" (2 Corinthians 10: 4).

Mary has been honored in the Church as: Comforter of the afflicted, Help of Christians, Queen of Angels, Queen of Martyrs, Tower of David. She is a seasoned warrior in the fight against Satan and evil. The weapons she uses are not of flesh but are enormously powerful, capable of destroying fortresses of Evil.  (Cf 2 Corinthians 10: 4). They are the weapons the Church uses and recommends:

Prayer, Word of God, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Examination of Conscience, Spiritual Reading, Faith sharing.

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How Satan seduced Adam and Eve.

"The woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and the tree was desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it." (Genesis 3: 6).

Friday 12th February 2021, in the 5th Week in Ordinary Time.

The first Reading is the story of the Fall of Adam and Eve that caused the Original Sin. Adam and Eve were created pure and innocent.
#1. Why did Satan succeed in seducing them?
#2. How did it happen?
#3. What are the consequences of the Fall?
#4. What is the divine Remedy?

Scripture says that Satan is the most cunning of all the animals. He convinced Eve that he was telling the truth and that God was keeping something back from them. As Satan spoke, Eve was thinking in her mind: good fruit, pleasant, delicious and desirable. Moreover the fruit will make her wise, knowledgeable and admired. She fell for the lie. She ate the forbidden fruit and gave some to her husband.

The consequences of this rebellion are the war between the body, mind and soul that results in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.  Every man and woman can attest to this. The Church teaches that one of the grave consequences of the Fall is the damage to the relationship between the sexes. Women try to manipulate men and men are prepared to use violence to get what they want.

What then is the divine Remedy?
All things are created twice. The first creation is from below. Adam and Eve represent the first creation.
The second creation is from above. This is what happened at Pentecost. Jesus says that we must be born of Spirit and water to gain eternal life. This promise was fulfilled at Pentecost.

This second creation is far superior to the first creation. The Church sings in Easter Vigil: "O Happy Fault" that brought the Redeemer who opened the door of Paradise for us and made it possible for the Holy Spirit to live inside us.

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The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.

“Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.” Then he said to her, “For saying this, you may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter.” (Mark 7: 28 - 29).

Thursday 11th February 2021, in the 5th Week in Ordinary Time is the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. It is also a Day of Prayer for the Sick.

In 1858, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to 14 year-old Marie Bernarde Soubirous  in Lourdes, France. She was to become St Bernadette Soubirous. The first apparition was followed by seventeen others. Many healing miracles happens in Lourdes. Lourdes has become a major pilgrimage center in the world.

We have a miracle of healing in the Gospel Reading for today.
Who is involved? A Greek woman whose daughter was possessed by a demon. There are three lessons on her interaction with Jesus:
#1. She heard about Jesus the Healer and she believes that Jesus could help her.
#2. When she met Jesus, she shows her faith and reverence by bowing low before Jesus.
#3. She was not easily put off by Jesus' initial hesitation to cure her daughter. This woman has what we may call persistence, lingering and staying power.

We need all three attributes to make the most of our encounters with Jesus.

Daily Bible Verse @ SeekFirstcommunity.com

Be careful of what you allow into your mind.

“But what comes out of a person, that is what defiles. From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile.” (Mark 7: 20 - 23).

Wednesday 10th February 2021, in the 5th Week in Ordinary Time is the feast of St Scholastica (480 - 547). Italian. Religious nun.  She founded the Benedictine Nuns that continue to serve the Church for 1500 years. Scholastica is the twin sister of the great St Benedict. St Scholastica is the patron saint of education, convulsive children and  Benedictine Nuns.

Where is the source of all these sinful habits in you and in me?  Lust, theft, murder, adultery,  wanting what belongs to others, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, abusiveness, pride, recklessness and thoughtless behavior, and others.
Jesus says that they all come from inside the mind. Thoughts, words and actions defile a person and food does not defile.

Psychologists have recognized the importance of the mind in behavior:
Sow a thought, you reap a deed.
Sow a deed, you reap a habit.
Sow a habit, you reap a character.
Sow a character, you reap a destiny.

What cleanses the heart?

“But what comes out of a person, that is what defiles. From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile.” (Mark 7: 20 - 23).

Wednesday 10th February 2021, in the 5th Week in Ordinary Time is the feast of St Scholastica (480 - 547). Italian. Religious nun.  She founded the Benedictine Nuns that continue to serve the Church for 1500 years. Scholastica is the twin sister of the great St Benedict. St Scholastica is the patron saint of education, convulsive children and  Benedictine Nuns.

Where is the source of all these sinful habits in you and in me?  Lust, theft, murder, adultery,  wanting what belongs to others, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, abusiveness, pride, recklessness and thoughtless behavior, and others.
Jesus says that they all come from inside the mind. Thoughts, words and actions defile a person and food does not defile.

Psychologists have recognized the importance of the mind in behavior:
Sow a thought, you reap a deed.
Sow a deed, you reap a habit.
Sow a habit, you reap a character.
Sow a character, you reap a destiny.

What cleanses the heart? 

The word of God. 

David after his adultery prayed:
"Do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Create in me a pure and clean heart." (Cf Psalm 51).

If you pray the above prayer every day, be ready to be surprised by mercy.

Daily Bible Verse @ SeekFirstcommunity.com

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David after his adultery prayed:
"Do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Create in me a pure and clean heart." (Cf Psalm 51).

If you pray the above prayer every day, be ready to be surprised by mercy.

Daily Bible Verse @ SeekFirstcommunity.com

Let us create mankind in our image and likeness.

"God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
God blessed them and God said to them: Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that crawl on the earth.  (Genesis 1: 27 - 28).

Tuesday 9th February 2021, 5th Week in Ordinary Time.

What can we learn from the story of creation from Genesis to nourish us?

#1. Human beings are the only thing God created in His image and likeness.  This truth lays the foundation for the rest of the story of man in the Scriptures. God gave man free will and never curtailed or interfered with man's liberty.

#2. God gave humans dominion over the works of His hands.  This is an incredibly important fact. If man wants to destroy his natural environment through selfish abuse, he is free to do so but the consequences will be dire.

#3. "God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." 
(Genesis 1: 27).
It is irrational to speculate that male and female are exactly the same in everything except for a few physiological features.
God purposely created man and woman equal ontologically but different physiologically and psychologically. Each being attuned to its grand purpose in the logic of creation.

#4.  "God blessed them and God said to them: Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it." (Genesis 1: 28).
Man is the crown of God's creation. But Genesis Chapter 1 describes the first creation. The second creation which happened at Pentecost is not an update but the plan.  Man receives the Holy Spirit to live inside him. It is the Holy Spirit that makes us into the image of God. He endows us with the attributes of God:
Wisdom, understanding, counsel, power, knowledge, holiness and reverence.
I like the way St Augustine puts it:  "God became man so that man will become god."

Daily Bible Verse @ SeekFirstcommunity.com

The Feast of St Josephine Bakhita.

"Wherever he went—in villages, cities, or the countryside—they brought the sick out to the marketplaces. They begged him to let the sick touch at least the fringe of his robe, and all who touched him were healed." (Mark 6: 56).

Monday 8th February 2021, in the 5th Week in Ordinary Time. We celebrate the feast of two saints today:
++ St Josephine Bakhita (1869 - 1947). Sudanese. Virgin and Religious. Josephine was brought to Italy as a slave. By Divine Providence, she became a sister of the Canossian order. Her exemplary and holy life was noticed. She bore patiently and heroically her last illness. Pope St John Paul II brought her relics to Sudan where she was canonized in 2000. St Josephine Bakhita is the patron saint of Sudan and victims of human trafficking.
++ St Jerome Emiliani. (1481 - 1537). Italian. Priest. Jerome was wayward as a young man. When he was surprised by grace, his life changed 360 degrees. He founded a religious congregation (Somaschi) which looked after the sick, the poor and orphans and abandoned children. St Jerome Emiliani died of the plague while ministering to the afflicted.

In our key Scripture for today, we observe again the importance of faith in healing. The woman with the issue of blood was full of faith and desire to be healed. She quietly crept behind Jesus and touched the hem of His clothes. She was instantly healed.  Prominent doctors tried but could not help her for twelve years. It is likely that the people of the village in Mark's narrative today knew of the story of the woman with the issue of blood. They brought the sick on mats to where Jesus landed in a boat. Like catechists, they prepared the sick to come to faith through testimonies of healings by Jesus. The sick who believed and touched Jesus were healed instantly.

What is the lesson here?
You may make a pilgrimage to Lourdes, Fatima, Guadalupe or Medjugorie. Without faith, you may come back disappointed.

The spiritual law here is simple to grasp. Whenever anyone in need comes to Jesus with expectant faith, he receives whatever he needs in accordance with the will of God. In all the pilgrimage sites mentioned above, many have received physical healing. Others have received spiritual and emotional healing. "All ate and were satisfied."

How is this so?
"Stop imitating the ideals and opinions of the culture around you, but be inwardly transformed by the Holy Spirit through a total reformation of how you think. This will empower you to discern God’s will as you live a beautiful life, satisfying and perfect in his eyes." (Romans 12: 2).

In God's will in our peace. How? Because God knows what is best for us not just today but for eternity.

Daily Bible Verse @ SeekFirstcommunity.com