Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 7, 14-23
Jesus summoned the crowd again and said to them,
“Hear me, all of you, and understand.
Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person;
but the things that come out from within are what defile.”
When he got home away from the crowd
his disciples questioned him about the parable.
He said to them,
“Are even you likewise without understanding?
Do you not realize that everything
that goes into a person from outside cannot defile,
since it enters not the heart but the stomach
and passes out into the latrine?”
(Thus he declared all foods clean.)
“But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him.
From within the man, from his heart,
come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All these evils come from within and they defile.”
Work to change what is in the inside of you
1) The exterior. That’s everything that is around you, the things you must face and other things or situations that you blame when life does not go the way you want. Perhaps you use people or situations as a scapegoat as a way to vent all the negativity that you have bottled up inside. This leads to big mistakes. Be careful, analyze what you are doing because you might be using other people.
2) The interior. That’s what is inside of me and I must work to change. This is where Jesus wants to be, working inside you, not condemning you but giving you light. Sometimes we make the mistake of judging others based on our weaknesses; you subject others to your whims and are not objective. You do not get to know others as they are, but as you see them. How important it is to work the heart and fill it with God. It is the interior that moves and generates. You can generate a lot, discover God in you and take God to other hearts that are empty. God does not abandon you because he loves you.
3) Things do not change. There are things in life you must learn to accept and endure. Let us pray to Jesus that we may liberate all our internal pressures, but not in a way that threatens others. Let us pray that we may be patient and learn from situations we endure.
God bless you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Always remember, Heaven is our Goal.
