Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 9, 38-43; 45, 47-48
At that time, John said to Jesus,
“Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name,
and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.”
Jesus replied, “Do not prevent him.
There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name
who can at the same time speak ill of me.
For whoever is not against us is for us.
Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink
because you belong to Christ,
amen, I say to you, will surely not 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 put around his neck
and he were thrown into the sea.
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.
It is better for you to enter into life maimed
than with two hands to go into Gehenna,
into the unquenchable fire.
And if your foot causes you to sin, cut if off.
It is better for you to enter into life crippled
than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna.
And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.
Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye
than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna,
where ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.'”
Motivate rather than scandalize
1. We have seen. If there’s something we must work on, it’s unity. Let’s all head in the same direction. We are a divided society and there are divided families. We don’t agree and we always want to be in the limelight, which leads us to start something from scratch when we take it on, not giving continuity to what has been done before. We believe that everything that has been done before is wrong and that with us everything will be better. This happens in the church, in the government, in the family and also in your inner ego. Don’t let the bug of pride and envy bite you.
2. Scandalize. We all scandalize people in one way or another. We’re human. But we should work on this, trying to discover what we must change in order not to cause scandal or discomfort in others. For example, in my case, I recognize that I am very foul-mouthed (I say a lot of bad words), and I know that it doesn’t look good, but I’m struggling with this, for my own good and for the good of others. See what you have to work on.
3. Cut it off. Work on your inner self and focus on what you see that is not helping you. Try to cut off situations and to move away from people that are not helping you to become a better person. See what you have to cut off or give up so that you can move ahead with strength in your life.I want to remind you today that you are not alone. We are not here to judge you, but to accompany you. Let’s help one another, because together we can overcome whatever it is that binds us so much to ourselves.
Never forget that something good is on the way!
God bless you and be with you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
