🙏 SUNDAY INSIGHTS - 10TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 🙏

First Reading - Genesis 3:9-15 

Second Reading - 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1 

Gospel - Mark 3:20-35

The readings for today, give the name “sin” to our offenses against God. When we sin — violate God’s Commandments — we distance ourselves from Him; when we refuse, or fear, to admit our sins, we deny ourselves God’s freely offered pardon and forgiveness.

In describing Adam and Eve’s first sin, disobedience, our first reading, taken from Genesis, shows us the beginning of evil in the world with its destructive results. The loving relationship joining man to God was destroyed, and the relationship of mutual love between Adam and Eve was weakened. Their default to a “blame game” allowed each to avoid taking personal responsibility for their joint choice. 

In the second reading, Paul declares to the Corinthians that the many adversities of his missionary work were God’s plan for his spiritual growth; his sufferings, offered with Jesus for the Salvation of the world, would result a glorious reward for him and for all believers who did the same. 

Today’s Gospel passage reveals how Jesus himself was misunderstood by his own relatives and was criticized, slandered and rejected by the Sanhedrin-led scribes and Pharisees. His sufferings for us give us both new courage to keep on fighting, and Jesus’ offer of healing, strength and forgiveness, so that we can do as he did when we face unfair treatment and criticism in our lives.

Dear friends, today's readings challenge us to face rejection with prophetic courage and optimism. Very often our friends, families, or childhood companions fail to listen to us and refuse to accept the words of grace, love, and encouragement that we offer to them because they know so much about us and are so used to us, they disregard what we have to say, if they even hear it! But we have to face such rejection with prophetic courage because by our Baptism we are called to be prophets like Jesus, sharing his prophetic mission. As prophets, our task is to speak the truth in love and oppose the evils in our society, refusing to condone or encourage sinful behavior even in our dear ones, though we do not “excommunicate” them, from our lives, but continue to love them while we pray for them.

We need to have the courage of our convictions:Modern “liberal-minded” people may find the genuine Christians’ belief in and practice of Christ’s ideas and ideals ”just plain crazy!” Hence, what is needed in a Christian is the courage of his or her convictions based on the authority of Jesus as God and the truth of his doctrines and expressed in the Magisterium of the Church.

We need to live as members of God’s family: Let us remember that by Baptism we become the children of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus, and members of the Heavenly family of the Triune God. Hence, let us observe our obligations of treating others with love and respect and of sharing our love with them in corporal and spiritual works of mercy. We are also His disciples, and so are obliged to be hearers as well as doers of the word of God. Let us keep our souls daily cleansed and filled with the Spirit of God, leaving no space for the evil spirit to enter our souls.