5TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Psalter: Week 1 / (Green)
Our Lady of Lourdes / Memorial of Blessed Virgin Mary
Ps 90:2, 3-4abc, 5-6, 12-13
In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
1st Reading: Gen 3:9-24
Yahweh God called the man saying to him, “Where are you?“ He said, “I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.“ God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree I ordered you not to eat?“ The man answered, “The woman you put with me gave me fruit from the tree and I ate it.“ God said to the woman, “What have you done?“ The woman said, “The serpent deceived me and I ate.“
Yahweh God said to the serpent, “Since you have done that, be cursed among all the cattle and wild beasts! You will crawl on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life. I will make you enemies, you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel.“
To the woman, God said, “I will increase your suffering in childbearing, and you will give birth to your children in pain. You will be dependent on your husband and he will lord it over you.”
To the man, He said, “Because you have listened to your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I forbade you to eat, cursed be the soil because of you! In suffering you will provide food for yourself from it, all the days of your life. It will produce thorn and thistle for you and you will eat the plants of the field. With sweat on your face you will eat your bread, until you return to clay, since it was from clay that you were taken, for you are dust and to dust you shall return.“
The man called his wife by the name of Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. Yahweh God made garments of skin for the man and his wife, and with these he clothed them.
Then Yahweh God said, “Man has now become like one of us, making himself judge of good and evil. Let him not stretch out his hand to take and eat from the tree of Life as well, and live forever.“ So God cast him from the garden of Eden to till the soil from which he had been made. And after having driven the man out, God posted cherubim and a flaming sword that kept turning at the east of the garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of Life.
Gospel: Mk 8:1-10
Soon afterward, Jesus was in the midst of another large crowd, that obviously had nothing to eat. So he called his disciples and said to them, “I feel sorry for these people, because they have been with me for three days and now have nothing to eat. If I send them to their homes hungry, they will faint on the way; some of them have come a long way.”
His disciples replied, “Where, in a deserted place like this, could we get enough bread to feed these people?” He asked them, “How many loaves have you?” And they answered, “Seven.”
Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Taking the seven loaves and giving thanks, he broke them, and handed them to his disciples to distribute. And they distributed them among the people. They also had some small fish. So Jesus said a blessing, and asked that these be shared as well.
The people ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. Now those who had eaten were about four thousand in number. Jesus sent them away, and immediately got into the boat with his disciples, and went to the region of Dalmanutha.
REFLECTION:
“Eva gives way to the Ave Maria“
“The woman said ‘The serpent deceived me and I ate.’“ This was the defense of Eve when Yahweh spoke to Adam and Eve. Then God pronounced his judgment against the Serpent! To Adam and Eve, God makes known to them the painful consequences of their “original sin.“ Yet even as Yahweh banishes Adam and Eve from paradise, the Good News is announced “I will make you enemies, you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel.“ (Gen 3:15)
From eternity the serpent would seek out that prophesied woman who would bear the offspring that would crush his head! The serpent or the dragon (see Rev. 12) would do all in his power to search and destroy that Woman who would be his nemesis! But the serpent was doomed from eternity!
When our Lady of Lourdes appeared to Bernadette she introduced herself as THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION! She was the woman, sinless from the womb! Through this favored daughter, the Creator would offer to mankind the grace to reverse the mistake of EVA. Through the obedient handmaid whom the Archangel Gabriel addressed “AVE MARIA“ the prophecy of Gen 3:15 would be fulfilled! In a marvelous twist the serpent that beguiled Eva would be overcome by the Woman! Oh how wonderful to celebrate the beautiful postscript to the “Paradise Lost“ with the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes! Joyfully we pray: “O AVE MARIA, blessed is the fruit of thy womb, JESUS! AMEN!“
Daily Reflection
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Biblical Texts are taken from Christian Community Bible, Catholic Pastoral Edition (57th Edition) The New English Translation for the ROMAN MISSAL
With permission from the EPISCOPAL COMMISION ON LITURGY of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines
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