Gospel: Mark 8:22-26
When they came to Bethsaida, Jesus was asked to touch a blind man who was brought to him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had put spittle on his eyes and laid his hands upon him, he asked, “Can you see anything?” The man, who was beginning to see, replied, “I see people! They look like trees, but they move around.” Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again and the man could see perfectly. Then Jesus sent him home, saying, “Do not enter to the village.

Reflections:
“Can you see anything?”
The story in Genesis of Noah and his ark signifies, among other things, the importance of the holy remnant. Noah did not “walk with God” for himself alone. The call to righteousness carries with it a responsibility for the entire globe and its inhabi­tants. Thus, Noah represents an ethic and spirituality concerned with the preservation of the earth and the survival of endangered species and cultures; he
might well serve as a patron of ecological stewardship. Through Noah’s faithfulness God makes an unconditional covenant with all creation: “Ne­ver again will I strike down every living creature as I have done.” This is a universal covenant that precedes the specific covenants with Abraham and Moses. But the fact that God has vowed never to destroy the earth by means of a flood offers no grounds for complacency. Today the earth is threatened, as never before, by human wicked­ness, greed, and carelessness. The challenge for Noah’s des­cendants is
not “survivalism” but defense of our common planet and its delicate ecology. If the earth becomes uninhabitable there will be no other
lifeboats.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019