In this section you can find a daily commentary on the Gospel of the Day.

Saturday 13 February 2021

Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Word for today
The Gospel of Mark 8:1-10

Differently aware

Throughout history many different definitions and representations have been used to describe the process of social desertification by which only a few own and administrate the resources of the majority who are forced to live in misery and socially difficult conditions. It is irrelevant if those realms are based on blood or on religious scaffoldings which are supposedly an expression of divine will, be they arrogant colonialistic empires, tyrannical dictatorships or tolerant liberal governments, such as enlightened democracies, ancient or modern republics. This process, which ensures and guarantees social disparity of luxury and power for the few and misery and slavery for the majority never changes. This evil disproportion is not the result of an immutable destiny, of political and social failures, of God's will or fate; it is a choice, simply a choice, a clear and precise choice. Popular revolutions, social upheavals, ideological and cultural changes, war after war, uprisings are able to alter and to numb people's perception of their misery and slavery but not to change the choice. Family bonds, political parties, religions, countries and nations, flags, fashion, rigid social classes, sports teams, economic standstills have no other purpose except that to keep the losers divided against one other, by keeping them intellectually weak, emotionally fragile, spiritually vincible and controllable.
Jesus has mercy, infinite mercy for the world of misery and sadness,
narrow-mindedness, poverty and shortage we have built for ourselves without Him and of the way we have set up our lives and have accepted that others have imposed on us, a life without security, health, welfare, harmony, or peace.
Jesus has compassion for the desert of loneliness and hunger that man has built for himself and which others have trained us to live in and which in turn we have gotten used to in order to survive. That desert was produced by the stupidity and ignorance of the majority who accept
 the fact that a few clever, powerful people possess and manage the resources of all as a sign of fate or of predestination.
Jesus multiplies the bread not only for the hunger the people felt that night but to show the world and the hearts of humankind that we can live differently.
But in order to be able  to live differently we must first be differently aware and inspired.
Jesus not only performs the miracle of multiplying the bread, not only fills baskets and stomachs, but also fills the hearts and minds of the people with the awareness, with the spiritual inspiration that,
by following Him and living His Gospel there are and always will be wealth and prosperity, peace and harmony, sharing and respect for human dignity and nature.
The multiplication of the loaves inspires the only
true revolution against every fierce and unjust hegemonic power. Jesus inspires us to become differently aware, in our hearts and in our minds, of the dignity that every child of God shares with God Himself. When a person truly realizes that he/she is a child of God the Father, when he/she feels sure that by using his/her talents and intelligence he/she can receive goodness and wellness from God, then he/she will never surrender his/her mind and dignity to the powerful in exchange for a loaf of bread even when he/she is in trouble or in need.
Jesus reminds us that we can win over the powerful and their avidity, not by fighting in popular revolts or on battle fields, but by becoming differently aware; becoming aware of having been generated not by men with their training and legacies but by God, the only true Father and that we are children of His extraordinary harmony and  divine goodness. If keeping our freedom and dignity by following Jesus and His Gospel causes us to suffer persecution and hunger, derision, and loneliness, but God Himself will take care of us directly.
Jesus inspires us to never give up, to never abandon our dignity,
to never agree to being supported by the powerful even when we are  in trouble or in need, because if we keep our dignity, God will take care of us in every way. The slaves will remain slaves, the powerful will remain powerful until all of us feel we are truly children of the Father.
We can follow Jesus and the Gospel and choose to be
 detached from material goods, to embrace poverty and  to have total trust in providence,  not misery, starvation, and constant need. The fear of being hungry is fruit of Satan's deceit, it can never and will never be a choice;  it is an induced and provoked form of slavery.