Mark 8: 14-21
The disciples had forgotten to bring bread,
and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.
Jesus enjoined them, "Watch out,
guard against the leaven of the Pharisees
and the leaven of Herod."
They concluded among themselves that
it was because they had no bread.
When he became aware of this he said to them,
"Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread?
Do you not yet understand or comprehend?
Are your hearts hardened?
Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?
And do you not remember,
when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand,
how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?"
They answered him, "Twelve."
"When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand,
how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?"
They answered him, "Seven."
He said to them, "Do you still not understand?"
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Overcoming Indifference
“Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees” (Mark 8:15)
“There are so many Pontius Pilates on the loose, washing their hands,” Pope Francis once said, “this is what happens when the heart hardens and becomes indifferent.” A year before he died, Francis suggested that the wars, the injustices, and the suffering we see today are all a product of this globalization of indifference.
Christ offers a similar warning in today’s Gospel. He asks us to question our tendency to perceive but not understand, our temptation to hear but not truly listen. We know this mode of being all too well. We are quick to reprimand without recognizing our own need for correction. We are prone to label without knowing one by name first. We note that which is corrupt or lacking, often overlooking that which is present and good.
This is the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod.
In days where we seem invited to condemn quickly and ignore those we struggle to find grace in, God asks us to linger here, and to do the hard work of hope, trust, and mercy.
Christ does not invite us to “bury” our hatchets, but to beat them into plowshares.
—Noah Banasiewicz, SJ, is a Jesuit scholastic and lecturer in the School of Communication at Loyola University Chicago.
Prayer
Prophets of a Future Not Our Own
It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent
enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of
saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
—Fr. Ken Untener, often attributed to St. Oscar Romero
Pray with the Pope
Pray with the monthly prayer intentions of the pope.