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The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II Tuesday in the Fifth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 07 February 2023 Genesis 1:20-2:4 ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> + ><]]]]'> Mark 7:1-13
What a blessed Tuesday we have today, God our loving Father as Genesis tells us in the first reading how you blessed thrice the last three days of creation: on the fifth day, you created and blessed all water creatures and winged birds; on the sixth day you created and blessed man and woman; and finally on the seventh day, you blessed the day of sabbath.
Lately we have been meditating what is to be blessed: Elizabeth called Mary "blessed" because she believed your words spoken to her would be fulfilled; the other Sunday in his sermon on the mount, Jesus called the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful, the grieving, the hungry and thirsty as "blessed"; and today, after creating the birds and fish, man and woman, and day of sabbath, you blessed them all.
In today's story of creation, you bestowed your blessing O God to fish and birds and people after creating them, telling them to be fertile and to multiply in number; in blessing the seventh day as sabbath, you also blessed it as a day of rest; whether it is used as an adjective or a verb, being blessed and to bless mean being filled with grace, abounding in grace, and most of all, spreading and keeping that grace from you as expressed by your command to the fish and birds and people to go and multiply; to fulfill that command, we need to rest on sabbath so that we may keep our ties and link with you, thereby, to have the strength to care for all creation, to keep your grace from flowing!
Forgive us, dear Father, in failing to keep your command to care for your creation, most especially in neglecting one another as a brother and sister in Christ when we "nullify the word of God in favor of our many traditions we have handed on" like the Pharisees (Mk.7:13); help us cleanse our inner selves, recover our blessedness in you so we may share your blessings anew. Amen.
