Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Ordinary Time
(Genesis 6:5-8.7:1-5.10; Mark 8:14-21)
The Eucharist, served to us daily and especially on Sundays,
is our life’s blood. That is, it nurtures
eternal life in us. Yet it is often
overlooked. Many do not heed the
obligation to attend Sunday mass. Today’s
gospel may be understood as Jesus warning his disciples about such neglect.
He tells them, “…guard against the leaven of the Pharisees.”
That is, they are not to be puffed up and blinded by pride so that they fail to
recognize that Jesus is their Savior. They
have just witnessed him twice feed thousands of people with a few loaves of
bread. Certainly he, the one loaf, is enough
food to sustain them forever.
We have this one loaf, Jesus, in the Eucharist. We too must be careful not to become puffed
up by the leaven of fame, fortune, or the glory of the world today. Rather, we are to see our hope in the one
whose body we eat and whose blood we drink in the Eucharist.
