2018 02 07 Reflection 149 (Fr. Sunil Jose OP on Mk 7:14-23)

Like us on facebook at   / dominicanministriesgoa   write to us: [email protected] "The Kingdom of God," as Christ tells us in the Gospel, "is within you." Consequently, all that conflicts against the Kingdom are also within us. Number four hundred and five of the Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that original sin is a “deprivation of original holiness and justice." It states that human nature has been "wounded in the natural powers proper to it," and that it is subject to “ignorance, suffering and the dominion of death; and inclined to sin – an inclination to evil that is called ‘concupiscence.’" This concupiscence causes all sorts of disordered tendencies. These disordered tendencies—if accepted—are, as our Lord tells us, what defiles a man. Our holiness and purification must start from within, in ordering our thoughts and desires according to the Gospel standard, and rise to the surface in concrete deeds of goodness in words and actions. Sin and death entered the world through the disobedience of the Adam. But, Letter to the Romans chapter five verse fifteen says "if death came to reign through that one man, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of justification come to reign in life through the one person Jesus Christ". It is true that death and sin strive to reign in us due to our concupiscence, but it is not less true that we have at our disposal all the means necessary to root sin out from our hearts and live a new life in Christ. Christ has already conquered sin and death. With his grace, we can conquer them within our hearts. Without ever looking back we must start out on this path, the path of the reign of Christ within us Lets pray Lord, open my ears and lift the veil from my eyes so that I will allow your Kingdom to reign in my heart. Free me from loving anything more than you. Help me, Lord, to live Christian charity so that you will reign in me always .