People Ruin Things
Feb 8: Wednesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Today, we’re getting into the second creation story. Some people like to point out this contradicts the first chapter of Genesis, as if that proves anything.
To believe that the disparity between Genesis 1 and 2 is some astounding revelation that you’ve uncovered is to believe that not only are you smarter than every Christian and Jew around the world, but smarter than every Christian and Jew who ever existed.
You’re not.
The proper response to noticing something like this is, “Since I can’t be the first person to have noticed this, someone must have an explanation for it.” Intellectual curiosity would lead you to seek out the answers, rather than throwing out the whole book at chapter 2.
Reading 1
Gn 2:4b-9, 15-17
At the time when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens -- while as yet there was no field shrub on earth and no grass of the field had sprouted, for the LORD God had sent no rain upon the earth and there was no man to till the soil, but a stream was welling up out of the earth and was watering all the surface of the ground -- the LORD God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being.
Then the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and he placed there the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the LORD God made various trees grow that were delightful to look at and good for food, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
The LORD God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it. The LORD God gave man this order: "You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. From that tree you shall not eat; the moment you eat from it you are surely doomed to die."
The first creation story is about the order and intelligibility of the universe.1 This one is about humanity's role in it, and our relationship with God. God's creation is for us to enjoy, because He loves us. But He also places (small) demands on us. Will Adam and Eve meet these (very low) expectations? Tune in tomorrow!
Spoiler alert:
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 104:1-2a, 27-28, 29bc-30
R. O bless the Lord, my soul!
Bless the LORD, O my soul!
O LORD, my God, you are great indeed!
You are clothed with majesty and glory,
robed in light as with a cloak.
R. O bless the Lord, my soul!
All creatures look to you
to give them food in due time.
When you give it to them, they gather it;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
R. O bless the Lord, my soul!
If you take away their breath, they perish
and return to their dust.
When you send forth your spirit, they are created,
and you renew the face of the earth.
R. O bless the Lord, my soul!
God is all powerful, and in control of everything.2 He didn't just begin creation, though, like a watchmaker starting a clock. He’s continually creating; if He stopped (“take away their breath”) we’d cease to be.
I've heard it described like God is singing a song. Singing isn’t like writing or drawing, where you create the art in a fixed form. For a song to truly exist, you have to sing. God is singing us into existence all the time.
Alleluia
See Jn 17:17b, 17a
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Your word, O Lord, is truth:
consecrate us in the truth.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
God’s word is right there for us at any time. Pick it up and read it!
Gospel
Mk 7:14-23
Jesus summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.”
When he got home away from the crowd his disciples questioned him about the parable. He said to them, “Are even you likewise without understanding? Do you not realize that everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) “But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him. From within the man, from his heart, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile.”
God’s creation is good. Eating different kinds of food doesn’t “defile” us. It’s all of the things we struggle with internally. The bad we’re inclined to do, to hurt others, to be selfish and thoughtless.
As Lent approaches, we should keep that in mind when deciding what to “give up” for the season.
Which Bishop Barron points out is the foundation of science.
Funnily enough, that’s the topic of today’s Catechism in a Year episode.