Watch out

"Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." This sentence is like a summary of the two previous passages from the Gospel of Mark. The leaven of the Pharisees is the kind of piety when a person puts conditions on the Lord God: "I will serve You, Lord God, but I am not going to correct my ideas about You. We will accept, Lord God, Your Messiah, but on condition that the Messiah behaves as we wish."

Herod's leaven, on the other hand, is an attitude of taking the side of good only half-heartedly. In the decisive moments, in King Herod, evil always prevailed. Now, after such a word, " guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod," it would be psychologically understandable if the disciples thought: "How good it is that we are not like the Pharisees or like Herod." Therefore, the Lord Jesus shows them that this leaven also reaches them and distorts their relationship with God.

The disciples began to worry about whether they had enough bread. The concern to ensure that there is no shortage of bread, of course, is completely understandable. But it is not good if this concern drowns out the concern to serve God well. Man's first concern must be the desire to entrust himself completely to God. It turns out that disciples do not yet understand something so elementary.

The disciples deserved the reproach of the Lord Jesus because they saw with their own eyes how He fed five thousand people in the desert, and then, once more, how He miraculously multiplied bread for four thousand people. The Lord Jesus' reproach: "Do you not understand yet?" is like repeating the reproach from the Book of Jeremiah: why "you who have eyes do not see. You who have ears do not hear?" (5,21).

This is not vision, but blindness. We forget that we have in our midst this One, the One and most important Bread: Jesus is the Living Bread, the meaning, the goal of our journey: "The disciples had forgotten to bring bread and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.(Mk 8:14-15). They had One Bread.

God is full of light, and therefore of good intentions, as St. James says (Jas 1:12-18). There is no change in Him, no shadow in loving us. We are tempted on the way to the other side, but the Lord present in our boat teaches us. The length of this journey to the other shore, that is, the length of our life, is sufficient to learn – by applying our life to the life of Jesus – to see and listen in a divine way.

Today we celebrate the Memorial of Saints Cyril, Monk, and Methodius, Bishop.

These Saints evoked in my consciousness the word Evangelization.

Very often we hear this word. But what exactly is evangelization? If we turn to the Greek Language, whence the word originated, we will find that the word means good news. To preach the good news – the good news, that is, Jesus Christ. If we proclaim Jesus Christ, in whom we believe, who is our Master and Teacher, and above all is our Lord, then naturally we will proclaim the Christian faith.

The Gospel tells us that evangelization is the proclamation of the word of God. Jesus sends the disciples and gives them a specific command. This concrete task of Jesus is also addressed to us: Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way. (Lk 10:3-4).

Like sheep among wolves... (Lk 10:3). Jesus sends the defenseless disciples into a dangerous, hostile world, a world full of dangers. Why does he send us defenseless, without any protection? The answer is simple. Going in His Name, nothing dangerous can happen to us. We are under God's care; we are under His protection. Confirmation can be found in the Psalms. For example, in Psalm 23, which speaks of God who is the Shepherd. And who better to care for the sheep than the shepherd? In it we read: " Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff comfort me" (Ps 23:4). Jesus cares for us. And he will not allow any harm to happen to us, even in very difficult situations, like going among the "pack of wolves".

Evangelization is the proclamation of the Gospel, it is the proclamation of the Kingdom of God, not another ideology, not a political doctrine. This is not the way to make a career. It is true of God's closeness, of the fact that he is among us. Jesus sends the disciples two by two. That is, the proclamation of the Gospel should never be carried out alone. This is not a task for "freelancers". Proclamation always takes place in community. Of course, it is a personal experience of the value of the Kingdom of God, but at the same time of communal experience of his presence. Mutual relationship, common prayer, exchange of experiences, sharing joys and difficulties... In a word, evangelization.

Evangelization understood in this way accompanied the patrons of today. Saints Cyril and Methodius set out to preach Jesus to the Slavs. They set out into a dangerous world, into an unknown world. They crossed not only the borders of countries, civilizations and cultures, but they transcended themselves, their limitations and weaknesses. Always together, in community, in prayer and sacrifice.

Each one of us is invited and sent by Jesus to go and preach, because the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few

Thought from Saint Faustina: “Love casts out fear. Since I came to love God with my whole being and with all the strength of my heart, fear has left me. Even if I were to hear the most terrifying things about God's justice, I would not fear Him at all, because I have come to know Him well. God is love, and His Spirit is peace. I see now that my deeds which have flowed from love are more perfect than those which I have done out of fear. I have placed my trust in God and fear nothing. I have given myself over to His holy will; let Him do with me as He wishes, and I will still love Him”. (Diary 589)

“In the Old Covenant I sent prophets wielding thunderbolts to My people. Today I am sending you with My mercy to the people of the whole world.” (Diary 1587)

“Speak to the world about My mercy; let all mankind recognize My unfathomable mercy. It is a sign for the end times; after it will come the day of justice. While there is still time, let them have recourse to the fount of My mercy; let them profit from the Blood and Water which gushed forth for them”.( Diary 848)

Until Tomorrow

fr. george