Fifth Week in Ordinary Time – Mark 7:14-23
Today Jesus once again is teaching the crowd. He is saying that it is not what enters a person that “defiles” them. Rather, He says that it is what comes out of a person that has the potential to defile. Many of us may not use the word “defile” frequently. However, we may use other words, such as taint, corrupt, degrade or tarnish.
I assume that all of us at one time or another, may have tainted, corrupted, degraded or tarnished another person’s image or reputation. We may not have done it in a highly public way, such as writing a newspaper article about them. We simply may have made a snide comment about the person. Or perhaps we may have kept silent and let our silence speak for us.
What is within us that has the potential to “defile?” Anger? Hurt? Envy? Pride? It is easy to say words but once the words have been spoken, they cannot be taken back! Our thoughts also cannot be taken back. However, we can monitor the direction of our thoughts and choose to change our direction. Today may we be mindful of guarding our hearts and our tongues! Before we speak, we might stop for a moment and ask ourselves: what would Jesus say or do in this situation? What will we choose to do?
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