A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark
When he became aware of this he said to them, “Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread? Do you not yet understand or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear? And do you not remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?”
Jesus responds to the disciples, who had brought only one loaf with them in the boat, first by saying, “Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” And then: “Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread?” Is it possible that the disciples failed to recognize that Jesus could just as well provide for them as he had for the five thousand by breaking and sharing the five loaves? The leaven of the Pharisees and Herod—only a little bad leaven added to a large batch contaminates the whole. The limitations of tradition and customs—even natural law—can limit the ability to see God at work in creation and to cooperate with it.
God, I have little to give and often forget you; open my mind to understand today’s Gospel. Act in me through the Holy Spirit to see how your will is being done today.
Thank you, God, for your abundant gifts! I ask you to be present with me today by keeping your word. As the Responsorial Psalm says, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, says the Lord; and my Father will love him and we will come to him.”
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.