One time on my way to Quezon, I was caught in a heavy traffic in Laguna. I felt helpless because there was no other way to go to Quezon except in that area where the traffic was too heavy. I found myself stuck for almost one and a half hours. Whenever cars were overtaking my lane, I started to lose my temper. I am short-tempered especially when I drive. The last time I got caught in a heavy traffic, unfortunately I also got into a verbal fight with another driver which I regretted.

In the Gospel today, Jesus teaches that it is not what enters a person that defiles him. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that has the potential to defile. Jesus is trying to tell us that impurity does not necessarily come from the outside to the inside. It is the other way around. The Gospel today challenges us that in everything we do or any situation we would find myself in, we must always choose what is good. Further, it also reminds me to be patient in everything. In every moment, I must do something good however small rather than not doing nothing at all.

As a priest-in-process, I am called to be a bearer of kindness and goodness. I must ignore the people who love spending their time judging others and having anything to say against, or else I would be prevented from doing the good I ought even while recognizing my boundaries and limitations. Jesus reminds us to grab every opportunity to be and to do good.

By: Sem. Jimwell S. Sales

Today’s 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.”