Daily Gospel Reflection
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February 15, 2022
The disciples had forgotten to bring bread,
and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.
Jesus enjoined them, “Watch out,
guard against the leaven of the Pharisees
and the leaven of Herod.”
They concluded among themselves that
it was because they had no bread.
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?”
They answered him, “Twelve.”
“When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand,
how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?”
They answered him, “Seven.”
He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”
I am often guilty of thinking with my stomach. My appetite influences my mood, how I treat my wife and children, and sometimes even the object of my focus. Worse for my health, my desire will sometimes direct me towards foods that do very little to satiate my hunger.
Identifying with Jesus’ disciples in this passage, then, isn’t too far of a stretch for me. Jesus’ response is confusing, maybe even harsh. I’m hungry and don’t have any bread—why does it matter what leaven I consume so long as it fills me up at the moment?
Christ is calling his disciples to recognize an important truth. In media, books, physical and spiritual food, what we consume matters—it’s not all created equal.
The Pharisees’ leaven was a back-breaking plethora of manufactured rules that gave the illusion of holiness without its substance. Herod leavened himself and his followers by acquiring and expanding wealth, status, and power.
Christ is cautioning his disciples and us against consuming what leads us astray from heaven. Our call as Catholics is to take in that which strengthens our virtues and brings us closer to Christ. The bread that Jesus offers us, the bread broken for the five and four thousand, and the Eucharist broken and shared with us at Mass, is Christ himself. It satisfies the multitudes with basket-fulls to spare.
Why would we hunger for anything else?
Prayer
Lord, John the Baptist was no reed swayed by the wind. He prepared the way before you by his preaching, and died a martyr’s death. Now it is up to us to continue your work of salvation by the lives we lead and the witness we give. Help us do so with faith and courage. Amen.
Saint of the Day
On the fifteenth of February, 2015, twenty-one Christians were beheaded in Libya on the shores of the Mediterranean by members of the extremist group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Twenty of the men beheaded were Coptic Christians. Coptic Christianity is an ancient branch of Christianity in Egypt. It has a particular connection with Mark the Evangelist, who was believed to have founded the Christian Church in Alexandria shortly after 33AD. Egypt and, in particular, the city of Alexandria, produced some of the great theologians of the early Church: Athanasius, Clement and Cyril of Alexandria, and Origen.
These 21 men had been working in Libya as construction workers when they were kidnapped by ISIL in two separate raids in December 2014 and January 2015. They were purportedly executed on the beach opposite a hotel.
The icon featured today was createdby by a Coptic Christian, Tony Rezk. In the image, the martyrs' crowns descend upon the Copts and one man whose darker skin represents his difference. One of the men captured with them from the construction site was not an Egyptian Copt, but a man from Ghana (or Chad, say some reports). Most accounts say that he was not a Christian, but the faith of these twenty men inspired him to say, when asked, "their God is my God." The men are dressed in robes of orange to depict the orange jumpsuits in which they were martyred.
The Coptic Church remembers them as martyrs, and these brave men serve as a reminder of all persecuted Christians throughout the world who continue to sacrifice their lives to stay faithful to Christ. May their brave faith strengthen our own, and may their imitation of Christ's peaceful surrender inspire peace in the hearts of men and women throughout our war-torn world.
On this feast of the twenty-one Coptic Martyrs, let us pray for peace throughout the world, particularly in the Middle East!
Image Credit: Icon by Tony Rezk, used with permission. Visit Tony's website to view and purchase this and other icons.