One Minute Reflection – 5 February – ‘…The scandal of the Incarnation’

One Minute Reflection – 5 February – Wednesday of the Fourth week in Ordinary Time, Year A, Readings: 2 Samuel 24:2, 9-17, Psalm 32:1-2, 5-7, Mark 6:1-6 and the Memorial of St Philip of Jesus (1572-1597) Martyr

“Is not this the carpenter?”…Mark 6:3

REFLECTION – “According to the people of Nazareth, God is too great to humble Himself to speak through such a simple man!   It is the scandal of the Incarnation – the unsettling event of a God made flesh, who thinks with the mind of a man, works and acts with the hands of a man, loves with a human heart, a God who struggles, eats and sleeps like one of us.
The Son of God overturns every human framework – it is not the disciples who washed the feet of the Lord but, it is the Lord who washed the feet of the disciples (cf. Jn 13:1-20). This is a reason for scandal and incredulity, not only in that period but in all ages, even today.”…Pope Francis – Angelus, 8 July 2018

PRAYER – Lord God, source of strength and grace, grant us eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts to love the Word of Your Son. Make us recognise Your Son in our daily lives and be generous in sharing our faith to all we meet. Grant, we pray, that the prayers of St Philip of Jesus, may help us to manifest zeal and courage. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, in unity with the Holy Spirit, God forever, amen.