FIRST READING
The Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground.
A reading from the Book of Genesis (Genesis 3:9-24)
The Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent beguiled me, and I ate.” The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all cattle, and above all wild animals; upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” To the woman he said, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins, and clothed them. Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever” — therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
The word of the Lord.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM Psalm 90:2.3-4.5—6.12-13 (R. 1)
R/. O Lord, you have been our refuge,
from generation to generation.
Before the mountains were born,
or the earth or the world were brought forth,
you are God, from age to age. R.
You turn man back to dust,
and say, “Return, O children of men.”
To your eyes a thousand years
are like yesterday, come and gone,
or like a watch in the night. R.
R/. O Lord, you have been our refuge,
from generation to generation.
You sweep them away like a dream,
like grass which is fresh in the morning.
In the morning it sprouts and is fresh;
by evening it withers and fades. R.
Then teach us to number our days,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Turn back, O Lord! How long?
Show pity to your servants. R.
ALLELUIA Matthew 4:4b
Alleluia. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Alleluia.
GOSPEL
“They ate, and were satisfied. ”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mark 8: 1-10)
In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him, and said to them, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days, and have nothing to eat; and if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come a long way.” And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these men with bread here in the desert?” And he asked them, “How many loaves have you?” They said, “Seven.” And he commanded the crowd to sit down on the ground; and he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. And they had a few small fish; and having blessed them, he commanded that these also should be set before them. And they ate, and were satisfied; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away; and immediately he got into the boat with his disciples, and went to the district of Dalmanutha.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Today’s Reflection
The people’ hunger for spiritual nourishment made them ignore their physical need. Jesus however, was not going to ignore their physical need. He cares for them both spiritually and physically. For three days they had been with Jesus and no longer had anything to eat. Considering the huge number of people to be fed, seven loaves is considered insufficient. But then, in the hands of Jesus, human insufficiency is replaced by divine sufficiency. In following Christ, we too are prone to be in circumstances of need. We must look to Jesus, no matter what the need is: he is Lord of Heaven and Earth and there is nothing beyond his power to do.