Hello everyone! Heyo! Welcome back to Scattering Flowers with Elise and Miles, a podcast where we read the daily Gospels and the Saint of the Day.
Let’s get started! Today is Tuesday, February 10th, and the Gospel reading is Mark 7, 1-13, and the scripture to reflect on is Mark 7, 9.
And he said to them, You have fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.
Pharisees were religious leaders who did not get along well with Jesus.
They made a whole bunch of rules to add to God’s commandment, and they acted like they were better than other people because they followed those special rules.
They were forced on outer behaviors, but their hearts didn’t always follow along.
But Jesus disagrees with part of what the Pharisees are saying.
Jesus tells the Pharisees that eating clean foods does not stop people from doing unclean things, or make bad choices, like lying, stealing, and cheating.
Jesus then says that people lie, steal, and cheat not because of what they eat, but because their hearts are far from God.
Today’s Saint of the Day is Saint Scholastica.
She was born 480 and died 547.
She is the patron saint of nuns and good sibling relationships.
Scholastica was the twin sister of Saint Benedict and the foundress of the feminine branch of the Benedictines.
According to tradition, Scholastica established and supervised a monastery of nuns five miles away from Monte Cassino, the monastery of her brother Benedict.
Scholastica only visited Benedict once a year.
They met outside his monastery because women were not allowed to enter Monte Cassino.
However, they saw each other rarely.
The sibling saints lived their religious lives with favor and encouraged one another in holiness.
In the book of Dialogues, Saint Gregory the Great recounts the last meeting between the two saints.
Scholastica had a fearling that her death was near, so she asked her brother to stay the night rather than return to the monastery.
Benedict refused because it was against the monastery’s rule.
Scholastica proceeded to pray quietly, and almost immediately, a fierce storm broke out.
Benedict chastised his sister for trying to get him to stay, but she calmly replied that God had granted her what her brother had refused.
Benedict relented, and the two siblings spent the rest of the night speaking of spiritual things.
In the morning, Scholastica returned to her monastery.
She died three days later.
After her death, it is said that her brother saw her soul rise into heaven as a dove.
Benedict buried her beloved sister in the tomb that had been prepared for him.
Jesus is saying our hearts are meant to be filled with the Holy Spirit and overflow with perfect love.
If our hearts are overflowing with God’s love, there is no room in us for the fear that leads to lying, stealing, and cheating, right?
And when we are overflowing with God’s perfect love, that makes it easier to share with others.
St.
Scholastica and St.
Benedict were twins.
Both Scholastica and Benedict dedicated their lives to Jesus.
Scholastica was a woman in love with the Lord.
Love for God led both her and her brother, Benedict, to a life of contemplation and prayer, and together they allowed God to transform them into saints.
Let’s pray.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Dear God, thank you for being with us and for caring for us so much.
Help us to honor you as we can show your love to others.
And help me to love you so much that my love extends to all people in my life.
St.
Scholastica, pray for us.
Amen.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Thank you so much for listening.
We’ll be back tomorrow scattering more flowers.
See ya!