Hello everyone! Heyo! Welcome back to Scattering Flowers with Elise and Miles, a podcast where you read the daily gospels and the saint of the day.
Let’s get started! Today is Wednesday, February 11th, and the gospel reading is Mark 7, 14-23, and the scripture to reflect on is Mark 7, 14.
And he called the people to him again and said to them, Hear me, all of you, and understand.
Have you ever gone to the dentist?
The dentist checks your teeth, cleans your teeth, and may apply things like fluoride or sealants to make your teeth stronger.
Sometimes x-rays are taken to see if your teeth have any cavities.
I’ve never had a cavity, but maybe you have.
That’s why it’s important to brush and floss your teeth.
But this isn’t a lesson about dental hygiene.
Teeth can have decay that isn’t noticeable on the outside.
Where everything can look fine on the outside, it isn’t on the inside.
But if we don’t fix the cavity, more problems can occur, like pain or even rot.
It’s like today’s reading and what Jesus talked to the disciples about.
Today’s saying to the day St.
Gregory II, He was born 669 and died 731.
He’s the patron saint of defending your Christian faith.
The Christians who lived during Gregory’s life had to make a difficult choice.
The empire of their country told them, don’t look at any crosses.
Don’t look at any pictures of Jesus.
And certainly don’t hang up any crosses.
That’s wrong.
Get rid of those pictures, especially the crosses.
What were the Christians supposed to do?
They loved their paintings and their crosses.
The art reminded them to pray and think about God for Jesus' sacrifice.
Gregory, who became a pope, wrote letters and sent them to Christians all over the country.
He wrote that God’s kingdom is the most important kingdom and God is the most important king.
He said that loyalty to one’s country comes after loyalty to God’s kingdom.
So the Christians kept their beautiful art and continued to honor God and his kingdom above all else.
Sometimes we can look fine from the outside but our heart is not.
If we hide feelings in our heart, like wanting what other people have, this is called envy or jealousy.
Or thinking we are better than others, this is called pride.
Or wanting something bad to happen to other people, that’s called hate.
Jesus knows what is in our hearts.
And if we have feelings like this, Jesus is there to forgive us.
It is better to deal with our feelings when the problems are small, like cavities, than to wait until the problems are bigger, like having to pull the tooth out because the cavity is too big.
As a subdeacon and deacon, this Roman served as a treasurer and ribarian of the church for Rome and became an expert theologian.
He accompanied Pope Constantine to Constantinople and helped resolve doctrinal problems that arose from the church council.
Because of his wisdom and experience, he was elected Pope and consecrated a bishop in 715.
He tried to slow the progress of the Germanic Longbard and people into Italy and fought with the Eastern Empire over too many taxes.
He sent St.
Boniface to evangelize Germany and consecrated him a bishop.
Part of St.
Gregory II’s work was to help rebuild the city’s walls in Rome.
Let’s pray.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Dear God, thank you for knowing us as we really are on the inside as well as on the outside and for loving us in either way.
And remind me to have love and pride for my country, but to love you most of all.
St.
Gregory II, pray for us.
Amen.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Thank you so much for listening.
We’ll be back tomorrow scattering more flowers.
See ya!