Thursday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
First Reading: Genesis 9:1-13
God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them:
"Be fertile and multiply and fill the earth.
Dread fear of you shall come upon all the animals of the earth
and all the birds of the air,
upon all the creatures that move about on the ground
and all the fishes of the sea;
into your power they are delivered.
Every creature that is alive shall be yours to eat;
I give them all to you as I did the green plants.
Only flesh with its lifeblood still in it you shall not eat.
For your own lifeblood, too, I will demand an accounting:
from every animal I will demand it,
and from one man in regard to his fellow man
I will demand an accounting for human life.
If anyone sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed;
For in the image of God
has man been made.
Be fertile, then, and multiply;
abound on earth and subdue it."
God said to Noah and to his sons with him:
"See, I am now establishing my covenant with you
and your descendants after you
and with every living creature that was with you:
all the birds, and the various tame and wild animals
that were with you and came out of the ark.
I will establish my covenant with you,
that never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed
by the waters of a flood;
there shall not be another flood to devastate the earth."
God added:
"This is the sign that I am giving for all ages to come,
of the covenant between me and you
and every living creature with you:
I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign
of the covenant between me and the earth."
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 102:16-18, 19-21, 29 AND 22-23
R. (20b) From heaven the Lord looks down on the earth.
The nations shall revere your name, O LORD,
and all the kings of the earth your glory,
When the LORD has rebuilt Zion
and appeared in his glory;
When he has regarded the prayer of the destitute,
and not despised their prayer.
R. From heaven the Lord looks down on the earth.
Let this be written for the generation to come,
and let his future creatures praise the LORD:
"The LORD looked down from his holy height,
from heaven he beheld the earth,
To hear the groaning of the prisoners,
to release those doomed to die."
R. From heaven the Lord looks down on the earth.
The children of your servants shall abide,
and their posterity shall continue in your presence,
That the name of the LORD may be declared in Zion,
and his praise, in Jerusalem,
When the peoples gather together,
and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.
R. From heaven the Lord looks down on the earth.
Gospel: Mark 8:27-33
Jesus and his disciples set out
for the villages of Caesarea Philippi.
Along the way he asked his disciples,
"Who do people say that I am?"
They said in reply,
"John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others one of the prophets."
And he asked them,
"But who do you say that I am?"
Peter said to him in reply,
"You are the Christ."
Then he warned them not to tell anyone about him.
He began to teach them
that the Son of Man must suffer greatly
and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed, and rise after three days.
He spoke this openly.
Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
At this he turned around and, looking at his disciples,
rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do."
NAB
Be fertile and multiply and fill the earth.
That one line keeps coming back to me. Some may think, “Well, of course it does. You’re a mom with four kids.” True, but that’s not what is moving me.
It actually reminds me of my single days. Those “waiting years” were tough. There was this constant ache of longing for my vocation as a wife and mother but no answer in sight.
It also reminds me of my first years of marriage. The ache for children was still there. It took over a year to conceive the first time. Then over six years we lost two babies until we were finally blessed with new life we could hug and hold.
Looking back, I see God was patiently teaching me two big lessons. First, I needed to focus on where I was at that moment instead of pining for something that had yet to come. Second, I didn’t need to be a mom to have a mom’s heart.
I started to open my eyes and see how He placed certain people in my life for a reason—from family to friends to the random lady in the grocery store. God has numerous children in need of love and intercession.
Even this morning, as I was praying I had this overwhelming need to specifically pray for a person I hadn’t seen in years. I wept for her and it baffled me. Why was I feeling so much?
I reflected on it and God was reminding me of something I had forgotten lately—being a physical mom is important but being a spiritual mom can be even more powerful.
God needs motherly hearts to embrace His children that need it most. It does not matter if those hearts belong to teenagers, single women, wives without kids, moms with many kids, grandmas, religious, or whatever the case may be.
What matters is that a spiritual mother’s heart is ready to kneel and pray for the souls God brings to mind. She is ready to offer up the drudgery of her school studies or the difficult tasks at her work place or the exhausting chores of her busy household. She is open to the Holy Spirit to say the right words or just give a comforting hug to someone that needs it.
These are the ways you, as a woman of God, can be fruitful and multiply. We are on a mission to help God’s children come back to His Kingdom and nurture them along the journey.
We are on a mission to help God’s children come back to His Kingdom. // @bobbi_rolClick to tweet
Ask Our Lady to help you nurture your motherly heart. Think of someone you can pray for, or offer a sacrifice for, or perform a kind act to show them they are loved.
Bobbi Rol is a wife, a mama of four and a blogger learning to love God in the midst of dishes, laundry and swinging light sabers. You can find out more about her here.
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