“Ingratitude: The Root of Sin” by Colleen O’Sullivan

“Ingratitude: The Root of Sin” by Colleen O’Sullivan

Tuesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time 

Allessandro Masagno, Cameo with Noah’s Ark, c. 1600, Walters Art Museum, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

 

When the LORD saw how great was man’s wickedness on earth, and how no desire that his heart conceived was ever anything but evil, he regretted that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was grieved. (Genesis 6:5-6)

 

The voice of the LORD is over the waters, the LORD, over vast waters.  The voice of the LORD is mighty; the voice of the LORD is majestic.  (Psalm 29:3ac--4)

 

Jesus enjoined them, “Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”  (Mark 8:15)

Piety

Lord, like Adam and Eve and like the people of Noah’s day, we, too, are sinners.  We confess to frequent indifference to your gifts rather than gratitude for them.  Forgive us, we pray and help us to be more aware of and thankful for your love and mercy toward us.   

Study

How quickly things change.  Not so many days ago, we were reading about the wonders of creation, God fashioning the entire universe, the earth, the moon and the stars, all the animals and plants, as well as the first man and woman, and then expressing delight and satisfaction at the end of each day’s work. 

In today’s first reading, we come away with the impression that no one learned a thing from Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden.  Far from delighting in what he fashioned in that grand, seven-day grand effort, we find God wishing he’d never made human beings in today’s verses.  Sin and chaos were everywhere God looked on the earth.  God wanted to destroy these creatures until he spotted Noah, who was a very good man.  Well, God would save Noah and his family.  And once the floodwaters subsided, they could repopulate the earth.  God promised never to send such wholesale destruction upon the world again. 

St. Ignatius of Loyola always maintained that the root of all sin was ingratitude.  The first man and woman had everything they could ever have needed in that garden paradise, but they weren’t content.  The one thing they couldn’t have was the knowledge of good and evil that belongs only to God.  They weren’t grateful for their surroundings or for the love of their God, who strolled with them every evening when the cool breeze sprang up.  They wanted to be their own gods.  They were blind to what they were giving up by sinning.

In St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises, the “Contemplation on the Incarnation” asks retreatants to imagine the Holy Trinity looking at us on earth with great love and compassion.  In their view, they would see what sin is doing to us and decided to send a Savior, who would be the Word made Flesh, Jesus of Nazareth.   Through his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus becomes the way out of the sinful mess we’ve gotten ourselves into here on earth. 

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus and the disciples are talking at cross-purposes.  The disciples hear the Lord mention the word “leaven,” and they immediately begin to talk about bread.  Jesus gets annoyed because he is not speaking of the sort of rising agent found in bread but is talking about how they should avoid the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod.  The Pharisees were religious, but their leaven was narrow-mindedness, a legalistic approach to things, and intolerance for anyone not doing things their way.  Concerning Herod, Jesus meant morals were not on Herod’s radar screen.  His king lived from one hedonistic pleasure to the next.

Action

Try spending some of your prayer time today imagining the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit looking at the earth with loving concern and seeing where sinfulness has led.  What do they see?  What do you hear them saying?   Remember, the Trinity sees things the way they were before Jesus came to earth as one of us.  Imagine the moment the conversation among the Trinity turns to send the Son to take on human flesh.  Whatever goes on in your contemplation, share it with the Lord.

 

Image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Allessandro_Masnago_-_Cameo_with_Noah%27s_Ark_-_Walters_421447.jpg