Today's Gospel

Our Culture’s Hardened Heart

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where each day we reflect on the Gospel of the day and look for a word, phrase, or idea. Listen for a word, phrase, or idea. Allow God to speak to us through that word, phrase, or idea to direct us so we can live the Gospel more deeply.

Today's reading comes from the Gospel of Mark 6:45-52. Immediately, Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. And after he had taken leave of them, he went up into the hills to pray. When evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. He saw that they were distressed in rowing, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them. But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, "Take heart. It is I. Do not be afraid." He got into the boat and the wind ceased and they were utterly astonished for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

What is it that jumps out at you today? Is there a word, phrase, or idea that the Spirit uses to stir your hearts? Sometimes these readings have interesting starts or interesting finishes, or they have a line in the middle. Here we have one at the end, "And they were utterly astonished for they did not understand about the loaves." So yesterday, he fed the 5,000 people with the loaves and the fish. Their hearts were hardened. That's what strikes me. Their hearts were hardened. I think one thing I've noticed about our culture is that the more we take God out of the culture, the more we take religion out of the culture, the more we take spirituality out of the culture, the more we become materialistic and the harder people's hearts seem to become.

We have in our culture now something called, "Being canceled," or, "Cancel culture," which is a position of a very hard heart of an individual. But for a whole culture to take that position represents the hardening of the heart of a whole culture. Because what does it say to cancel somebody? What does it say? It says, "You can't make a mistake. You can never be wrong. You say one thing, and we're just done with you." There's no second chances. There's no forgiveness. There's no mercy. There are no new beginnings. Cancel culture is like the antithesis of everything that Jesus as Lord and Savior and Redeemer came to share with us and came to represent. It is a massive hardening of the hearts.

Our hearts get hard in lots of different ways and reasons. A young man and a young woman break up. Maybe it was the guy's idea or the girl's idea. But the other person, it's so easy for their heart to become hardened. And of course, if that happens several times, we meet people who say, "Oh, all men are this," or, "Oh, all women are that." Why? Because their hearts have become hardened. Not that they weren't hurt or mistreated maybe. But the call of the Gospel is not to let our hearts become hardened. It's to recognize, "Okay, my heart is hardening," to allow God to come and do surgery, and to take that hardening of the heart to prayer so that we can continue to be gentle and kind to each other. Have a great day and remember, "Be bold, be Catholic."