Daily Inspiration

“Jesus summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.”
When he got home away from the crowd his disciples questioned him about the parable. He said to them, “Are even you likewise without understanding? Do you not realize that everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) “But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him. From within the man, from his heart, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile.” -Mark 7:14-23

The Lord holds our souls in the palm of His hand, and He protects us from evil entering into us from where we can not see. It can not enter from the back or sides, but only from the front, and even then, we must invite it in.

Whatever we allow into our hearts is what will flow out from us. If we allow evil to enter into us, we open the door, and it flows freely in and out. Just as gold cannot be anything other than gold, even if broken down to one singular fine piece of dust, it is still gold. So it is with God’s grace or the enemy’s evil. Allowing the tiniest seed of either to fall into our hearts opens the door wide for more to enter.

We have a choice of what enters into our soul, good versus evil; therefore, by default, we have a choice of what flows out of us, too. May we always choose wisely; may we always choose God.

Saint Richard the King, pray for us.

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Jesus, I trust in you!