9 February 2027 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malankara Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” Romans 2:4
Yesterday the ash reminded us that we are dust. Today Genesis shows what God does with dust. On the sixth day God says, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness”, and “God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” Then he looks at everything he has made, “and indeed, it was very good.” The second account is more intimate: “then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.” The Great Fast holds both truths together: we are dust, and we carry God's breath and God's image. Fasting is not a punishment of the body; it is the body joining the soul in prayer, so that the image of God may shine more clearly in us. At the edge of the Jordan the people give Joshua an answer worth making our own for these seven weeks: “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.”
Paul turns to those who are quick to condemn: “Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things.” Then he asks a gentle and searching question: “Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” Repentance does not begin with fear; it begins when we discover how kind God has been to us. In the Gospel Jesus asks us to pass that kindness on: “if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you.” The second mile is the Lenten mile. In many Kerala homes and parishes, what the fast saves, the price of the fish and meat not bought, is set aside for the poor. A fast without giving would be only a diet; a fast that gives becomes kindness, the same kindness that first led us back to God.
Theme: “God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.”
Dust that carries God's breath, the patience of God, and the generosity of the second mile.
“then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.” Genesis 2:7
“and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator.” Colossians 3:10
Apply: Thank God today for your body and your life, and offer both to him in the fast.
“rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the LORD, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.” Joel 2:13
“Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” Romans 2:4
Apply: Replace one judgment of another person with a prayer for them.
“You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” Leviticus 19:18
“and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.” Matthew 5:41
Apply: Give away this week what your fast has saved.
We are dust, but dust that carries God's breath, and God's kindness calls us home.
Let that kindness flow through us, one second mile at a time.
Take-home resolution: Keep a box for the poor at home through the whole Great Fast.
Dear friends, yesterday we heard that we are dust. Today Genesis tells us what God does with dust: the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (Genesis 2:7). We are dust, and we carry God's breath and image.
Paul warns us against judging others, because the judge is often doing the very same things. And he asks: do you not realize that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? (Romans 2:4). God has been patient with us. That patience is an invitation to come home.
Jesus asks us to pass on that kindness: turn the other cheek; give your cloak as well; if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile (Matthew 5:41). This is not weakness. It is the strength of love that does not answer evil with evil.
Let our fast become generous. What we save by fasting, let us give to the poor. And let us walk the second mile with someone who is difficult. Then God's image will shine in us again. Amen.
Children, God made us from dust and breathed his own life into us. That is why every person is precious! Today, do one extra kind thing that nobody asked you to do.
Lord Jesus Christ, you formed us from the dust and breathed your life into us, and you are patient with us when we sin. Do not let us despise your kindness, but let it lead us to repentance. Make us generous like you, ready to turn the other cheek and walk the second mile, and let what our fast saves feed the poor. Amen.
Yesterday's reading stopped at the fourth day; today Genesis reaches the living creatures and man, formed from dust and given God's breath. In the second reading the people pledge obedience to Joshua, and in Romans Paul warns against judging others while God's kindness waits. Jesus in Matthew asks for the love that refuses to repay. The two main readings belong together: a person who carries God's image does not answer evil with evil, and neither does the God whose image it is. The key words are image, breath and the second mile.
Setting.
The poem of seven days reaches its summit on the sixth day and its rest on the seventh. Then, at 2:4, a second account begins, older in style according to many scholars and more homely, where God works with his hands like a potter. The two were set side by side, and each says what the other leaves out: humanity's dignity at the top of creation, and humanity's closeness to the soil.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness;” (1:26)
Many scholars hear in “us” a plural of solemn deliberation, or God addressing his heavenly court. Many Fathers, reading with the New Testament, heard a first hint of the Trinity.
“So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (1:27)
The verb bārā’ comes three times in a single verse. Man and woman alike bear the image. No human being, however poor, sick or despised, stands outside this verse.
“God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.” (1:31)
For the first time the refrain says “very”. The body is part of what is called very good. Christian fasting begins from this verse and never contradicts it.
“then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.” (2:7)
The word for “formed” is the potter's word (compare Isaiah 45:9). Dust and breath lie together in one sentence. Jesus repeats the gesture when he breathes on his disciples on Easter evening (John 20:22), and Paul contrasts Adam with “the last Adam”, a “life-giving spirit” (1 Corinthians 15:45).
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism teaches that being in God's image gives every person the dignity of being someone, not something (CCC 357), and that the human being is one, at once bodily and spiritual (CCC 362). It says that “subduing” the earth is the vocation of stewards (CCC 373), as Pope Francis insists in Laudato Si' (67). It also quotes St Irenaeus, who says that God fashioned man with his own two hands, the Son and the Spirit (CCC 704).
Setting.
This is the fifth of the six contrasts in the Sermon on the Mount. The law's “eye for an eye” (Exodus 21:24; Leviticus 24:20) was not a licence for revenge. In its day it limited revenge: only one eye for one eye, and in the hands of a judge, not a feud. Jesus goes further and asks his disciples to give up the claim altogether.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also;” (5:39)
Many scholars note that a right-handed blow to the right cheek would be with the back of the hand, an insult more than an attack. The answer Jesus asks for is neither to strike back nor to shrink into hatred.
“and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.” (5:41)
The first mile is compelled. The second is a gift, and it changes what the whole journey means: the disciple is no longer merely a victim, but someone who serves.
“Give to everyone who begs from you,” (5:42)
Almsgiving belongs with the Fast. The sentence does not settle every practical question of how best to help; it does close the heart's excuses.
How the Church reads it.
This teaching does not take away the duty of protecting the weak. The Church teaches that legitimate defence can even be a grave duty for those responsible for others (CCC 2263–2265), and that Jesus' teaching rules out anger, hatred and vengeance (CCC 2262). Jesus himself, when struck, asked, “why do you strike me?” (John 18:23). St Augustine draws from this that the command concerns the readiness of the heart, not only the outward gesture (in substance). The summit of this teaching is the Cross.
Is the Christian bound to accept abuse in silence?
No. Jesus speaks of renouncing revenge, not of leaving the innocent unprotected. A person suffering violence at home, for example, may and should seek safety and help. Forgiving does not mean giving up the truth or justice.