11 February 2027 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Latin Rite · Syro-Malankara Rite · മലയാളം
“But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33
The serpent's first words are a question that twists God's command: “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” Then comes the lie: “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” At the root of the first sin is suspicion: the idea that God is holding something back from us, that he is a rival and not a Father. The eyes are opened, but all they see is nakedness and shame. Then, in the evening breeze, God comes looking: “But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”” God knows where Adam is. The question is an invitation to come out. Adam answers with fear, “I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself”, and then with blame: “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.” The woman blames the serpent. Paul draws the conclusion for every human being: “There is no one who is righteous, not even one”, so that “every mouth may be silenced”, for “through the law comes the knowledge of sin.” The Great Fast begins in honesty: to stop hiding and stop blaming, and to answer God's question with the truth.
Joshua's people are about to enter unknown ground. The ark of the covenant goes ahead of them, carried by the priests, “so that you may know the way you should go, for you have not passed this way before.” Joshua tells them: “Sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.” God goes first into the river. In the Gospel Jesus speaks to the anxiety that began in Eden: “do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear.” “Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.” “Consider the lilies of the field.” In a season of fasting these words land differently. We eat less, and discover that the Father still feeds us. Worry is the old suspicion of the garden, the fear that God will not provide. Jesus answers it with an order of priorities: “But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Today, as the Latin Church remembers Our Lady of Lourdes and prays for the sick, let us bring to God the worries of the sick and of those who care for them.
Theme: “But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness.”
God's question in the garden, the ark that goes ahead into the river, and the trust that fasting teaches.
“But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”” Genesis 3:9
“For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” Luke 19:10
Apply: Make a careful examination of conscience tonight and plan your Lenten confession.
“Then Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”” Joshua 3:5
“Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” Hebrews 12:14
Apply: Choose one habit to give up this Lent as preparation for what God will do.
“Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.” Psalm 55:22
“But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33
Apply: Each morning this week, name one worry and hand it to God before you begin work.
God calls us out of hiding and goes ahead of us into the river.
Let the fast teach us to trust: the Father knows what we need.
Take-home resolution: Go to confession during the first weeks of the Great Fast.
Dear friends, the first sin began with a suspicion: that God was holding something back. Adam and Eve ate, their eyes were opened, and they hid. Then God came looking: where are you? (Genesis 3:9). He still asks that question, not to shame us, but to call us out of hiding.
Adam blamed the woman, and the woman blamed the serpent. Paul says that no one is righteous, not even one. The Great Fast begins when we stop blaming and say honestly: Lord, here I am, a sinner in need of you.
Joshua tells the people: sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you (Joshua 3:5). The ark of God goes first into the river. And Jesus tells us not to worry about food and clothing: look at the birds of the air; consider the lilies of the field.
When we fast we eat less, and we find that the Father still feeds us. So let us strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to us as well (Matthew 6:33). Amen.
Children, God feeds the little birds and dresses the flowers in beautiful colours. He loves you even more! When you are worried, tell Jesus about it and trust him.
Lord God, you came looking for Adam in the garden and you still call us: where are you? Free us from the suspicion that you are not good, from hiding and from blaming others. Go before us like the ark into the river, teach us through this fast to trust your care, and help us strive first for your kingdom. Comfort the sick and all who are anxious. Amen.
Genesis tells how trust was lost: a serpent's question, a fruit, fig leaves, and God's voice asking, “Where are you?” In the second reading God promises Joshua, “I will be with you”, and in Romans Paul concludes that all alike are under sin. Matthew offers the cure of that first distrust: look at the birds and lilies, and rely on a Father who knows. The first sin began by doubting God's goodness; the Gospel of today teaches a child's trust in it. The key words are crafty, where are you and worry.
Setting.
After the peace of chapter 2, the story turns. The man and woman live in the garden with one command: “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat” (2:17). The story is told with the simple depth of a parable, and any reader recognises the steps of temptation from the inside. The reading stops at 3:13, before God's sentence and his first promise in 3:15.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (3:1)
The serpent begins with a distortion. God had given every tree but one. The question makes the generous God look like a miser. Note that the woman's answer adds “nor shall you touch it” (3:3), which the command in 2:17 did not say. The conversation has already blurred what God said.
“for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (3:5)
Here is the heart of the lie: God is holding something back from you. To be like God is in fact their dignity already (1:27). The temptation is to seize it apart from him.
“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes,” (3:6)
Sin arrives through ordinary goods: food, beauty, wisdom. Last Sunday's Gospel (Matthew 4:1–11) showed Jesus refusing the same kind of temptations, in the desert, while fasting.
“But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”” (3:9)
Before any penalty there is a search. The whole Bible could be read as the story of this question, carried on until the Good Shepherd goes after the lost.
“The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.”” (3:12)
He blames the woman and, in the same breath, God (“whom you gave”). She blames the serpent. The “one flesh” of yesterday's reading has become mutual accusation.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism says that the account uses figurative language but affirms a primeval event, at the beginning of human history (CCC 390). Man, tempted by the devil, let his trust in his Creator die in his heart (CCC 397); harmony was then lost (CCC 399–400). But God did not abandon him (CCC 410). St Basil, preaching on fasting, points out that the first command in Paradise was a command to fast, “you shall not eat”, and that our loss began there (in substance). So the fast is a road back.
Setting.
The “Therefore” links these verses to 6:24: “You cannot serve God and wealth.” Anxiety about tomorrow is one form of serving wealth. Jesus speaks to ordinary people in Galilee, who may really wonder about food and clothing. He does not say that these needs are unreal, but he does say who knows about them.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.” (6:26)
It is not a lesson in laziness: birds work hard for their food, and Paul demands that Christians work too. The point is the Father. Jesus' argument runs: how much more you.
“And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?” (6:27)
The Greek means either a cubit added to one's height or a small length added to one's life. The POC keeps the measure, “മുഴം”; the NRSV turns it into time. In either case, worry adds nothing.
“But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (6:33)
This verse is the centre. It does not say that bread is unimportant. It says what comes first. Those who hold back from food in the Fast are saying the same with their bodies.
“Today’s trouble is enough for today.” (6:34)
A piece of practical wisdom, with a smile in it. Grace is given for today, like the manna, not for imagined tomorrows.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism quotes this passage when teaching that Jesus asks for childlike abandonment to the providence of our heavenly Father (CCC 305), and it links “strive first” with the petition for daily bread (CCC 2830). Trust does not exempt anyone from work or from the care of the poor. In the Father's plan those who have more are often the means by which he feeds those who have less.
Was the fruit an apple, and must the story be taken word for word?
The text says only “fruit”. The apple probably comes from later Western art, and many suggest a play on the Latin malum, which can mean both “apple” and “evil”. As for the story, the Church says that its language is figurative but that it affirms a real event at the beginning of human history (CCC 390).