Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Observing The Tradition

BEADS OF JOY 02-06-18
“Observing The Tradition”
©2018 James Dacey, Jr. OFS

My Friends,


Today’s Gospel: Mark 7:1-13 (Tradition of The Elders)
“Now when the Pharisees gathered together to him, with some of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands, observing the tradition of the elders; and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they purify themselves; and there are many other traditions which they observe, the washing of cups and pots and vessels of bronze.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?" And he said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, `This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.' You leave the commandment of God and hold fast the tradition of men." And he said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition! For Moses said, `Honor your father and your mother'; and, `He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die'; but you say, `If a man tells his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is Corban' (that is, given to God) - then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God through your tradition which you hand on. And many such things you do."

Reflection:
Today, we see how the Pharisees and the scribes were more worried about their traditions; rather than live by the true commandments of God. I love that word “Tradition”, outside of our faith, or should I say to compliment our faith. How many of you have family traditions? Not the one Hank Williams Jr sings about lol, no, rather ones that are shared around the kitchen table or in the living room or when you go out on a day trip. I can remember being in our first tiny little apartment, having diner with our black cat (Jack), this is before we had kids, talking about what kind of family traditions we wanted to start together “now”; so that our kids would be part of what we already do together.

Wow, I haven’t thought about those days in decades. But we use to really try to plan out what would help develop our kids into adults; who they themselves would want the same traditions for their families. So, our main focuses were family time and prayer. Our absolute goal was dinner together every single night. Chrissy would make and prepare dinner and when I walked in, I washed my hands, changed my shirt and we all sat down. The kids knew when dad got home, we’d be eating dinner shortly. No one was at a friend’s house and no one was NOT at the table. And you dare not eat before prayer. We would all make the sign of the cross, hold hands and pray grace out loud together, I or Chrissy would pray for family who needed additional prayers. Once we all said Amen and did the sign of the cross together, it was an eating feast. And we all shared our day. I did the cleaning and washed all the dishes. We have done that for 29 years. We still do that, we just did that a few days ago, just before I sold the kitchen table, now we have a smaller one. It will continue. It’s funny, we sit at the table and the kids immediately put out their hands to hold hands. Thank you, Jesus.

Another wonderful family tradition we had was pumpkin picking and pumpkin carving, we did that so decades, it was so much fun. We used to drive up to Ulster County, NY where my cousins live and go to those Pumpkin Farms and when we were there we’d also get apples and eat at the little café they had there. During the years we lived in Niagara Falls we did the same at the Pumpkin Farm in Niagara County. In fact, in Niagara County we had so much fun picking blueberries and apples and strawberries. That was so much fun, just to get out for the day and pick fresh fruits together as a family, a fun tradition indeed. We loved doing that together as a family. We’d pack a huge cooler of drinks and snacks and go out for the day. No, we did not stop at McDonald's on the way home, that is too funny. No, but we did stop at the Fatima Shrine on the way home, that was always a tradition while living in Niagara Falls. When we went out picking, we always stopped at the shrine on the way home. We know everyone at the shrine and I use to spend so much time there.  



Pondering these thoughts today: Family traditions and even your own traditions as an individual are so wonderful. Keep doing them even if it’s just you at times. Pray before every meal, go to the shrine don’t just pass it, go to Mass more than once a week. Traditions are like corner stones that help identify our hearts desires of more love and more faith and our true identity in our daily lives. At least that is how I see it. I know I took a word out of content out of today’s gospel, hope you still enjoyed todays blog.


LOVE YOU GUYS !!!!

Your brother in Christ Jesus 
And His Most Blessed Mother,
Jim (The Rosary Man) Dacey Jr OFS

Today is Tuesday: We pray the Sorrowful Mysteries:

The Sorrowful Mysteries

1. Agony on the Garden (Sorrow for sin) –Matt 26:36-46
2. Scourging at the Pillar (Purity) –Mark 15:1-16
3. Crowning with Thorns (Moral Courage) –Matt 27:27-31
4. Carrying of the Cross (Patience) –Mark 15:20-22
5. The Crucifixion (Perseverance) –Luke 23:33-46

Thank you Lord for loving us so much…

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