12 February 2021
Friday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
The story of Genesis continues today with the cunning serpent bringing about the fall of our first parents. How does the serpent accomplish this? By twisting the truth, by blatantly lying. God had only forbidden Adam and Eve from eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and yet the serpent’s words exaggerate this fact by asking, “Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?” After Eve explains what God had actually said, the serpent reinforces his tactics to sway Adam and Eve away from God with a downright lie. It is no coincidence that the word “devil” comes from the Greek meaning “slanderer.” In fact, many refer to the devil as “the father of lies,” for this is his primary tactic.
We must, therefore, always be on our guard against the lies to which we can fall prey. Often, as we see in Genesis, they will start with an element of truth, an element of truth that is then twisted, exaggerated and will make us doubt our goodness or the goodness of others, or God’s unconditional love for us.
Christ came to help us believe in him who is the Truth. Like the deaf man in today’s gospel who was healed, may we too, proclaim in our lives the Truth: God’s mercy, his unconditional love and his goodness towards us all in Christ Jesus.