6/03/13: Mk 12.13-17                                                                                          

Meditatio: “They [the religious elite] sent some Pharisees and Herodians ot him [Jesus] to ensnare him in speech.” Mk 12.13

Oratio: “O God, how perverse we can be!                                  

I remember the religious elite tried to trap Jesus about taxes thinking that no matter what He answered He would be trouble either with the Romans or with the people - how sad for them! How tragic for the people!

Grant that I may have the trust of a child in all that You do knowing that You are my heavenly Father who loves me.\

 I ask these and all things through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with the  Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

 Contemplatio: Keep silence and remain in recollection for a few minutes.

Operatio: reflect on "ensnare...speech”; to trap; to put one on the horns of a delemna;  a trick question with the hope that the answer gets the responder in trouble; in prayer seek to be open and honest in questions posed to others so that answer sought is to simply to learn the truth for my good or for the good of the other.

Tomorrow's reading: Mk 12.18-27