In the first reading, the story of creation states that once God has formed the human creature, God proceeds to create a place, a garden, in which humanity will dwell. In this garden is found the two trees - the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Generally, "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" signifies that God places a limit on humanity. That is, humanity can know many things but it is God who decides what is best for humanity. When humanity makes its own decisions as to what is best for itself, it does so in rebellion against i

ts Creator. Jesus states it is what comes from inside the depths of the person that makes one pure or impure. It is not external things, like the food one eats, that make a person evil. Instead, it is one's actions, inspired from within, that demonstrates whether a person is or is not living according to God's commands. In this way, Mark the Gospel writer, hopes that his readers will look to the different ways they are living in relationship with others and to see if they are responding to God "from within", that is, with their whole being or merely with "lip service".

We have to ask ourselves: "How do we arrive at our decisions and our actions?" "Do we listen to and act that is based on the voice of God, or our own voice or the voice of the evil one?" Let us become keenly aware of this as we go about the day.