It is 8th February 2017. We celebrate the memorial of the saints Jerome Emiliani, the priest and Josephine Bakhita, the virgin. Both were generous to God and to the poor around. The first reading is the account of Creation from Yahwistic tradition. The passage explains the origin of our ancestors created by the Lord God. The creator God assured the uninterrupted supply of water to the garden where the human beings would reside. The four rivers represent the universality of all corners of the earth. Adam, the human is made from adama, the ground and God blew into them the breath of life from the Lord God. The account of divine breath imparted to human beings to live is found in Ez 37:5, 9–10; Jn 20:22. Genesis 2:4-9, 15-17; Psalm 103; Mark 7:14-23. The Eden, the most fertile place with its delight not as a paradise but as place of rest and growth for the human. The tree of life identified as the wisdom: the knowledge of good and evil. It signifies the moral autonomy, control over morality and the knowledge of what is helpful and harmful to humankind. God expected right from the beginning that the human beings always need to seek the good and shun the evil. Adam was expected to exercise self-control which is the secret of success and everlasting happiness. It is the desire; the root of all evil makes us to corrode and corrupt not only physically but also spiritually. The disobedience would result in mortality of the human beings. The responsorial Psalm praise, “Bless the Lord, my soul.” (Ps.103:1). The Gospel reminds us that our core relationships and the way we interact with God and with one another offers the basis for our holiness. Our evil is born right within our hearts not elsewhere. When our hearts are free from evil, our actions are fruitful. Our sins and evil that destroys the relationships with God and others not what we eat. May God bless you to have a good day.