And Jesus and his disciples went out into the region of Caesarea Philippi
and on the road he asked them ‘Who do people say I am?

And they said
‘They say John the Baptist,
and others Elijah,
others you are one of the prophets. ‘

And he asked them ‘You all – who do you say I am?’ 

Peter answered him ‘You  – you are the Anointed One.’

And he firmly ordered them to speak about him to no-one. 

Take from us,
O God, all pride and vanity,
all boasting and self-assertion,
and give us the true courage that shows itself in gentleness,
the true wisdom that shows itself in simplicity,
and the true power that shows itself in modesty.

Charles Kingsley

And  they came into Bethsaida, and they brought to him a blind man, and they asked him to touch him. And having laid his hands on the blind man he took out of the village, and having spat onto his eyes  and placed his hands on him, he asked him ‘What do you see?’

And regaining his sight,  he said ‘I see … people walking …like trees.’

Then again he placed his hands upon his eyes, and he opened his eyes and he was healed and he saw everything clearly. 

And he sent him to his house, saying ‘Do not go into the village.’

O thou, who art the light of the minds that know thee,
the life of the souls that love thee,
and the strength of the wills that serve thee;
help us so to know thee that we may truly love thee;
so to love thee that we may fully serve thee,
whom to serve is perfect freedom.
Amen

And the Pharisees came out and began to argue with him – seeking a sign from heaven from him, testing him.

And sighing deeply in his spirit, he said: ‘Why does this generation seek a sign:?Truly I say to you all, if a sign will be given to this generation, then what?

And having left them again, and having got into the boat, he went to the other side. 

And having forgotten to take any breads- except for one -, they did not have any  with them in the boat. 

And he was warning them: ‘Look out! Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees, and the yeast of Herod. ‘

And they were discussing with one another about the bread which they did not have.

And knowing this, Jesus said to them
‘Why are you discussing the bread which you do no have?
Do you not yet know nor understand?’
Have your hearts been hardened?
Do you have eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear?
And do you not remember?
When I broke the five breads for the five thousand,
how many basketfulls of leftovers did you pick up? 

They said to him ‘twelve’

‘When I broke the seven breads for the four thousand,
how many basketfulls of leftovers did you pick up?

They said to him ‘seven’

And he said ‘Do you not yet understand?’

God be in head and in my understanding;
God be in my eyes and in my looking;
God be in my mouth and in my speaking;
God be in my heart and in my thinking;
God be at my end and at my departing.

In those days there was a large crowd again, when they did not have anything to eat, he called together his disciples and said to them: ‘I have pity upon the crowd, because  they have stayed with me three days already, and they do not have anything to eat. And if I send them hungry to their homes, they will faint on the road, and some of them have come from far away.’

And his disciples answered him: ‘How can someone feed these people with bread in a deserted place?’

And he asked them: ‘How many breads do you have?’

And they said ‘Seven’ 

And he commanded the crowd to sit  on the ground. And taking the seven breads, giving thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to serve out again and again, and they served the crowd.

And they had a few small fish. And after he blessed these he told them to serve these too.  And they ate and they were satisfied and they picked up seven baskets of left-over fragments. 

And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. 

And immediately when he had got into the boat with his disciples, he went into the region of Dalmanutha. 

Eternal Light, shine into our hearts;
Eternal Goodness, deliver us from evil;
Eternal Power, be our support;
Eternal Wisdom, scatter the darkness of our ignorance:
That we may seek your face
with all our heart and mind and soul and strength. Amen.
Alcuin

And when he had gone out of the region of Tyre, he went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the midst of the region of the Decapolis, again. 

And they brought to him a deaf man who had difficulty speaking, and they begged him that he might lay hands on him. 

And when he had taken him privately away from the crowd, he put his fingers in his ears, and after having spat, touched his tongue.

And when he had looked up into heaven, he groaned and said to him: ‘Ephaphtha’ (that is ‘Be opened.’)

And his ears were opened, and the bond of his tongue was loosened and he spoke clearly. 

And he ordered them not to say anything. But as much as he ordered them, so much more they proclaimed. And they were completely amazed saying ‘ He has done everything well, and he made the deaf hear, and the mute able to talk. ‘

God, give me grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

From there, having set out, he went away into the region of Tyre, and having entered a house, he did not want anyone to know, and yet he was not able to be hidden. 

But immediately a woman, (who had a little daughter with an unclean spirit) having heard about him, came and fell at his feet. 

The woman was Greek, Syrophoenician by race. 

And she asked him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 

And he said to her: ‘Let the children be fed first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.’

But she answered: ‘Lord, even the little dogs under the table eat the children’s little crumbs.’

And he said to her: ‘Because of this word go – the demon has left your little daughter.’

And when she went into her house, she found the little child lying on the bed and the demon gone. 

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that thou art –
Thou my best thought, by day or by night;
Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

And having called the crowd together again, he said to them:

‘Everyone, listen to me and understand. Nothing outside a person, going into them, can make them unclean., but the things that come out from them they make a person unclean.’

And when he went into the house, away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about the saying. 

And he said to them:  ‘So are you also without understanding, do you not perceive that everything which goes into a person from outside cannot make them unclean? For it does not enter their heart but their guts and goes out into the sewer. ‘ (Cleansing all food).

He said: ‘What goes out from a person, that makes them unclean. For from within, from a person’s heart, come out the bad thoughts: sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, indecency, an evil eye, slander, pride, foolishness.

‘All these evil things come out from within and make a person unclean.’

Lord, you have given me so much,
I ask for one more thing –
a grateful heart.

George Herbert

And the Pharisees, and some of the scholars having come from Jerusalem, gathered around him.

And when they saw that some of his disciples ate food with unclean hands, that is unwashed…

—for the Pharisees and all the Jews  do not eat unless they have washed their hands in the proper way, holding fast to the tradition of the elders, for when they return from the market they do not eat unless they wash themselves, with the result that there are many things which they observe, washings of cups and pitchers and bowls, and couches—

….the Pharisees and the scholars asked him: ‘Why do your disciples not live according to the traditions of the elders, but eat food with unclean hands?’

But he said to them: ‘Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written:

‘This people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are very far away from me.
In vain, they worship me,
teaching as ‘doctrines’ human rules.'(Isa 29:13)

Disobeying the command of God you hold to human tradition.’

And he said to them:
‘”Rightly” you reject the command of God, so that you might establish your tradition. For Moses said: “Honour your father and mother”
and “The one who speaks evil of their father or mother surely let that one be put to death.

‘But you say: “If a person says to their father or mother ‘Whatever help you would have from me it is Korban ( that is a gift)’ then you longer permit them to do anything for their father or mother, so nullifying the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down, and similar things you do such as this.’ 

Be thou a bright flame before me,
Be thou a guiding star above me
Be thou a smooth path below me
Be thou a kindly shepherd behind me
Today – tonight -forever
Amen.

St Columba

And having crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and anchored there. And after they had left the boat, the people, having recognised him, ran through that whole region and began to bring those who were ill on their mats, to  wherever they heard he was. And whenever he entered villages, towns or the countryside, they would put the sick in the marketplace and beg him that they might at least touch the tassels on the fringe of his robe.

And as many as touched him were healed.

O Love, O God who created me, in your love recreate me.
O Love, who redeemed me,
fill up in me whatever part of your love
has fallen into neglect within me.
O Love, O God, who first loved me,
grant that with my whole heart,
and with my whole soul,
and with my whole strength,
I may love you.

Gertrude the Great

And immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he sent the crowd away. And when he had said goodbye to them he went to the mountain to pray. 

And when evening came the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the land. And when he saw them struggling  in their rowing, for the wind was against them, at the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea and he wanted to go past them. 

But when they saw him on the sea, walking, they thought, ’it is a ghost’. For all who saw him were terrified. 

But he immediately talked with them:  ‘Take courage!. It is me. Do not be afraid.’ And he climbed in to the boat with them and the wind stopped, and they were altogether amazed. For they did not understand about the breads, but their hearts were hardened. 

Teach us, good Lord,
to serve thee as thou deservest;
to give and not to count the cost;
to fight and not to heed the wounds;
to toil and not to seek for rest;
to labour and not to ask for any reward,
save that of knowing that we do thy will,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

St Ignatius