Thursday,
February 12, 2015
5th Week in
Ordinary Time
1st reading: Gen 2:18-25
Gospel: Mk 7:24–30
(…) A woman, whose small daughter had an evil spirit, heard of him and came and fell at his feet. Now this woman was a pagan, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter.
Jesus told her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” But she replied, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the crumbs from the children’s bread.” Then Jesus said to her, “You may go your way; because of such a reply the demon has gone out of your daughter.” And when the woman went home, she found her child lying in bed and the demon gone.
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
One of God’s attributes is his being the source of life. He should be the first person to worry about our health. God, in fact, wants to keep us all in good health. This divine intention finds ample support in several Gospel passages.
In today’s Gospel, a Syrophoenician woman begged Jesus to exorcise her daughter. It appears that Jesus showed initial reluctance when, instead of acting promptly in the request for healing he excused himself, as he explained: “It is not good for the food of children to be thrown to the dogs.” Was he trying to discriminate her for being a pagan? No. It was just that he had to attend to the chosen people first. This was in fact the meaning of what he said. Just as no parents will throw to dogs the food prepared for the children, God had to attend to the chosen people first. The contrary would have been a breach of his covenant with Abraham where God proposed that Abraham’s descendants would be His people and He will be their God.
The woman was humble in interpreting Jesus’ statement and came to an honest assessment of herself. “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the crumbs from the children’s bread”, she replied confidently. Touched by her humble faith, Jesus granted her request. The fact that Jesus acceded to the Syrophoenician woman’s request in the end shows his heart’s inclination towards restoring people to health.
If God were to have his way, he’d all have us live healthy lives. But the way we squander our health ties God’s hands. Sickness, of course, is inevitable with the passing of time because we are corporeal beings. But by the hedonistic lives we have embraced we are rushing to the brink of death earlier than ordained by the passing of time. Let us allow God to have his way by shaping up in both physical and spiritual life. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
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