From the responsorial psalm: “Behold, thus is the man blessed who fears the LORD. The LORD bless you from Zion: may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mark 7:24-30, today’s readings)
The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, “Let the children be fed first. For it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She replied and said to him, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.” Then he said to her, “For saying this, you may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter.”
Wherever he goes, Jesus cannot escape notice, even among the Gentiles. People come to him from all sides, as the woman in today’s Gospel does for the sake of her daughter. In responding to the woman, Jesus refers to the claim of the Jews that they first receive his ministry as God’s chosen ones. But for the mother who sees the suffering of her daughter, that claim does nothing to hold her back. Jesus gives her the opportunity to demonstrate the depth of her faith expressed in desperate need. Similarly, in the first reading from Genesis, we see the dignity of Adam and Eve standing before God in complete reliance on him, both naked yet feeling no shame. Jesus invites us to come to him with the same dignity, in complete recognition of all he can do for us in his mercy as our Lord and creator.
God, just as the woman approached Jesus, aware of her otherness but in great need, I ask for the grace to do the same. In willing to do anything to restore her daughter’s health, the mother had heard of Jesus and simply fell at his feet on meeting him. Help me today put to work the exemplary persistent faith of the woman and her holy fear and reverence as she knelt before you. At creation, “The man and his wife were both naked, yet they felt no shame.” In humility and childlike trust, let me remember to come to you throughout the day, to come with persistence, and to plead that your will—which is love—be done for me and others. Blessed are those who fear the Lord!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.