Thursday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Gn. 2:18-25 | Ps. 128:1-5 | Mk. 7:24-30
God’s love is so great for Adam that God does not want Adam to feel alone. So God creates animals, fish, birds etc. to keep Adam company and to spark a chord of delight within Adam. Yet after many species, Adam is still not delighted. So God creates woman out of Adam’s rib, and Adam is delighted. God is also delighted. Adam and Eve now have one another. We also see the foundation for the permanence of marriage in the closing verses of today’s first reading.
In the second reading, one of God’s creatures, a Syrophoenician gentile, approaches Jesus for healing for her daughter. How much love this woman has for her daughter! How much faith this woman possesses! She dares to go out in public to speak to a man–and a Jew at that. Jesus does not seem to be very kind. But the woman stands her ground and willingly tells Jesus that she is not looking for the best but would be grateful for some left-overs from His reserves to heal her daughter. Jesus is struck by this woman’s love and her faith. These are essential if one is to be cured.
Read the Gospel again. Spend time thinking about what your response to Jesus would be. Give all your love to Jesus.