Readings & Reflections: Thursday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time & St. Giles Mary of St. Joseph, February 13,2020
To Solomon obsessed with idolatry, God says, “Since this is what you want… I will deprive you of the kingdom.” God honors our desires. Jesus grants the pagan woman’s request because this clearly is what she wants. By being faithful to our truest desires, the Lord remembers us with his favor.
AMDG+
Opening Prayer
Lord Jesus, Just like the Greek woman, a Syrophoenician by birth, all we need is a scrap, not a full meal. Lord, turn us to gold, our spouse to a fruitful vine, our children, be like olive plants. May we all be blessed to sit down at the banquet table of the Father in His heavenly kingdom. In Your Mighty Name, we pray. Amen.
Reading 1
1 Kgs 11: 4-13
When Solomon was old his wives had turned his heart to strange gods,
and his heart was not entirely with the LORD, his God,
as the heart of his father David had been.
By adoring Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians,
and Milcom, the idol of the Ammonites,
Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD;
he did not follow him unreservedly as his father David had done.
Solomon then built a high place to Chemosh, the idol of Moab,
and to Molech, the idol of the Ammonites,
on the hill opposite Jerusalem.
He did the same for all his foreign wives
who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
The LORD, therefore, became angry with Solomon,
because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice
(for though the LORD had forbidden him
this very act of following strange gods,
Solomon had not obeyed him).
So the LORD said to Solomon: “Since this is what you want,
and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes
which I enjoined on you,
I will deprive you of the kingdom and give it to your servant.
I will not do this during your lifetime, however,
for the sake of your father David;
it is your son whom I will deprive.
Nor will I take away the whole kingdom.
I will leave your son one tribe for the sake of my servant David
and of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”
The word of the Lord.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 106:3-4-35-36, 37 and 40
R. (4a) Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
Blessed are they who observe what is right,
who do always what is just.
Remember us, O LORD, as you favor your people;
visit us with your saving help.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
But they mingled with the nations
and learned their works.
They served their idols,
which became a snare for them.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
They sacrificed their sons
and their daughters to demons.
And the LORD grew angry with his people,
and abhorred his inheritance.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
Gospel
Mk 7:24-30
Jesus went to the district of Tyre.
He entered a house and wanted no one to know about it,
but he could not escape notice.
Soon a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him.
She came and fell at his feet.
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.”
When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bed
and the demon gone.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Reflection 1 – The Syro-Phoenician woman’s faith
‘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.”’
The gospel scene for today may somehow bother quite a number of people. Why was the Syro-Phoenician woman compared to the dogs under a family table? Jesus was only trying to convey that the first and foremost concern of every man is to feed his family, in His case the Jewish nation. The woman being Syro-Phoenician and not Jewish therefore did not belong to God’s chosen people. Even with this statement, the woman was not offended but had the faith and the perseverance to claim His blessings even if she and her family were being compared to dogs partaking of children’s scraps under the table. She did not come strongly to defend her race against Jesus but kept a humble and persistent heart.
Her attitude towards Jesus was one of complete submission to Him as God of all Who will not set her aside. She must have considered that if she is this close to God, then she also has a right to the crumbs. I was moved by the attitude of the Syro-Phoenician woman towards Jesus as it was totally different and an exact contrast to that of the Pharisees who were, neither willing to acknowledge Jesus as God, nor even to fellowship with Him at the table of truth. They found it difficult to associate with Jesus much more have faith in Him.
The woman’s persistence paid off. Jesus delivered her daughter from the devil. With her persistent faith, Jesus said to her: ‘”The demon has already left your daughter.” When she got home, she found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.’ We have an all-inclusive God. Faith and humility, patience and perseverance can only bring us to partake of God’s table of grace.
Direction
This brings into our hearts that we as Christians should be bold with our faith. We should be patient in bringing our concerns to God and with expectant faith consider all as done in the Name of our Lord. In the same light, Jesus wants us to open our hearts of compassion and mercy to every man and treat everyone as a child of God without concern for social status, color, race and religion.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, help me when I am desperate. Come to my rescue when I call on You. Be patient with me when I am hopeless as I may lose my composure and reserve and be rude with my persistence. Help me to see You in others who may be different from me. In your grace and blessings, I am fully dependent. In Jesus, I am complete as I pray. Amen.
Reflection 2 – Invited to sit at the Lord ’s Table
In today’s gospel we see Jesus move out of the territory ruled by Herod and into Tyre, a mixed district consisting of both Greeks and Jews. In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus is a man of his time and place. He saw the descendants of Abraham as chosen by God above all others.
The Syro-Phoenician woman is unique among all the figures in the four Gospels. She is the only one who wins an argument with Jesus. At first he refuses her request to drive the demon out of her daughter. He tells her that he has come first and foremost to the children of Abraham. The woman grovels to the level of comparing herself to a dog that might eat the scraps from the table of the children of Abraham. She falls at the feet of the Lord. Jesus is truly moved by this. He grants the woman’s request.
The woman who begs for healing from the Lord serves as a good model for us as we move into Lent and begin our journey to Easter. We might do well to model ourselves after the persistence and faith of the woman who wins her argument with Jesus.
Some of the people of the covenant in the first century were so arrogant that they dismissed all pagans as unworthy of God’s attention. Gifted as we are in the new covenant, we need to remember that we are made worthy because of the Paschal Mystery in which we were plunged at baptism. We are made worthy because of Christ.
We have an advantage that the Syro-Phoenician woman did not. Because of the death and resurrection of Christ we need not beg for just the crumbs at the table. We have been invited to be seated as guests of honor, not because of our own merit, but because we are baptized in Christ, washed in the blood of the Lamb. If Jesus will feed “the dogs” imagine what he will do for us! (Source: Timothy J. Cronin. Weekday Homily Helps. Ohio: St. Anthony Messenger Press, February 11, 2010).
Reflection 3 – The demon has left your daughter
Do you ever feel “put-off” by the Lord? This passage describes the only occasion in which Jesus ministered outside of Jewish territory. (Tyre and Sidon were fifty miles north of Israel and still exist today in modern Lebanon.) A Gentile woman – an outsider who was not a member of the chosen people – puts Jesus on the spot by pleading with him to show mercy to her daughter who was tormented with an evil spirit. At first Jesus seemed to pay no attention to her, and this made his disciples feel embarrassed. Jesus very likely did this not to put the woman off, but rather to test her sincerity and to awaken faith in her.
The Lord shows mercy to those who seek him
What did Jesus mean by the expression “throwing bread to the dogs”? The Jews often spoke of the Gentiles with arrogance and insolence as “unclean dogs” since the Gentiles were excluded from God’s covenant and favor with Israel. For the Greeks the “dog” was a symbol of dishonor and was used to describe a shameless and audacious woman. Matthew’s Gospel records the expression do not give dogs what is holy (Matthew 7:6). Jesus, no doubt, spoke with a smile rather than with an insult because this woman immediately responds with wit and faith – “even the dogs eat the crumbs”.
Love conquers with persistent trust and faith
Jesus praises a Gentile woman for her persistent faith and for her affectionate love. She made the misery of her child her own and she was willing to suffer rebuff in order to obtain healing for her loved one. She also had indomitable persistence. Her faith grew in contact with the person of Jesus. She began with a request and she ended on her knees in worshipful prayer to the living God. No one who ever sought Jesus with faith – whether Jew or Gentile – was refused his help. Do you seek Jesus with expectant faith?
“Lord Jesus, your love and mercy knows no bounds. May I trust you always and never doubt your loving care and mercy. Increase my faith in your saving help and deliver me from all evil and harm.” –Read the source: http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/2020/feb13.htm
Reflection 4 – The One Who Could Not Be Hidden
He entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden. —Mark 7:24
Attar of Roses, a fragrant oil, is one of the most valuable products of Bulgaria and is heavily taxed for export. A tourist, unwilling to pay the duty, sought to evade customs by concealing two vials of the precious fluid in his suitcase. Apparently a little of the perfume had spilled in his suitcase. By the time he reached the train station, the aroma was emanating from the luggage, declaring the presence of the hidden treasure. The authorities immediately knew what the man had done and confiscated the costly souvenirs.
The Lord Jesus could not be hidden either. Crowds were constantly mobbing Him to hear His words of wisdom, to benefit from His deeds of mercy, and to derive help from His loving compassion.
After He ascended to His Father, Jesus’ influence continued in the lives of His disciples. The populace “realized that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). Their deportment and their attitude marked them as His true followers.
Are you living completely for Jesus? Is the love of Christ so obvious in your life that those who know you realize that you are a follower of the One who “could not be hidden”? (Mark 7:24). If so, the world will readily see that you are on God’s side. Your influence cannot be hidden.
— Henry G. Bosch
When we’ve been alone with Jesus,
Learning from Him day by day,
Others soon will sense the difference
As we walk along life’s way. —Hess
You cannot hide your influence (Source: Our Daily Bread, RBC Ministries).
Reflection 5 – Tired and worn out?
![[ Listen to the podcast of this reflection ]](https://ecp.yusercontent.com/mail?url=http%3A%2F%2Fgnm.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F10%2Fpodbean.png&t=1581569119&ymreqid=6355b95e-9d35-c55e-1c6e-a8006b01a900&sig=cIrtRDsn3V7M_Y8uTfoOKg--~C)
Are you tired? Burnt out?
This might be a sign that your priorities are wrong. If you’re worn out from ministering to others, perhaps you’re not giving yourself enough time to be ministered to. We cannot give to others what we have not received. Our top priority must be our relationship with God; it’s from this that we receive everything else we need.
Making God our top priority includes letting him nurture us as we take time out to rest in his love.
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus needs this kind of rest. He’s been busy ministering — healing and preaching — and he has dealt with some very difficult and disapproving Pharisees. Now he enters the home of an unnamed friend, and he hopes no one will find out that he’s here, at least not until he’s finished recuperating.
We all know what that’s like! Just when we can’t handle one more person demanding one more ounce of energy from us, and we’ve settled into the couch to relax, the phone rings and someone else needs our attention.
Jesus had only started to rest when someone came knocking. When she asks for help, we can hear grouchiness in this scripture: He was grumpy because he was tired. Does this surprise you? Remember, Jesus was human like us in every way except sin. But despite his grouchiness, he did not sin, because he still cared. The woman’s needs were AS important as his own — not less, not more important, but the same AS. So instead of selfishly turning the woman away, and without ignoring his own needs, he gave her what she needed and then immediately sent her out the door.
Our grouchiness becomes a sin when we use our bad mood to push others away. Oh how hard it is to remain loving when we’re tired! But guess what? When we make sure our own needs are taken care of and we keep our priorities right, we don’t get so worn out. Then it’s much easier to remain loving.
Have you ever heard the saying that J-O-Y means “Jesus-Others-You” as a priority list? Well, be careful! It can cause burn-out. In truth, we experience joy when we stay closely connected to Jesus and let no one come between him and us. We need times of solitude with him. We need times of nurturing ourselves in his presence. We must continually fill up on his love so that we have enough love to pour into others without becoming drained.
Are you worn out from giving yourself to others? Take time to balance the equation. Your needs are as important as their needs. Give yourself time to receive what you need so that you will once again have an abundance to give to others joyfully! – Read the source: https://gnm.org/good-news-reflections/?useDrDate=2020-02-13
Reflection 6 – When your prayers hit a brick wall
![[ Listen to the podcast of this reflection ]](http://gnm.org/wp-content/uploads/podbean.png)
I’ve always enjoyed the story in today’s Gospel passage because of the Greek woman’s response to Jesus in the face of an impossibility. She’s a sign of hope for all of us when we’re up against a wall and there seems to be no door through it. Her persistence and her confidence in Jesus, who was known to be a barrier-breaker, are traits that we should copy.
At first, Jesus seemed to be saying “no” to the woman’s prayer request. And for good reason (according to the culture of the day), for she was not Jewish, and everyone “knew” that non-Jews were second-rate. Not only that, but she was a woman! “Inferior” to Jesus in not just one but two ways!
However, Jesus had already begun to teach that the kingdom of God surpasses all human limitations. He was already treating women with equal dignity, raising them to the same level of importance as men. He had already preached about new wineskins. He had already broken Sabbath laws in order to minister to people, breaking from old traditions that were used without compassion. So why did he say no to this desperate mother?
Think about the barriers that you seem to be up against. When it seems like our prayers are hitting a hard wall, it’s time to assess why. Is Jesus really saying no? Did he put up the wall? Sometimes he does, but only for our protection, because it would be harmful for us to proceed ahead with our plans.
At other times, Jesus wants to help us break through the barriers, but we just stand there staring at the thick bricks, feeling their roughness, and that’s all we think about. We need to be like the Greek woman who found a clever way around her obstacle. We have to try a new direction, a different tactic, or a deeper reason for getting our prayers answered. Jesus wanted to test her persistence, for her sake. He does the same with us.
The Book of Genesis (2:18-25) speaks of the permanence of the unitive bond of marriage. When we’re up against a wall in marriage and it seems like our unity is being dissolved, it’s God’s intention to keep the marriage together. If he joined the husband and wife together, then the two have indeed become one. No wall, no division in that relationship is stronger than God. But the husband and wife must both choose to “cling” to each other, especially when it feels like healing is impossible. They cling to each other as they wait at the wall for Jesus to lead them into a breakthrough.
The kingdom of God surpasses all human limitations. No prayer bounces off a brick wall forever. Find a new angle and keep hitting that wall with more prayers. And when you get tired, take a rest in the Father’s lap. You will reach the breakthrough you need. I guarantee it. I speak from experience. – Read the source: http://gnm.org/good-news-reflections/?useDrDate=2019-02-14
Please follow Romeo Hontiveros at Twitter click this link: https://twitter.com/Trumpeta
Reflection 7 – St. Giles Mary of St. Joseph (1729-1812 A.D.)
In the same year that a power-hungry Napoleon Bonaparte led his army into Russia, Giles Mary of St. Joseph ended a life of humble service to his Franciscan community and to the citizens of Naples.
Francesco was born in Taranto to very poor parents. His father’s death left the 18-year-old Francesco to care for the family. Having secured their future, he entered the Friars Minor at Galatone in 1754. For 53 years he served at St. Paschal’s Hospice in Naples in various roles, such as cook, porter or most often as official beggar for that community.
“Love God, love God” was his characteristic phrase as he gathered food for the friars and shared some of his bounty with the poor—all the while consoling the troubled and urging everyone to repent. The charity which he reflected on the streets of Naples was born in prayer and nurtured in the common life of the friars. The people whom Giles met on his begging rounds nicknamed him the “Consoler of Naples.” He was canonized in 1996.
Comment:
People often become arrogant and power hungry when they try to live a lie, for example, when they forget their own sinfulness and ignore the gifts God has given to other people. Giles had a healthy sense of his own sinfulness—not paralyzing but not superficial either. He invited men and women to recognize their own gifts and to live out their dignity as people made in God’s divine image. Knowing someone like Giles can help us on our own spiritual journey.
Quote:
In his homily at the canonization of Giles, Pope John Paul II said that the spiritual journey of Giles reflected “the humility of the Incarnation and the gratuitousness of the Eucharist” (L’Osservatore Romano 1996, volume 23, number 1).
Read the source: http://www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx?id=1290
SAINT OF THE DAY
Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives. Each saint the Church honors responded to God’s invitation to use his or her unique gifts. God calls each one of us to be a saint. Click here to receive Saint of the Day in your email.
| SAINT EGIDIO MARIA OF SAINT JOSEPH O.F.M. |
|
|---|---|
| BORN | 16 November 1729 Taranto, Apulia, Kingdom of Naples |
| DIED | 7 February 1812 (aged 82) Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies |
| VENERATED IN | Roman Catholic Church |
| BEATIFIED | 5 February 1888, Saint Peter’s Basilica, Kingdom of Italy by Pope Leo XIII |
| CANONIZED | 2 June 1996, Saint Peter’s Square, Vatican City by Pope John Paul II |
| FEAST | 7 February |
| ATTRIBUTES | Franciscan habit |
| PATRONAGE |
|
Saint Egidio Maria of Saint Joseph (16 November 1729 – 7 February 1812) – born Francesco Postillo – was an Italianprofessed religious from the Order of Friars Minor.[1] Postillo became a Franciscan brother rather than as an ordained priest due to his lack of a proper education and so dedicated himself to the care of the poor and ill in southern Italian cities such as Taranto and Naples where he earned the moniker of the “Consoler of Naples”.[2][3]
Pope Pius IX titled him as Venerable in 1868 and he was later beatified under Pope Leo XIII in 1888 before he was canonized under Pope John Paul II in 1996.[4] His liturgical feast is celebrated on an annual basis on the date of his death.
Life[edit]
Francesco Postillo was born in Taranto on 16 November 1729 to Cataldo Postillo and Grazia Procaccio; three siblings later followed him.[4] He was baptized as Francesco Domenico Antonio Pasquale Postillo.
His father died in 1747 and this forced Postillo to seek work to provide for his widowed mother and siblings. For a brief period of time he worked as a rope maker. The lack of a personal education meant that he was unable to become a priest and served instead as a professed religious in the Order of Friars Minor in Naples. He applied to enter the order on 27 February 1754 and made his solemn profession of vows on 28 February 1755 at the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Galatone.[2] He assumed the religious name of “Egidio of the Mother of God” but he later altered this instead to “Egidio Maria of Saint Joseph”.[4]Postillo served as a porter and gatekeeper to his convent and worked as a cook at the convent in Squinzanowhile also working with lepers; he often travelled outside the confines of his convent to beg for alms and to aid those who were shunned and isolated. Postillo spent almost a week at a convent in Capuso near Bari in 1759 when he was assigned to the convent of San Pasquale in Chiaia near Naples.[3]
Postillo died in Naples in 1812. His death came as a result of severe sciatica coupled with severe asthma and then dropsy. His remains are housed at San Pasquale convent’s adjacent church in Chiaia.
Sainthood[edit]
The process for sainthood commenced in Naples in an informative process that Cardinal Filippo Giudice Caracciolo opened and later closed in 1843. Pope Pius IX named him as Venerable on 24 February 1868 after confirming that Postillo had lived a model life of heroic virtue and Pope Leo XIII later beatified the late religious on 5 February 1888 after the confirmation of two miracles attributed to his intercession. On 29 June 1919 the Archbishop of Taranto Orazio Mazzella named him as the patron of Taranto.
The third miracle – and the one that led to Postillo’s canonization – was investigated and received validation from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on 2 October 1992 which led to a medical board approving it on 27 January 1994; theologians did likewise on 13 May 1994 as did the C.C.S. on 18 October 1994. Pope John Paul II approved the healing to be a miracle – the 1937 cure of Mrs. Angela Mignogna – on 15 December 1994 and canonized Postillo as a saint on 2 June 1996.
References[edit]
- Jump up^ List of canonisations by Pope John Paul II. Vatican Publishing House. Retrieved 28 February 2010.
- ^ Jump up to:a b “Saint Giles Mary-of-Saint-Joseph”. Saints SQPN. 18 April 2015. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
- ^ Jump up to:a b “CANONIZATIONS from 16 June 1993 to 11 Oct 1998”. EWTN. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
- ^ Jump up to:a b