The following reflection is courtesy of Regnum Christi © 2019. Regnum Christi website is located at RegnumChristi.orgDuration: 4:13

Memorial of Saints Cyril, Monk, and Methodius, Bishop

Mark 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.

 

Introductory Prayer: Lord, I come before you today to learn the lessons of faith that you want to teach me. I want to learn to be patient when you test my faith. I know you want only to make it grow and bear more fruit in my life. In this prayer I desire to trust and love you as you deserve to be loved by me.

 

Petition: Lord, make my faith vibrant and persevering.

 

Seek Ye Higher Gifts: Our Lord is close to us in our sufferings. In this Gospel, a daughter suffered from a demonic possession, and her mother suffered with her. What most strikes us about this passage, however, is that Our Lord initially adds to the mother’s suffering by rebuking her. It seems so out of character, so foreign to the one who is “meek and humble of heart,” so unlike the gentle Jesus who is ever-sensitive to the needs of others. Yet Our Lord was about to confer upon her the greatest gift that could befall any human being: the gift of salvation represented by the healing of her daughter. Because the gift was so great, the vessel that was to contain it needed to be prepared.

 

Feelings, Nothing More Than Feelings: It is important to remember two principles about our feelings. First, we are not to treat them as if they were the infallible compass of our spiritual lives. Second, their lack of support does not mean that Our Lord is abandoning us. We can easily forget these two principles and blindly follow our feelings, persuasions and seductions. We can wrongly confuse feelings with faith. This believing woman beautifully shows the attitude we must maintain. Her example of humility in the face of Jesus’ seemingly hostile rebuke truly astounds us. No rebellion, no complaints, no resentments, no pity party. She remains determinedly fixed on Christ. She maintains a spirit of humility and faith in him who has the power to deliver her daughter from the devil. Am I capable of persisting in my prayer even when it seems Our Lord is turning a deaf ear?

 

A Cathedral of Faith for All to See: If only we could learn from her example! With such a firm foundation to build on, Jesus draws out of her an even greater faith — as large as a cathedral for the entire world to see. We need to ponder and contemplate the mysterious and wise ways of Our Lord when we suffer from his rebukes. We must hold fast to humility, mindful that we are creatures always loved by Christ, our Good Shepherd. He promised he would not leave us orphans. Why then such little faith?

 

Conversation with Christ: Lord, let me not confuse faith with feelings. Let me not confuse trust with mere sentiment.  Never let me reduce my relationship with you to feelings, no matter how pleasurable or worthy I think they may be at that moment. Help me to remain humble in my dispositions and firm in my convictions, seeking only to trust, love and please you.

 

Resolution: When I experience pleasant, worthy or helpful feelings, I will thank and praise God, and I will channel these feelings toward what is more relevant: living out the deeper virtue of faith.

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The following reflection is courtesy of Don Schwager © 2019. Don’s website is located at Dailyscripture.ServantsOfTheWord.org

Meditation: 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.”

The following reflection is from One Bread, One Body courtesy of Presentation Ministries © 2019.

 

THE REALITY OF EXTENSIVE DEMONIC ACTIVITY

  “When she got home, she found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.” —Mark 7:30  

Our secular humanistic society likes to pretend that there are no demons, or, if there are demons, that not many of them are active around us. However, Pope St. John Paul II has stated that we in the Western world live in a culture of death. This implies that Satan, the prince of death (Heb 2:14), probably has his hosts of demons very active in our society, cities, neighborhoods, churches, and families. In our times, it may be even more appropriate to say that “our battle is not against human forces but against the principalities and powers, the rulers of this world of darkness, the evil spirits in regions above” (Eph 6:12).

When we admit the degree of demonic activity around us, we are in touch with reality and thereby have the possibility of applying Jesus’ total victory over the devil to the reality of our daily lives. Jesus has already destroyed the devil’s works (1 Jn 3:8). He is enthroned at the right hand of God the Father and is waiting “until His enemies are placed beneath His feet” (Heb 10:13). We can bring down all the strongholds, sophistries, and proud pretensions of the evil one (2 Cor 10:4-5) simply by following the Lord’s instructions. When we have decided to obey the Lord completely, in every area of life (2 Cor 10:6), the Lord “will quickly crush Satan under [our] feet” (Rm 16:20).

Demons are all around us, but the Lord will put them under us when we accept Him over us.

  Prayer: Father, put me in touch with reality, especially the effects of Jesus’ Paschal mystery. Promise: “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body.” —Gn 2:24 Praise: St. Methodius continued the mission to the Moravian nation after his brother St. Cyril died.    
  Rescript: In accord with the Code of Canon Law, I hereby grant the Nihil Obstat (“Permission to Publish”) for One Bread, One Body covering the period from February 1, 2019 through March 31, 2019.
†Most Reverend Joseph R. Binzer, Auxiliary Bishop, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, October 24, 2018.  
The Nihil Obstat (“Permission to Publish”) is a declaration that a book or pamphlet is considered to be free of doctrinal or moral error. It is not implied that those who have granted the Nihil Obstat agree with the contents, opinions, or statements