Daily Reflection for Thursday February 11, 2021
Peace and Blessings, Friends and Parishioners,
We encourage you to reflect on Thursday’s readings at this link:
Thursday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB
If you prefer to use your own Bible, the readings are:
First Reading: Genesis 2:18-25
Responsorial : Psalm 128:1-5
Gospel: Mark 7:24-30
Our reflection on Thursday’s readings:
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.”
Mk 7:28-29
Like many perhaps, I have begun to yearn lately for a vacation, a respite from the daily routine. It isn’t so important to me that a unique destination be chosen as much as what taking time away represents for review and renewal.
Jesus was seeking the same when he encountered the Syrophoenician woman during his attempted escape to the district of Tyre. One can easily imagine his desire as well as that of his entourage to unplug from the constant attention and public demands. One can just as easily imagine a mother’s desire and desperation in seeking help for her daughter from anywhere she could find it.
As a foreign, non-Jew female she had nothing in common with Jesus and had every reason to have been successfully run off (as was attempted.) Her faith deserves attention, but it is her persistence that also pays dividends. Each of the traits compliments the other as if to form a feedback loop of healing.
In the face of a different answer than we seek, or in the face of no perceived answer at all, persistence is very hard to maintain. Not unlike the tendency toward our apathetic “whatever” culture, I’ve found the trait of persistence in always seeking and relying on God for the guidance of my actions to be so easily replaced by the spectrum of sloth with idleness on one end and laziness or paralysis on the other.
Persistence, however, is always rewarded. It’s true that the reward may not always take the preferred or expected form. But in the reality of our Father’s unwavering invitation for relationship with us, there is no way faith and persistence would go unanswered.
In what areas of our lives do we need to infuse more energy, desperation, and persistence into His ever-available healing feedback loop?
Rafael Rosario