Thursday February 10, 2022

 

 

Thursday of 5th Week in Ordinary Time

SCHOLASTICA, Virgin, Religious

           

Introduction

Not much is known about St Scholastica, the sister of the great St. Benedict, in whose shadow she lived. Dedicating her virginity to God, she first lived a life of prayer at home, then stayed near her brother at Subiaco, then Monte Cassino, until Benedict put her in charge of a community of women.

We know from history how Benedictine monasteries of men and women not only radiated peace, but were in many regions the civilizers and the main witnesses to Christ’s presence in the world.

 

Opening Prayer

God our Father,
we thank you for saints
like St. Scholastica;
they remind us that a life
of prayer and community
bears witness to your presence in this world.
Make us too see clearly
that it is ultimately you who count
and you who are the meaning of our lives
and that the bond that unites us
with people anywhere
is Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

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.”

 

Responsorial Psalm PS 106:3-4, 35-36, 37 and 40

(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.

 

Alleluia Jas 1:21bc

Alleluia, alleluia.
Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you
and is able to save your souls.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

 

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.

 

Intercessions:

–          That there may be room in the universal Church for the cultural riches of various peoples and for their manifesting the same faith in a variety of languages and forms of expression, we pray:

–          That we may open our homes and hearts to those who differ in many ways from us, that we may do all we can to integrate them into the human and Christian community, we pray:

–          That all of us may be concerned about those who are not here because they are estranged from the Church, we pray:

 

Prayer over the Gifts

God our Father,
by the signs of food and drink
your Son Jesus gives himself to us
and gathers us together as a community
of love and service.
Make the communities
of religious men and women
a sign for all to see
that you want us to be one
as the people you have liberated
and bound to you in a covenant
through the death and risen life
of Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Prayer after Communion

God our Father,
we give you thanks for this eucharist
and for all the good done
in the Church and for the world
by religious men and women.
Let them be living witnesses
that the gospel is worth living for.
Through the body and blood of your Son
strengthen them to be to everyone
worshippers in spirit and in truth
who, on account of you,
are concerned about people
with Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Blessing

May there be room in this house, that is, in our Christian communities, for all people, whatever their race or social class, their culture or education may be. May Almighty God bless you all, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

 

Commentary:

Humility Heals

Did Jesus really heal the woman’s daughter? If we go by Jesus’ own words – “Because of such a response, the demon has gone out of your daughter” – we realize that the healing simply happened at her very response. What was so powerful about her response that made the demon walk out? It expressed a faith built on deep humility, a virtue unbearable for demons as they are personifications of pride. St. Anthony Mary Claret, who made humility his foundational virtue, writes: “The virtue of humility consists in this: in realizing that I am nothing, can do nothing but sin, and depend on God in everything – being, conservation, movement, and grace. (Aut. 347).” With all his wisdom and experience in life, Solomon fell away from God due to his pride, whereas humility lifted up the woman and her daughter and drew God’s favor and healing instantaneously.

Reflection taken from Bible Diary 2022;

written by Fr.Paulson Velyannoor, CMF