If we would talk less and pray more about them, things would be better than they are in the world: at least, we should be better enabled to bear them. - John Owen
(Pray the grace to patiently and peacefully bear the issues that concern you at this time in life.)
|
Genesis 2:18-25; Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5 Mark 7:24-30
Jesus left Gennesaret and set out for the territory of Tyre. There he went into a house and did not want anyone to know he was there, but he could not pass unrecognised.
A woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him straightaway and came and fell at his feet. Now the woman was a pagan, by birth a Syrophoenician, and she begged him to cast the devil out of her daughter. And he said to her, ‘The children should be fed first, because it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house-dogs.’ But she spoke up: ‘Ah yes, sir,’ she replied ‘but the house-dogs under the table can eat the children’s scraps.’ And he said to her, ‘For
saying this, you may go home happy: the devil has gone out of your daughter.’ So she went off to her home and found the child lying on the bed and the devil gone.
Reflection on the Scriptures
In my reading and re-reading of today’s reading from the Gospel of Mark, I found myself drawn to the model of faith demonstrated by the Greek mother. I thought of how I might have acted if I had been in her
place in similar or even less dire circumstances. I likely would not have conducted myself nearly as well. We can learn a great deal from this woman. For one thing, when the woman brought her request to Jesus, she did so humbly. She fell at his feet. She begged. She ignored an insult – being equated with dogs – and kept
focus on Jesus as the source of healing. Too often our prayers of supplication are not presented with humility. In fact, they can be presented as a sort of to-do list, much as a boss directing an assistant to take care of a task. We ask, or tell, but not in a manner that recognizes our God’s Lordship. I am reminded of the Chaplain from Allen Drury’s Advise and Consent: “’The Lord will do it for you!’ [he] often promised, in a tone which indicated that he was
both in a position to know and in a position to chastise the Lord if He didn’t follow through.” This woman trusted that whatever Jesus did or gave – even little crumbs – would be sufficient. When Jesus said her daughter was healed, she took Him at His word and headed home. No demanding that Jesus come with her. No complaining that
nothing spectacular had been done. Do we react like Naaman (in 2 Kings 5), who was angry that the prophet Elisha did not come in person to give a grandiose performance? Are we satisfied, as Saint Ignatius prayed, that God’s love and grace is all we need? - by David Crawford
The Bodily Resurrection of Jesus, by James Arraj
https://innerexplorations.com/catchtheomor/resurrecion.htm Inner Growth Publications, 2007.
Chapter 4: The Resurrection of Jesus Encountering the Risen Jesus Let’s try to examine the same basic issue from another perspective. The followers of Jesus believed that after his death they saw him. What does that mean? Must we understand this as some sort of subjective experience or vision
driven by guilt or grief or longing? There are no lack of critics of the resurrection who argue along these lines, and compare the resurrection appearances to encounters with spirits, or UFOs, or even Elvis or Big Foot.16 But it is one thing to throw out this kind of criticism, but quite another to demonstrate it. Let’s explore how some of these modern extraordinary experiences compare to the resurrection appearances that we have examined. Here is how one critic put it: “For instance, during the 1970s and ‘80s the media were full of reports about people who claimed to have been abducted by extraterrestrials. The experiences were very vivid and lifelike, leaving the “abductees” convinced
that something very real had happened to them. Nevertheless, all attempts to corroborate these stories with physical evidence or independent witnesses have failed. Further, such experiences have recognized explanations in terms of anomalistic psychology. Therefore, apologists must give solid evidence that the postmortem “appearances” of Jesus cannot be explained in similar
ways.”17
|
|
