REFLECTIONS TODAY Jesus crosses over to the pagan territory of Tyre. He enters a house (most probably belonging to a pagan), and a pagan woman approaches him. If Jesus were one of the Pharisees, concerned about ritual purity, he would not give an ear to the Syrophoenician woman’s request to drive the demon out of her daughter. Jesus puts the woman to a test, giving her a rebuff. The Jews insist that they alone are the chosen people, God’s only children. For them, the pagans who worship idols are no better than dogs. The woman parlays Jesus’ provocation by claiming that the dogs eat the children’s crumbs. Since “beggars cannot be choosers,” she will   be content with the “scraps” that fall from the abundance of the children’s table. Jesus is moved by the woman’s humility. She waits for something that does not accrue her or her kind, but from Jesus’ kindness and mercy. She is granted what she asked for. At home, she finds her daughter lying in bed and the demon gone.

Gospel • 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. SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2021,” ST. PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; Fax 632-895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.