Memorial of Saint Scholastica, virgin
(I Kings
11:4-13; Mark 7:24-30)
Solomon
started his rule pleasing the Lord. He
asked for wisdom, not riches, and God gave him both. At the end of his reign, however, his heart
turns to pleasing his wives. He abandons
God for foreign idols. Today’s gospel tells of a woman who moves in the
opposite direction.
The passage
says the Syrophoenician woman is Greek.
It means that she is a pagan. Yet
hearing of the holy one, Jesus, she turns to him in her need. She humbles herself beseeching Jesus to help
her possessed daughter. To show that God’s mercy extends to the whole world, he
grants her request. Without so much as
seeing the woman’s daughter, he relieves her of the demon.
When we
turn our hearts to God, we will not be disappointed. The effort requires humility and
persistence. God will reward us in ways
we do not expect. When we set our hearts
on pleasure, we are bound to become dissatisfied. Pleasures come and go quickly. Pursued relentlessly, they will draw us away from
happiness.
