Thursday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
“She begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter”
“For saying this, you may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter.”
This episode in Jesus’ encounter with the demonic can teach us something valuable for our lives. One of the things which Satan does not, cannot, understand is humility. It is why Mary is so powerful against the wiles of Satan – because she is most humble.
In our story today, the Syrophoenician woman is humble. She does not allow herself to be put off by our Lord’s remark, with its seemingly implied superiority about the Jews at table being superior to the Gentile “dogs.” She persists. This is a humble stance. I think we can see it as instrumental in the miracle Jesus then performs in driving the demon out of her daughter.
It’s a good reminder for us not to be put off in our efforts to combat the evil we experience in our lives.
Wise souls, who have learned to fear only one, to love only one, and to hope in only one, when their desires have been regulated and their bodily senses crucified, are not moved to any fear of or awe before the enemy. – St. Leo the Great
Reflection by Fr. Xavier Nacke, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections