5th Week in Ordinary Time (C) : Thursday 13th February 2025

It is a beautiful affirmation to hear that all was given to Adam the man by God to make him happy. But not enough to make Adam exclaim “Yes! This is the perfect gift!” The naming of every animal known to Adam the man somehow failed to suit the partner that was desirable to him. ‘So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.’(v21-22) Somehow, everything was equally regarded by Adam, until his very own make up appeared as a woman to fulfill him. They were unashamed of how they were made, and thus capable of accepting one another.

In the Gospel, though Jesus quietly entered a town, He encountered a request by the Syrophonecian woman who was unashamed to plead with Jesus to cast the demon out of her daughter. She begged only a fitting treatment to her pleading. She represented numerous unwelcomed figures who were also searching for the Lord of goodness. Her request to Jesus was unwavering, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” And then Jesus said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” Her hope for her child and faith in Jesus become, for us, a concrete effort to seek Jesus. Nothing sincere and life-giving is shameful before the Lord.

Dear Lord, grant me sincerity to give due affirmation to the unwavering hope in others today.