10 minutes wih Jesus are group of Catholic priests who share friendship with Jesus, plus keenness to help young people of all ages to learn the art of loving Jesus and speaking to Him. You can find them in WhatsApp, Spotify, Ivoox, Telegram, Goggle Podcasts and Apple Podcast. Every saturday, we are going to share one meditation by 10 minutes with Jesus. Enjoy it.
My Lord and my god. I firmly believe that you are here but you see me that you hear me. I adore you with refined reverence. I ask your pardon for my sins and grace to make this time of Prayer fruitful. My Mother immaculate, Saint Joseph, my father and Lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.
Do we have to be nice, really?
Jesus do we really have to be nice to people and we don’t like? I mean, you know how difficult it is for us, weak as we are, to smile whenever we’d rather fly, or to say a kind word when we would rather mother something nasty under our breath. So really for that one person who we just struggled to get on with or that whole group of people who just make no sense to me at all do. I really have to be nice to them. Well the obvious answer is yes because you said to us that we have to love the even our enemies, because even those who don’t even practice the law or don’t even strive to be holy or to achieve any virtue at all, can be nice to people whom they like. And that’s very easy to be nice to people and we like. We see things that we want to buy for our friends or we look forward to spending time with them just send a text message or just say a prayer for someone. And we really like but if we were to think about how often we think about people and we don’t like and thinking of them in a positive way. Then we probably are left a little bit wanting Lord.Jesus in the gospel we are met with a difficult situation and one that is hard for us to understand because it seems whenever we read the gospel for the first time, that you’re not as nice to a woman as you could be. And so we know that can’t be the case. So help us Lord in this time of prayer to meditate on the gospel when you met this syrophoenician woman and to understand what it is you want to say to us.
Read the gospel slowly
You want to read this gospel slowly, because we want to squeeze all the fruit out of it. And to hear Lord what it is, you have to say to me today. Mark tells us that you were walking around the territory of Tyre which is just beside Galilee where you grew up where you spend most of your time preaching. We know it was a different territory we know it wasn’t part of the routine or the daily scene of most people in Galilee. It was something completely foreign. So the fact that you’re there and gives us some indication that something out of the ordinary is going to happen. And so Mark, tells us that a woman who’s little daughter had an unclean spirit heard about you and came straight up to her feet and begged you know. We can only imagine how that woman felt that day. I mean if your child is sick you’ll do anything to help them. If the problem is medical, then you’ll take them to your doctor.If a child is struggling at school and you go and speak to the teacher. But what do you do when your child is suffering from an unclean spirit. When something evil has taken root for whatever reason. It´s very little that you feel you can do, because there are not easy solutions to those difficulties. Somehow I thought this woman heard about you and maybe had heard about the other people who were exactly in her situation that you had helped in spite the fact that she’s very obviously not a Jew.
Women and dogs
She sees in you the one who can answer her problem. The one who can heal her daughter. And it looks very beautiful Lord when we read this. That she comes to fold your feet in the
same way that we might come and fold your feet whenever we’re asking something. That we really need to and she begs you, begs you, that you would heal her daughter that you would cast the devil light. But your response is a bit shocking. You say the children should be fed first. Because it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house dogs. I can it be that you’re really referring to this woman as a dog. We know that Jews did not like dogs in fact there is a saying in Yiddish. A Jew with a dog either he’s not a Jew or it’s not a dog. The two just do not go together. Because dogs were seen as unclean animals. Even to this day. I’m so referring to this woman who is not a Jew. Who’s different who’s from this other pagan territory As a dog that’s something that we’re struggling to understand. Because if we’re supposed to be nice to people who are different to us ,how can it be. You’re making this comparison well this womans she doesn’t take that lying down because she responds “yes, sir but the house dogs under the table can eat the children’s scraps”. Now if we peel
back a layer of this gospel a minute just to try and understand what’s happening. We know that between the region of Tyre, where you were walking around, and when you met this woman and the region of Galilee, where you grew up, did not get on at all. Why? Because a lot of the food that was produced in Galilee ended up in pagan tyre. Because most of the cities in that area were to be fined. In a pagan zone and so it makes sense if you’re producing food and you want to sell it at market and get a good price for it. You go to where the city is and so it happened that a lot of the food that was produced ended up in another place. And the poor went hungry as a result poor. Jews were starving and rich pagans were eating your food. So what didn’t make a lot of sense to a lot of people And so if you were reading this Gospel, as a Jew from Galilee, or even just reading this hearing, or even just hearing Jesus speak you think that’s right, give her nothing. They always get the food so why should we give what’s ours to them. But this woman has incredible faith. She’s obviously not connected to this whole problem between Jews and Gentiles, between Tyre and Galilee, between the hungry and the poor. She’s just a woman whose daughter is desperately in need of healing. Because she is suffering from a devil. And when she says that the house dogs eat the children scraps, she means to say that perhaps I’m not a Jew: Perhaps I’m not one of you but I know that if you. But I know if you show me some kindness that you can do what I need you to do. And Jesus your response to this woman’s incredible act of faith who believes that you can heal her daughter, well that kind of helps us to understand what’s going on here. Because you say for saying this you may go home happy, the devil has gone out of your daughter. Now Mark tells us that she went home to her house and find her child lying on the bed and the devil gone this woman had faith that you, could heal her daughter. So why It is that it seems that you’re not nice to this woman. In one point well three out of four attempts that you make Lord to hide yourself in Gentile territory are unsuccessful. When you want to pass through and not be noticed, it doesn’t work: More often than not somebody comes seeking your help and recognizes that you are able to do it.
Glory can not be hidden
It means to say that your glory cannot be hidden from them. Even those people are not Jews. They see something in you Lord which seems to read it. And they understand that you can help them even if they’re not entirely sure of hi or why or any of the history which
backs up our faith. They see in you the one who is the Savior and I think Lord that this confrontation that you seem to have with this woman is to draw this factoid. Because you know the hearts of all people in fact. You knew that this woman had faith even before she makes this response. So maybe what you say to her about being a dog isn’t so much for her. But it’s for us to see that maybe that person whom we see as being a dog, maybe that person we see as being different to us. And we don’t like a person is loved by God. And maybe that person is seeking God right at this moment. I’m needing some help and so maybe this is a message for all of the church. Lord to see that that your glory cannot be just contained by those who go to Mass or those who worship you, or those who are trying to seek you every single day, but you belong to all people. Because you are see if your of all. Aand we don’t want to have that attitude that that’s right give that woman nothing. Because she doesn’t deserve it because you want us to see the opposite you have come to see if all. And those who have faith, and those who acknowledge you to be Lord.
It´s the end
Well, they receive the grace that they need Lord. Help us to be nice to other people and more than just nice. Help us to see as you see. Help us to be available to those who need us. Help us Lord to be that person who can maybe bring other people closer to you.
I give you thanks my God for the good resolutions affections and inspirations that you’ve communicated to me during this meditation: I ask your help to put them into effect. My Mother immaculate, Saint Joseph, my father and Lord, my guardian angel, intercede for me.
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