Memorial of Saints Cyril, Monk, and
Methodius, Bishop
Lectionary: 332
Lectionary: 332
The LORD God said:
“It is not good for the man to be alone.
I will make a suitable partner for him.”
So the LORD God formed out of the ground
various wild animals and various birds of the air,
and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them;
whatever the man called each of them would be its name.
The man gave names to all the cattle,
all the birds of the air, and all the wild animals;
but none proved to be the suitable partner for the man.
So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man,
and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs
and closed up its place with flesh.
The LORD God then built up into a woman
the rib that he had taken from the man.
When he brought her to the man, the man said:
“This one, at last, is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called ‘woman,’
for out of ‘her man’ this one has been taken.”
That is why a man leaves his father and mother
and clings to his wife,
and the two of them become one flesh.
The man and his wife were both naked, yet they felt no shame.
“It is not good for the man to be alone.
I will make a suitable partner for him.”
So the LORD God formed out of the ground
various wild animals and various birds of the air,
and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them;
whatever the man called each of them would be its name.
The man gave names to all the cattle,
all the birds of the air, and all the wild animals;
but none proved to be the suitable partner for the man.
So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man,
and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs
and closed up its place with flesh.
The LORD God then built up into a woman
the rib that he had taken from the man.
When he brought her to the man, the man said:
“This one, at last, is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called ‘woman,’
for out of ‘her man’ this one has been taken.”
That is why a man leaves his father and mother
and clings to his wife,
and the two of them become one flesh.
The man and his wife were both naked, yet they felt no shame.
Responsorial
PsalmPS 128:1-2, 3, 4-5
R. (see 1a) Blessed
are those who fear the Lord.
Blessed are you who fear the LORD,
who walk in his ways!
For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork;
blessed shall you be, and favored.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
in the recesses of your home;
Your children like olive plants
around your table.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Behold, thus is the man blessed
who fears the LORD.
The LORD bless you from Zion:
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Blessed are you who fear the LORD,
who walk in his ways!
For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork;
blessed shall you be, and favored.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
in the recesses of your home;
Your children like olive plants
around your table.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Behold, thus is the man blessed
who fears the LORD.
The LORD bless you from Zion:
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
AlleluiaJAS 1:21BC
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you
and is able to save your souls.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you
and is able to save your souls.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelMK 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.
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.
For the readings of the Memorial of Saints Cyril and Methodius, please
go here.
Meditation:
"The demon has left your daughter"
Do
you ever feel "put-off" by the Lord? This passage describes the only
occasion in which Jesus ministered outside of Jewish territory. (Tyre and Sidon
were fifty miles north of Israel and still exist today in modern Lebanon.) A
Gentile woman - an outsider who was not a member of the chosen people - puts
Jesus on the spot by pleading with him to show mercy to her daughter who was
tormented with an evil spirit. At first Jesus seemed to pay no attention to
her, and this made his disciples feel embarrassed. Jesus very likely did this
not to put the woman off, but rather to test her sincerity and to awaken faith
in her.
The
Lord shows mercy to those who seek him
What did Jesus mean by the expression "throwing bread to the dogs"? The Jews often spoke of the Gentiles with arrogance and insolence as "unclean dogs" since the Gentiles were excluded from God's covenant and favor with Israel. For the Greeks the "dog" was a symbol of dishonor and was used to describe a shameless and audacious woman. Matthew's Gospel records the expression do not give dogs what is holy (Matthew 7:6). Jesus, no doubt, spoke with a smile rather than with an insult because this woman immediately responds with wit and faith - "even the dogs eat the crumbs".
What did Jesus mean by the expression "throwing bread to the dogs"? The Jews often spoke of the Gentiles with arrogance and insolence as "unclean dogs" since the Gentiles were excluded from God's covenant and favor with Israel. For the Greeks the "dog" was a symbol of dishonor and was used to describe a shameless and audacious woman. Matthew's Gospel records the expression do not give dogs what is holy (Matthew 7:6). Jesus, no doubt, spoke with a smile rather than with an insult because this woman immediately responds with wit and faith - "even the dogs eat the crumbs".
Love
conquers with persistent trust and faith
Jesus praises a Gentile woman for her persistent faith and for her affectionate love. She made the misery of her child her own and she was willing to suffer rebuff in order to obtain healing for her loved one. She also had indomitable persistence. Her faith grew in contact with the person of Jesus. She began with a request and she ended on her knees in worshipful prayer to the living God. No one who ever sought Jesus with faith - whether Jew or Gentile - was refused his help. Do you seek Jesus with expectant faith?
Jesus praises a Gentile woman for her persistent faith and for her affectionate love. She made the misery of her child her own and she was willing to suffer rebuff in order to obtain healing for her loved one. She also had indomitable persistence. Her faith grew in contact with the person of Jesus. She began with a request and she ended on her knees in worshipful prayer to the living God. No one who ever sought Jesus with faith - whether Jew or Gentile - was refused his help. Do you seek Jesus with expectant faith?
"Lord
Jesus, your love and mercy knows no bounds. May I trust you always and never
doubt your loving care and mercy. Increase my faith in your saving help and
deliver me from all evil and harm."
Daily
Quote from the early church fathers: Great was the power of her faith, and
for our learning, by John Chrysostom (347-407 AD)
"See her humility as well as her faith! For he had called the Jews
'children,' but she was not satisfied with this. She even called them
'masters,' so far was she from grieving at the praises of others. She said,
'Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’
table.' Behold the woman's wisdom! She did not venture so much as to say a word
against anyone else. She was not stung to see others praised, nor was she
indignant to be reproached. Behold her constancy. When he answered, 'It is not
fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs,' she said, 'Yes, Lord.'
He called them 'children'” but she called them 'masters.' He used the name of a
dog, but she described the action of the dog. Do you see this woman's humility?
Then compare her humility with the proud language of the Jews: 'We are
Abraham's seed and were never in bondage to any man'(John 8:33). 'We are born
of God' (John 8:41). But not so this woman. Rather, she calls herself a dog and
them masters. So for this reason she became a child. For what does Christ then
say? 'O woman, great is your faith.'
"So we might surmise that this is the reason he put her off, in order that he might proclaim aloud this saying and that he might crown the woman: 'Be it done for you as you desire.' This means 'Your faith, indeed, is able to effect even greater things than these. Nevertheless be it unto you even as you wish.' This voice was at one with the voice that said, 'Let the heaven be,' and it was (Genesis 1:1). 'And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.' Do you see how this woman, too, contributed not a little to the healing of her daughter? For note that Christ did not say, 'Let your little daughter be made whole,' but 'Great is your faith, be it done for you as you desire.' These words were not uttered at random, nor were they flattering words, but great was the power of her faith, and for our learning.
He left the certain test and demonstration, however, to the issue of events. Her daughter accordingly was immediately healed." (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW, Homily 52.3)
"So we might surmise that this is the reason he put her off, in order that he might proclaim aloud this saying and that he might crown the woman: 'Be it done for you as you desire.' This means 'Your faith, indeed, is able to effect even greater things than these. Nevertheless be it unto you even as you wish.' This voice was at one with the voice that said, 'Let the heaven be,' and it was (Genesis 1:1). 'And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.' Do you see how this woman, too, contributed not a little to the healing of her daughter? For note that Christ did not say, 'Let your little daughter be made whole,' but 'Great is your faith, be it done for you as you desire.' These words were not uttered at random, nor were they flattering words, but great was the power of her faith, and for our learning.
He left the certain test and demonstration, however, to the issue of events. Her daughter accordingly was immediately healed." (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW, Homily 52.3)
Thursday 14 February 2019
Ss Cyril and Methodius.
Genesis 2:18-25. Psalm 127(128):1-5. Mark 7:24-30.
Happy are those who fear the Lord – Psalm 127(128):1-5.
‘Even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’
A gentile woman comes begging for Jesus to help her daughter.
Jesus tests her: ‘It isn’t right to take the children’s food and throw it to
the dogs.’ Undaunted, the woman names Jesus as Lord, answering that even the
dogs get to eat the children’s leftovers. Demonstrating great faith in Jesus’
power to heal, she compels him to act for the good of her daughter. Jesus is
taken aback by her faith, and asks her to return home, where she will find her
daughter well again.
This is a story of restoration at a time of great upheaval for
this mother and daughter. Jesus enters their lives as a blessing on the entire
family.
Saints Cyril and Methodius
Saint of the Day for February 14
(Cyril: c. 827 – February 14, 869; Methodius: c. 815 – April 6,
884)
 |
| Saints Cyril and Methodius monument in the city of Vratsa, Bulgaria | photo by MrPanyGoff |
Saints Cyril and Methodius’ Story
Because their father was an officer in a part of Greece
inhabited by many Slavs, these two Greek brothers ultimately became
missionaries, teachers, and patrons of the Slavic peoples.
After a brilliant course of studies, Cyril (called Constantine
until he became a monk shortly before his death) refused the governorship of a
district such as his brother had accepted among the Slavic-speaking population.
Cyril withdrew to a monastery where his brother Methodius had become a monk
after some years in a governmental post.
A decisive change in their lives occurred when the Duke of
Moravia asked the Eastern Emperor Michael for political independence from
German rule and ecclesiastical autonomy (having their own clergy and liturgy).
Cyril and Methodius undertook the missionary task.
Cyril’s first work was to invent an alphabet, still used in some
Eastern liturgies. His followers probably formed the Cyrillic alphabet.
Together they translated the Gospels, the psalter, Paul’s letters and the
liturgical books into Slavonic, and composed a Slavonic liturgy, highly
irregular then.
That and their free use of the vernacular in preaching led to
opposition from the German clergy. The bishop refused to consecrate Slavic
bishops and priests, and Cyril was forced to appeal to Rome. On the visit to
Rome, he and Methodius had the joy of seeing their new liturgy approved by Pope
Adrian II. Cyril, long an invalid, died in Rome 50 days after taking the
monastic habit.
Methodius continued mission work for 16 more years. He was papal
legate for all the Slavic peoples, consecrated a bishop and then given an
ancient see (now in the Czech Republic). When much of their former territory
was removed from their jurisdiction, the Bavarian bishops retaliated with a
violent storm of accusation against Methodius. As a result, Emperor Louis the
German exiled Methodius for three years. Pope John VIII secured his release.
Because the Frankish clergy, still smarting, continued their accusations,
Methodius had to go to Rome to defend himself against charges of heresy and
uphold his use of the Slavonic liturgy. He was again vindicated.
Legend has it that in a feverish period of activity, Methodius
translated the whole Bible into Slavonic in eight months. He died on Tuesday of
Holy Week, surrounded by his disciples, in his cathedral church.
Opposition continued after his death, and the work of the
brothers in Moravia was brought to an end and their disciples scattered. But
the expulsions had the beneficial effect of spreading the spiritual,
liturgical, and cultural work of the brothers to Bulgaria, Bohemia and southern
Poland. Patrons of Moravia, and specially venerated by Catholic Czechs,
Slovaks, Croatians, Orthodox Serbians and Bulgarians, Cyril and Methodius are
eminently fitted to guard the long-desired unity of East and West. In 1980,
Pope John Paul II named them additional co-patrons of Europe (with Benedict).
Reflection
Holiness means reacting to human life with God’s love: human
life as it is, crisscrossed with the political and the cultural, the beautiful
and the ugly, the selfish and the saintly. For Cyril and Methodius much of
their daily cross had to do with the language of the liturgy. They are not
saints because they got the liturgy into Slavonic, but because they did so with
the courage and humility of Christ.
Saints Cyril and Methodius are the Patron Saints of:
Slavic Peoples
Ecumenism
Ecumenism
LECTIO DIVINA: MARK 7:24-30
Lectio Divina:
Thursday, February 14, 2019
1) OPENING PRAYER
Father,
watch over Your family
and keep us safe in Your care,
for all our hope is in You.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
One God, forever and ever. Amen.
2) GOSPEL READING - 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.
3) REFLECTION
In today’s Gospel we see how Jesus is attentive to a foreign
woman, belonging to another race and to another religion, even though this was
forbidden by the religious law of that time. At the beginning Jesus did not
want to help her, but the woman insists and obtains what she wants: the cure of
her daughter.
Jesus is trying to broaden the mentality of the disciples and of
the people beyond the traditional vision. In the multiplication of the loaves,
He had insisted on sharing (Mk 6: 30-44). He had declared all food pure (Mk 7:
1-23). In this episode of the Canaanite woman, He exceeds, goes beyond the
frontiers of the national territory and accepts a foreign woman who did not
belong to the people and with whom it was forbidden to speak. These initiatives
of Jesus, which come from His experience of God the Father, were foreign to the
mentality of the people of that time; Jesus helps the people to get out of
their way of experiencing God in life.
Mark 7: 24: Jesus gets out of that territory. In the Gospel
yesterday (Mk 7: 14-23) and of the day before (Mk 7: 1-13), Jesus had
criticized the incoherence of the tradition of the ancients and had helped the
people and the disciples to get out of the prison of the laws of purity. Here,
in Mark 7: 24, He leaves Galilee. He seems to want to get out from the prison
of territory and race. Finding Himself outside, He does not want to be recognized.
But His fame had reached there before. People had recourse to Jesus.
Mark 7: 25-26: The situation. A woman approaches Jesus and
begins to ask for help for her daughter who is sick. Mark says explicitly that
she belongs to another race and to another religion. That means that she was a
gentile. She throws herself at the feet of Jesus and begins to plead for the
cure of her daughter, who was possessed by an unclean spirit. For the gentiles
it was not a problem to go to Jesus. But for the Jews to live with gentiles was
a problem!
Mark 7: 27: The response of Jesus. Faithful to the norms of His
religion, Jesus says that it is not appropriate to take the bread of the
children and give it to little dogs! This was a hard phrase. The comparison
came from life in the family. Even now, children and dogs are numerous,
especially in poor neighborhoods. Jesus affirms one thing: no mother takes away
bread from the mouth of her children to give it to the dogs. In this case the
children were the Hebrew people and the little dogs, the gentiles. At the time
of the Old Testament, because of rivalry among the people, the people used to
call other people dogs (1 Sam 17: 43). In the other Gospels, Jesus explains the
reason for His refusal: “I have been sent only for the lost sheep of the house
of Israel!” (Mt 15:24). In other words, the Father does not want Me to take
care of this woman!
Mark 7: 28: The reaction of the woman. She agrees with Jesus,
but she extends the comparison and applies it to her case: Jesus, this is
true, but the little dogs also eat the crumbs that fall from the table of the
children! It is as if she said, “If I am a little dog, then I have the right of
little dogs, that is, the crumbs that fall from the table belong to me!” She
simply draws conclusions from the parable that Jesus told and shows that even
in the house of Jesus, the little dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the table
of the children. And in the house of Jesus , that is, in the Christian
community, the multiplication of the bread for the children was so abundant
that there were twelve baskets full left over (Mk 6: 42) for the little dogs ,
that is, for her, for the gentiles!
Mark 7: 29-30: The reaction of Jesus: “Because of what you have
said, go. The devil has gone out of your daughter!” In the other Gospels it is
made more explicit: “Great is your faith! May it be done as you wish!” (Mt 15:
28). If Jesus accepts the woman’s request, it is because He understands that
now the Father wanted Him to accept her request. This episode helps us to
understand something of the mystery which envelops the person of Jesus and His
life with the Father. Observing the reactions and the attitudes of the people,
Jesus discovers the will of the Father in the events of life. The attitude of
the woman opens a new horizon in the life of Jesus. Thanks to her, He discovers
better the project of the Father for all those who seek to liberate themselves
from the chains which imprison their energy. Thus, throughout the pages of the
Gospel of Mark, there is a growing opening toward the people. In this way, Mark
leads the readers to open themselves before the reality of the world which
surrounds them and to overcome the preconceptions which prevent a peaceful
living together among the people. This opening toward gentiles appears very
clearly in the final order given by Jesus to the disciples, after His
Resurrection: “Go out to the whole world, proclaim the Gospel to all creation”
(Mk 16: 15).
4) PERSONAL QUESTIONS
Concretely, what do you do to live peacefully with people of
other Christian Churches?
In the neighborhood where you live, are there people of other
religions? Which?
Do you normally speak with people of other religions?
What kind of broadening of mind does this text demand from us
today, in the family and in the community?
5) CONCLUDING PRAYER
Blessed are those who keep to what is just,
whose conduct is always upright!
Remember me, Yahweh, in Your love for Your people.
Come near to me with Your saving power. (Ps 106:3-4)
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét