February 12, 2026
Thursday of the Fifth Week in
Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 332
Reading
1
When Solomon was
old his wives had turned his heart to strange gods,
and his heart was not entirely with the LORD, his God,
as the heart of his father David had been.
By adoring Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians,
and Milcom, the idol of the Ammonites,
Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD;
he did not follow him unreservedly as his father David had done.
Solomon then built a high place to Chemosh, the idol of Moab,
and to Molech, the idol of the Ammonites,
on the hill opposite Jerusalem.
He did the same for all his foreign wives
who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
The LORD, therefore, became angry with Solomon,
because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel,
who had appeared to him twice
(for though the LORD had forbidden him
this very act of following strange gods,
Solomon had not obeyed him).
So the LORD said to Solomon: "Since this is what you want,
and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes
which I enjoined on you,
I will deprive you of the kingdom and give it to your servant.
I will not do this during your lifetime, however,
for the sake of your father David;
it is your son whom I will deprive.
Nor will I take away the whole kingdom.
I will leave your son one tribe for the sake of my servant David
and of Jerusalem, which I have chosen."
Responsorial
Psalm
Psalm 106:3-4, 35-36, 37 and
40
R. (4a) Remember
us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
Blessed are they who observe what is right,
who do always what is just.
Remember us, O LORD, as you favor your people;
visit us with your saving help.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
But they mingled with the nations
and learned their works.
They served their idols,
which became a snare for them.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
They sacrificed their sons
and their daughters to demons.
And the LORD grew angry with his people,
and abhorred his inheritance.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you
and is able to save your souls.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
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.
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021226.cfm
Commentary on 1
Kings 11:4-13
As his life progressed, Solomon moved steadily downhill. The
sacred writer implies that women were the cause of his downfall, and especially
foreign women. Apart from the daughter of Egypt’s Pharaoh, he took many foreign
women as his wives. Among these were many from ethnic groups with which the
Israelites were forbidden to marry. The reason for this prohibition was the
danger that one would be tempted to worship their gods—as is the case here.
Solomon fell in love with many such women, and towards the
end of his life, we are told he had 700 wives and 300 concubines (this is
presumably something of a literary exaggeration!). The problem was not so much
the number of women in his life—for even David had a number of wives. But these
women turned him away from Yahweh as his God. Unlike his father, David:
…his heart was not true to the Lord his God…
Among the gods Solomon began to worship under the influence
of his wives were Astarte (Asthtoreth), the goddess of the Sidonians, and
Milcom (Molech), the idol of the Ammonites. Worship of Molech not only severely
jeopardised the recognition of the absolute kingship of the Lord over his
people, but also involved (on rare occasions) the practice of child sacrifice.
To appease his wives, Solomon built shrines to Chemosh, the
god of the Moabites, and to Molech on a hill facing Jerusalem. And he did the
same for many of his wives, who openly worshipped their own gods.
Twice in the past God had appeared to Solomon: the first
time when he asked Solomon what special gift he wanted and Solomon, setting set
aside wealth and military power, had asked for wisdom. In the second vision,
just after Solomon had completed the Temple, Yahweh had promised many blessings
on Solomon. But now God is angry with him, especially because of his repeated
idolatry and his violation of the covenant. Solomon had broken the most basic
demands of the covenant and thereby severely undermined the entire covenant
relationship between God and his people.
In punishment, his kingdom would be given over to not a son,
but to one of his servants. However, for the sake of David, Solomon would
remain king until his death. Also, for David’s sake, Solomon’s son would be
left king of just one tribe. In this way, the promise of an everlasting dynasty
for David’s line would be at least partially observed.
As Jerusalem contained the Temple built by David’s son, the
destiny of Jerusalem and the Davidic dynasty were closely linked. The Temple
represented God’s royal palace, where his earthly throne (the Ark) was situated
and where he had pledged to be present as Israel’s Great King.
Solomon’s foreign marriages were primarily contracted for
political ends, and the pagan shrines were intended for his wives and for
traders. Such contacts, however, jeopardised the purity of the religion of
Yahweh, and the author interprets the situation in the spirit and language of
Deuteronomy. God punishes Solomon’s impiety by raising up enemies abroad (Hadad
the Edomite) and at home (Jeroboam will take over 10 tribes as king, leaving
only Judah to Solomon’s son). In the end, Solomon’s great wisdom could not
prevent his being ruled by his ‘heart’ and his political and economic
interests.
How often have we, too, been ruled by our emotions and other
considerations and been led into behaviour which we know is wrong? It is so
easy for us to rationalise, which means creating false reasons to justify what
we do. And yet, the only way to go for our own long-term good is the way of
truth, integrity and genuine love.
Again we pray for that wisdom which gives us an insight into
where truth and goodness are to be found. The road to that wisdom, of course,
is the Way of Jesus.
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Commentary on Mark
7:24-30
Having challenged some of the religious principles of the
Pharisees and scribes, Jesus now pointedly goes into gentile territory. The
next three stories take place in non-Jewish areas. Why did Jesus go to the city
of Tyre on the Mediterranean coast? It may have been to give him some breathing
space from the crowds which pressed in on him everywhere. Later, he will move
on to Sidon, and then eastwards by way of the Sea of Galilee to the area known
as Decapolis (Ten Towns). All of these places were dominated by Gentiles.
Because the people there recognised his healing powers, he ministered to them
also.
We are told that he entered a house in Tyre and did not want
to be recognised. Why was this? Because his mission was only to his own people?
Because people without faith only saw in Jesus a wonder worker? Nevertheless,
he was already too well known even here to escape notice. His fame had spread
even to these places.
It is then that a gentile woman came to him. She was a
Greek, but Syro-Phoenician by birth. She prostrated herself before Jesus and
begged him to exorcise the evil spirit in her daughter. Jesus’ answer seems
somewhat strange and out of character:
Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take
the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.
Jesus’ words suggest an image where the children of the
family are fed first, and then the leftovers are given to the dogs under the
table. In so speaking, Jesus indicates the prior claim of the Jews to his
ministry. In fact, we see this, too, in the missionary work of Paul. Whenever
he arrived in a town for the first time, he always went to the Jewish synagogue
first to preach the message of Christ, and only later to the Gentiles. Because
of the shared tradition of Jews and Christians, they were the obvious people to
hear the message first.
Jews (and also Muslims) avoided dogs as unclean animals.
They were unclean because they ate all kinds of things indiscriminately. The
name ‘dogs’ was sometimes applied by Jews to Gentiles, and for the same reason.
It is likely that the woman would be aware of this disparaging title.
It is also important to sense the tone in which Jesus spoke,
and this is indicated by the reply of the woman. It is done in a mood of
friendly banter. This is clear from the immediate response of the woman:
Sir [also translated ‘Lord’], even the dogs
under the table eat the children’s crumbs.
In other words, they do not wait until the children are
finished eating. They eat simultaneously, even though they only get scraps. Her
powerful faith is immediately rewarded and her daughter is healed.
This is a story anticipating the faith of future Gentiles
who will become Christians. Let us pray that such faith may be ours also. We
know that Jesus excludes absolutely no one from his mercy and healing power.
Both as individuals and communities, may we too be as inclusive as possible in
our relationships.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/o2055g/
Thursday,
February 12, 2026
Ordinary Time
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.
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. 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: 1423) 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).
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?
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)
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