Homily for Thursday 14th February 2019
_“’This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man.’ Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh.” *(Genesis 2:23-24)*_
Happy Valentine. Today is a day to celebrate the gift of love; the love that God showed us in creating us, the love that Jesus exhibited when he laid down his life for our sake, the love we enjoy from others and the love we share with special persons in our lives. Our readings coincidentally have something to say about love.
Our first reading today gives a second account of creation narrating how the woman was made from the ribs of man. After creating man, God saw that he was alone and for God, being alone is not a good thing at all. God who is Trinity, (Three persons in one God), knows the importance of companionship and since man was made in His own image and likeness, God knew the man needed a companion.
The attempt to find a suitable companion for man give rise to the creation of all the things we see in the world yet none was good enough to fill the void in man until God took out a rib from him to create Eve. This simply teaches us that love is the most important thing as far as being human is concerned. All the riches of the world, all the animals and trees are nothing compared to loving a person and being loved in return.
This is what we celebrate at Valentine; love in its purest forms, the love that made Adam confess as soon as he saw Eve: “this, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” Too often, we think that love only has to do with a man and a woman. In truth, there is a kind of love that is even more genuine but too often taken for granted; it is the love of a mother or a father for their child.
It is this love that motivated a woman to seek Jesus out for her daughter’s healing not minding the fact that she was Syrophoenician and Jesus was Jewish. Jesus told her that it is not right to take the children’s food and serve it to the dogs but she persisted in her appeal by saying even the dogs feed on crumbs. By saying this, Jesus was impressed with her faith and instantly granted her daughter healing.
We learn from this woman the importance of persistence in our prayers. We also learn humility and meekness from her. That she came to Jesus for her daughter’s sake also teaches us the power of submitting our children to God in prayer. No matter the level of stubbornness your children may display, there is nothing God cannot do as long as we continue to pray for them.
On a day like this, we should send gifts and flowers not only to our friends but most especially to our parents because like this woman, they suffer a lot for our sake. Sometimes, we never even get to know the number of sacrifices and pains our parents go through just to see that we are happy and well to do in life. Our parents deserve all the love they can get from us because theirs is a love that never ends.
Let us Pray: Lord Jesus, teach me to love as you love and to love you above all else by loving my neighbours as myself. Amen. St. Cyril and Methodius, Pray for us.
*Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Thursday of the 5th Week in Ordinary Time. Bible Study: Genesis 2:18-25, Psalm 128, and Mark 7:24-30).*
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