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.” (Mk 7:24-30)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/020824.cfm
Some folks are shocked by the Lord’s statement about not throwing the food of the children to the dogs. I’m more shocked by the Gentile woman’s response: “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.” I think the Lord was shocked too . . . and because of the faith of the mother, the girl was healed. The beautiful Prayer of Humble Access contains the phrase: “We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table.”
These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
Thursday, Week V, Ordinary Time
