In His infinite wisdom the Lord our God created woman from man to be a perfect helpmate. So that together they can journey on as perfect companions leading one another to greater Holiness and into Heaven. In perfect union they shall procreate to bring forth life and thus a family is born. Therefore we must always protect and defend the sanctity of marriage and the dignity of family life which must always be in full communion with the Lord our God.
And so whether one is born into a Christian family or not it makes no difference, we must all strive to protect and defend the sanctity of marriage and family life! For we are all God our Heavenly Father children. And so Jesus is for everyone! In His great mercy and love, He will heal the unbeliever just as readily as He would the believer when each one humble themselves and allow themselves to receive His mercy, grace and love. As Christians we are called to love and lead those who do not yet know Him by our love. So that they too can experience His peace, love and joy which only He can provide.
Open my eyes to see those in need of Your love Lord, and instil me the courage to reach out to them in Your most Holy name. Amen
First reading
Genesis 2:18-25 ·
Man and wife become one body
The Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helpmate.’ So from the soil the Lord God fashioned all the wild beasts and all the birds of heaven. These he brought to the man to see what he would call them; each one was to bear the name the man would give it. The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of heaven and all the wild beasts. But no helpmate suitable for man was found for him. So the Lord God made the man fall into a deep sleep. And while he slept, he took one of his ribs and enclosed it in flesh. The Lord God built the rib he had taken from the man into a woman, and brought her to the man. The man exclaimed:
‘This at last is bone from my bones,
and flesh from my flesh!
This is to be called woman,
for this was taken from man.’
This is why a man leaves his father and mother and joins himself to his wife, and they become one body.
Now both of them were naked, the man and his wife, but they felt no shame in front of each other.
Gospel
Mark 7:24-30
The astuteness of the Syro-Phoenician woman
Jesus left Gennesaret and set out for the territory of Tyre. There he went into a house and did not want anyone to know he was there, but he could not pass unrecognised. A woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him straightaway and came and fell at his feet. Now the woman was a pagan, by birth a Syrophoenician, and she begged him to cast the devil out of her daughter. And he said to her, ‘The children should be fed first, because it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house-dogs.’ But she spoke up: ‘Ah yes, sir,’ she replied ‘but the house-dogs under the table can eat the children’s scraps.’ And he said to her, ‘For saying this, you may go home happy: the devil has gone out of your daughter.’ So she went off to her home and found the child lying on the bed and the devil gone.
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