Daily Scripture Reflection & Prayer: February 13, 2025

Date: Thursday of the 5th Week in Ordinary Time

Scripture Text: 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

Breaking the text open – background and summary:

The gospel reading for today recounts Jesus’ exorcism of a Syrophoenician woman’s daughter possessed by a demon. The encounter between Jesus and the woman points to the division between the Jewish and Gentile populations at the time. The woman’s display of faith earns her daughter’s freedom.

Meditating on the text with personal questions:

Do I take my needs to Christ with true faith and hope realizing the depth of Christ’s love?

Praying:

LORD, You know me better than I know myself. You created me and call me to yourself always and everywhere. Grant that I may bring to you all my needs, giving them to your without hesitation, knowing that You are with me, that You care about me, and that will never change. Help me to be the loving child of faith You created me to be, buoyed by hope this day and all days. Amen.