“Being ready to overcome the contagion of ‘blaming’”

(Based on 1 Kgs 11:4-13 and Mk 7:24-30 – Thursday of the 5th Week in Ordinary Time)

Many of us have grown up with an extra kid in the house!
We didn’t know it…
… but he was there at certain times!

His name was “Not Me.”

He always appeared when something wrong or bad happened.

Like when your mom asked:

“Who has messed up the front room and made this floor dirty?” (This unseen kid would answer, “NOT ME!”)

“Who has applied mud on the walls of the house?” (This unseen kid would answer, “NOT ME!”)

“Who has kept the tap water on and caused the water-tank to be almost emptied?” (This unseen kid would answer, “NOT ME!”)

“Who has broken the glass windows of our neighbours?” (This unseen kid would answer, “NOT ME!”)

This “unseen kid” often continues to accompany us…
… and shouts loud, when things don’t go well in life!

Our problems, often, find a scapegoat in this excuse called: “blaming”
Our defeats, often, find a cause in this contagion named: “blaming”

But the Gospel of the day presents an amazing personality who silences this “unseen kid of blaming” and wins for herself the favour of the Lord.

The Gospel passage is the incident of Jesus’ encounter with a Gentile woman who comes seeking for a cure for her daughter, from a demon.
“…a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit, heard about Jesus. She came and fell at His feet” (Mk 7:25)

This person who came to Jesus went through a string of ignominies and exploitations…

1. She had to face humiliations because she was a woman…
   The Jewish society accorded a lowly and highly subjugated status to women
2. She had to face disgraces because she was a Greek…
   The Greeks, who were considered pagans by the Jews, were treated with inferiority.
3. She had to face dishonour because she was a Syrophoenician…
   A Syrophoenician denoted a mixed race – half Syrians and half Phoenician; thus denoting also a crisis in cultural and linguistic identity.
4. She had to face scandal because she had to approach Jesus who was a pure Jew…
   Greeks and especially Greek woman had no interaction at all with Jewish men
5. She had to face crisis because her child was possessed with an unclean spirit…
   A demon-possession in her beloved daughter would have chased away all her peace of mind.
6. She had to face challenge to her faith when the Lord addressed to her in an apparently disrespectful manner…
   Being called as a “dog” would have put off the mind of a weak and frail person

Well… this Syrophoenician Greek woman, had many things to complain in life…

She had a number of reasons to “blame” and get defeated in life…

She could have just “blamed” the society for their inhuman attitudes…
She could have just “blamed” the citizens for their class divisions…
She could have just “blamed” the civilization for their cruel outlooks…
She could have just “blamed” her stars and fate for what happened to her daughter…
She could have just “blamed” Jesus for His challenging and apparently resistant answer…

She could have just kept “blaming” anybody and anything….and get bogged down totally!

But this woman decides to silence this “unseen kid of blaming”

She decides to close her eyes to all humiliations and yet stand strong with a bold face!
She decides to overlook all setbacks and defy the odds with her deep convictions and trust!

As a result, the Lord rewards her immensely and her daughter was delivered of the demon!

Are we people who get easily afflicted by the contagion of “blaming?”
Are we people who are easily paralysed by the virus of “blaming?”

The Syrophoenician woman…
… by her tremendous faith and bold trust is a challenge to us.
… by her amazing determination and resolve is an inspiration for us.

Our society, our families, our own individual selves are often under the grip and possession of this contagion of “blaming”.

Let us approach the Lord for a deliverance…
Let us approach the Lord for a liberation…

God Bless! Live Jesus!

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📖 Discovering the beauty of the Catholic Church through the Catechism*
CHRIST’S RESURRECTION AND OURS – HOW DO THE DEAD RISE?

This “how” exceeds our imagination and understanding; it is accessible only to faith.
Yet our participation in the Eucharist already gives us a foretaste of Christ’s transfiguration of our bodies: Just as bread that comes from the earth, after God’s blessing has been invoked upon it, is no longer ordinary bread, but Eucharist, formed of two things, the one earthly and the other heavenly…
… so too our bodies, which partake of the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, but possess the hope of resurrection.
When? Definitively “at the last day,” “at the end of the world.”
Indeed, the resurrection of the dead is closely associated with Christ’s Parousia:
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God…

… and the dead in Christ will rise first (CCC # 997-998)