My reflections for Feb. 09, 2006 - Thursday

February 9, 2006

Reading I
1 Kings 11:4-13

When Solomon was old his wives had turned his heart to strange gods,
and his heart was not entirely with the LORD, his God,
as the heart of his father David had been.
By adoring Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians,
and Milcom, the idol of the Ammonites,
Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD;
he did not follow him unreservedly as his father David had done.
Solomon then built a high place to Chemosh, the idol of Moab,
and to Molech, the idol of the Ammonites,
on the hill opposite Jerusalem.
He did the same for all his foreign wives
who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
The LORD, therefore, became angry with Solomon,
because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel,
who had appeared to him twice
(for though the LORD had forbidden him
this very act of following strange gods,
Solomon had not obeyed him).

So the LORD said to Solomon: “Since this is what you want,
and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes
which I enjoined on you,
I will deprive you of the kingdom and give it to your servant.
I will not do this during your lifetime, however,
for the sake of your father David;
it is your son whom I will deprive.
Nor will I take away the whole kingdom.
I will leave your son one tribe for the sake of my servant David
and of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”

(Solomon's enjoyment of the good life eventually turns against him. He has made so many compromises in order to please his many wives that his heart has strayed from true faith in the Lord. The result is that the unity of the tribes of Israel is affected and the Kingdom splits in two following his death. This is a warning to us to avoid compromise in our own lives. Compromise can make things easier and more enjoyable in the short term, but is the long term that really matters. This is where the Kingdom of God fits into our lives.)

Responsorial Psalm
Psalms 106:3-4, 35-36, 37 and 40

R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
Blessed are they who observe what is right,
who do always what is just.
Remember us, O LORD, as you favor your people;
visit us with your saving help.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
But they mingled with the nations
and learned their works.
They served their idols,
which became a snare for them.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
They sacrificed their sons
and their daughters to demons.
And the LORD grew angry with his people,
and abhorred his inheritance.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

Gospel
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.

(Mark's Gospel often records that it is the pagans, the non-Jews, who have the greater faith! This is somewhat ironic, don't you think? What is Mark trying to tell us? I think that we are being warned against complacency and also to never underestimate where and how God's grace is going to work in peoples' lives. Faith is a very elusive reality and we should never be surprised if it should appear in the most unlikely of places!)

God's special verse/thought for me today.
Teach me Jesus to be one of your worthy children so I could deserve to receive my daily bread from you.
In my dream this morning, your message was clear that you are the Living Water and who every drinks that water of life will thirst no more. In my dream, everyone was thirsty and I was not, but everyone regardless of thirst was making themselves more thirsty not longing for the Living Water. Your message Lord is for me to teach these people that in order not to thirst no more, they should follow you in every way.

my reflections
think: Compromise can make things easier and more enjoyable in the short term, but it is the long term that really matters.
Lord, you made me realized that my life before in the corporate world was only a compromise that can make things easier and more enjoyable in the short term. I fully understand now, that the long term is what really matters. Prepare me Lord for the long term while I live in this temporal world. While living in this temporal world, keep teaching me how to seek your kingdom first and your righteousness and you will bless me with everything that I need.

thank You Lord for: your message in my dream.
thank You Lord for saving me from a compromising life.
thank You Lord for your Living Water.
thank You Lord for showing me how to seek your kingdom first and your righteousness.
thank You Lord for your continues blessing for our daily bread.