God hears us

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Fifth Week in Ordinary Time, Year I, 13 February 2025
Genesis 2:18-25     ><0000'> + ><0000'> + ><0000'>     Mark 7:24-30

Your words today, O Lord,
are very striking:
in the gospel you were
seeking rest while 
a Syrophoenician woman -
a pagan and outsider -
was seeking healing of her
daughter;
in the first reading,
God felt it was not good 
for man to be alone
and he cast him into a deep
sleep, took one of his ribs 
and made it into a woman;
in both instances,
you listened and heard
O God the needs of your 
people whether it was
loudly voiced out like that
pagan woman or
simply kept in the man's heart.

And that's the good news 
so good for us to hear today:
you listen.
Always.

Likewise,
in both stories,
there is always a giving up
on our part for us to be
heard and answered by you,
Lord:
the Syrophoenician begged
and disregarded her very self
for her daughter possessed by
the demon while the man
gave names to all the creatures
and animals given him;
moreover, 
the man had to lose his one rib
to give way for the woman's coming
in order for him to have company
while in the gospel,
the pagan woman accepted
her being a foreigner,
an outsider
that Jesus reintegrated her
into the fold.

Many times, Lord,
we feel left out in you,
we feel you not listening
nor hearing our deepest pleas
and longings
when in fact
you know them so well
that you only await us
to come to you
and voice them out,
express them to you
trustingly.
Amen.