Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes
First Reading | Genesis 2:18-25
Human beings are created for relationships—with God and with one another. Without relationships, our lives are meaningless. Humanity is gender specific—male or female—and this is essential to the way we live. Men and women are different—we think and act differently. This is not just a product of our environment but is written into our being.
18 The Lord God said: “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him.” 19 So the Lord God formed out of the ground various wild animals and various birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each of them would be its name. 20 The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of the air, and all the wild animals; but none proved to be the suitable partner for the man. 21 So the Lord God cast a deep sleep on the man, and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 The Lord God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man. When he brought her to the man, 23 the man said, “This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of ‘her man’ this one has been taken.” 24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one flesh. 25 The man and his wife were both naked, yet they felt no shame.
Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5
R: Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
1 Blessed are you who fear the Lord, who walk in his ways! 2 For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork; blessed shall you be, and favored. (R) 3 Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the recesses of your home; your children like olive plants around your table. (R) 4 Behold, thus is the man blessed who fears the Lord. 5 The Lord bless you from Zion. May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. (R)
Gospel | Mark 7:24-30
Jesus was not being mean to the Syrophoenician woman. From the first moment of the encounter, He probably intended to grant her request. He knew she would persevere in this and He used the situation to teach about the nature of faith. Faith always trusts that God is going to act. Many of our problems may have different outcomes if we only persevered in our faith like the woman.
Gospel Acclamation
Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls.
24 Jesus went off to the district of Tyre. He entered a house and wanted no one to know about it, but he could not escape notice. 25 Soon a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him. She came and fell at his feet. 26 The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter. 27 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.” 28 She replied and said to him, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.” 29 Then he said to her, “For saying this, you may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter.” 30 When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.
