Daily Gospel Reflection
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February 9, 2023
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.
Throughout the gospels, the sick, desperate and sinful come before Jesus to ask him to overcome leprosy, blindness, paralysis, and even death. Similarly, in today’s reading, Jesus is approached by a Greek woman who falls at his feet, asking him for healing.
Initially, it seems as though Jesus responds by dismissing the woman—and comparing her to a dog! Faced with such an insult, how many of us would react in anger or sadness? Maybe we would try to defend ourselves, come to physical blows with Jesus, or save face by turning away and abandoning the request altogether.
Instead, the Greek woman, who is already fallen at Jesus’ feet, humbles herself even further, saying, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.” In her response, we see that Jesus was not insulting her but probing her faith. And her faith was greater than her pride.
She recognizes the enormity of Jesus’ healing power and knows that even a scrap of grace would more than satisfy her. The Greek woman sets a straightforward but challenging example for us: we must set aside our egos to allow the healing power of God to work in our own lives.
Lord, strengthen our faith and humility that we may surrender completely to you with confidence that our greatest challenges are no match for even the scraps of your love and mercy.
Prayer
Almighty Father, the woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit fell at the feet of Jesus with great devotion. With the same faith, may we also trust and commend ourselves to your healing grace. We ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Miguel was born in November 1854 as Francisco Luis Febres-Cordero y Muñoz in a small village high up in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador. His father was a professor who was deeply involved in the politics of the newly independent Ecuador. Francisco was born crippled, but at age five, he was cured of his deformity miraculously through a vision of the Virgin Mary.
Francisco attended a Christian Brothers high school, and was a bright and studious pupil. As soon as he entered, he said, he felt a great longing to also become a Christian Brother (also known as the La Salle Brothers). Since the La Salle Brothers were a relatively newer order, his family objected—they wanted him to join a more prestigious, more established religious order.
His family enrolled him in the diocesan seminary, but Francisco fell quite ill and had to leave the seminary before completing his first year. As his health was deteriorating, his family allowed him to return to school with the Christians Brothers. Reluctantly, his father finally gave Francisco permission to join the order as a brother. Francisco's relationship with his father was tense for most of his years as a brother in the La Salle Institute, but the two men were eventually reconciled before his father's death in 1882.
At the age of fourteen, Francisco joined the order on March 24, 1868. He took the name Brother Miguel. After his novitiate year, although he was only fifteen, Brother Miguel was sent to teach in Quito, Ecuador's capital. He would teach for nearly forty years. He became an internationally recognized scholar of the Spanish language, publishing his first book before he was twenty.
As novice-master, Miguel cared for the young men who joined the order in the tumultuous political environment of Ecuador's shifting regimes. His talents both in the formation of the younger brothers and in academic work caught the attention of the Institute's leaders in Rome. They sent Miguel to various houses around Europe. Miguel was homesick for Ecuador and his life there. In the summer of 1909, Miguel was in Barcelona, during a week of upheaval known as la semana trágica, "the tragic week." During this week of protests and strikes, churches were burned throughout the city. Although the house of the Brothers survived (a miracle many credit to the statue of the Blessed Virgin that Brother Miguel left in the window), and the Brothers returned safely to the city, the incident took a great toll on Brother Miguel's health.
In the winter of 1910, his health began to fail and on February 9, 1910, Brother Miguel passed away. When news reached the Catholics in Ecuador, they mourned the loss of their beloved hero. He was buried in Barcelona, but, in 1937, his remains were returned to his native country, to great rejoicing.
Brother Miguel was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1984. His great-grandnephew, the president of Ecuador, León Febres Cordero, was present at his canonization.
St. Miguel Febres Cordero, who dedicated his entire life to humble service of God—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Miguel Febres Cordero is used with permission from Catholic Online. Last accessed January 23, 2025.