Saints Cyril, Monk, and Methodius, Bishop (Memorial)
It is not good for the man to be alone. (Genesis 2:18)
If you love a good romance story, especially on St. Valentine’s Day, you’ll appreciate today’s first reading. When God creates a woman out of the first man’s rib and presents her to him, the man reacts with pure delight and satisfaction. Finally he has found his soul mate, the “suitable partner” he had been searching for (Genesis 2:18).
This passage is clearly about God’s plan for marriage, but there’s another truth here that applies to everyone—married, single, divorced, widowed, priests, and religious. God never designed any of us to be alone. He created us in such a way that we thrive on the love and support of other people. We need those special people in our lives who will care for us, listen to us, and help us to grow in faith.
Yet too many people today feel lonely and isolated. Studies have shown that isolation affects us emotionally and spiritually. It can cause us to magnify our problems. It can leave us open to feelings of self-pity and self-doubt. It can even cause sickness. And it just plain hurts.
It’s very easy to become so busy and preoccupied that we lose sight of the people who might need some of our time and attention. We all know someone who suffers from loneliness; it could be a member of our extended family or even someone in our own home. A simple visit, phone call, or invitation to dinner can make a huge difference in that person’s life. It can tell them that they are valued. It can help lift them out of any sadness or fear they might be feeling. It can encourage them to reach out and form new relationships.
If you’re feeling lonely yourself, think about the people you know who might be in a similar situation. Don’t wait for someone to reach out to you; reach out to them instead. Even if you are housebound, a phone call can be a source of great blessing and comfort—and it will probably help you as well.
It’s not good for any of us to be alone. God wants us to be one body in Christ. We can be Christ’s presence today to someone who might be feeling isolated, lonely, or forgotten.
“Lord, help me to reach out in love to one lonely person today.”
Psalm 128:1-5
Mark 7:24-30
Saint Bede the Venerable (c.673-735)
monk, Doctor of the Church
Homilies on the Gospels I.22: PL 94, 102-105 (trans. ©Cistercian Publications, 1991)
The faith of the Canaanite woman
"O woman, your faith is great. Let it be done to you as you wish" (Mt 15:28). Indeed, she had great enough faith, since she knew neither the ancient miracles, commands and promises of the prophets, nor the more recent ones of the Lord himself. In addition, as often as she was disregarded by the Lord, she persevered in her entreaties, and she did not cease knocking by asking him, though she knew only by popular opinion that he was the Savior. On account of this she secured the great object for which she implored…
If one of us has a conscience polluted by the stain of avarice, conceit, vain-glory, ndignation, irascibility, or envy and the other vices, he has "a daughter badly troubled by a demon" like the Canaanite woman. He should hasten to the Lord, making supplication for her healing… Being submissive with due humility, [such a person] must not judge himself to be worthy of the company of the sheep of Israel (that is, souls that are pure), but instead he must be of the opinion that he is unworthy of heavenly favors. Nevertheless, let him not in despair rest from the earnestness of his entreaty, but with his mind free of doubt let him trust in the goodness of the supreme Benefactor, for the one who could make a confessor from a robber (Lk 23:39f.), an apostle from a persecutor (Acts 9:1-30, an evangelist from a publican (Mt 9:9-13), and who could make sons for Abraham out of stones, could turn even the most insignificant dog into an Israelite sheep.