8 February 2018
Memorial of Saints Jerome Emiliani & Josephine Bakhita
Yesterday I prayed for purity of heart. In today’s 1st reading I am given a lesson how and why purity of heart is lost and the results of that loss.
Solomon had everything going for him. As a young man he was open to God blessings. But in his later years success, riches and the inordinate desire for the affirmation of others turned his head and his heart.
His 700 wives and 300 concubines may have made him so preoccupied that he didn’t have time for prayer. (And I think I have it bad!).
The women in today’s Gospel was also preoccupied. But that preoccupation – the health of her daughter – encouraged her to go to the Lord.
Unlike Solomon she teaches me that preoccupations do not distract; they encourage faith. Meeting the Lord means going to him with my preoccupations. That is the essence of true prayer.
Jesus heard her prayer. Her faith was strengthened by her preoccupations. True prayer makes me grow in faith and it purifies my heart.