Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Thursday of the fifth week in Ordinary Time, February 13, 2025

Delivered by Father Peter Tukan, SDB from Salesian Don Bosco Gerak in the Diocese of Labuan Bajo, Indonesia. Genesis 2: 18-25; Rs psalm 128: 1-2.3.4-5; Mark 7: 24-30COUPLE Thetheme for our meditation today is: Couple. One of the very special qualities ofcreation from the very beginning made by the Creator was the partner or thecouple. Heaven was paired with earth. Land paired with the sea. Day paired withnight. Hot paired with cold. To the point of creation said to be the image andlikeness of God Himself, God made human beings also paired male and female.Having a partner is basically natural and divinely created. Therewas a discussion among high school students who had just finished takingreligion lesson. They discussed among themselves about life in pair. Onestudent said in this way: "God is very wise, that by giving His creationin pairs, they look after and help each other." Another commented: “It isreally not good if each creation is independent, it cannot give its uniquenesswhich is different from the others, particularly to its partner. Another onealso responded: “Pairing is a condition for balance and beauty. If a creationis alone, it is not balance, not beautiful, and not attractive." Thenthe fourth student had his chance to talk. He asked his friends in this way:"Who or what is the spouse of God?" At this point of the discussion,they needed time to think and reflect. They finally agreed on the answer. SinceGod is the Creator, it is very natural for Him to be paired with the creatures,His own creation. In the beginning it was said that everything created wasgood, so He pairs with all that is good, what He had created from His ownpower. Inshort, God indeed had made our lives so beautiful, complete and dignifiedthrough a life as couple or in pairs. We human beings are the most important ofall creatures. We become the masterpiece of our Creator, namely men and womendesigned in such manner according to the will of God to be dependent on one toanother. The most precise expression for this relation and dependence is love.From a biological perspective, love is developed through the recognition thatmen are really different from women, and vice versa. If there is no differenceor uniqueness between a man and a woman, love becomes so unattractive. Froma spiritual perspective, love for a spouse or love that exits in a couple isexpressed by following the example of our Lord, namely the self-sacrifice orthe selfless love. When a man sacrifices himself for his spouse, which is thewoman he loves, he indeed manifests the true love. God loves so much humans onthis world as His spouse, so He sacrificed Himself to become human as we are,which is in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has so greatcompassion and love to us. According to the Gospel reading today, He expressedthis love to a pagan woman in the healing of her child. With this and so manyexamples of the love and compassion of the Lord, we have all freedom andinitiatives to do the same. God’s commands should be clear for all of us,namely to love our partners. There is none from us in this world who liveswithout a partner!Let's pray. In thename of the Father ... O Lord, make us true and just to our partners accordingto Your example of love. Hail Mary ... In name of the Father ...