Loyalty is a theme in today’s readings. Solomon was blessed in many ways by the Lord. He was made King of Ancient Israel. His kingship was blessed by God. He had great power and wealth and was admired by all. Yet, Solomon did not remain loyal to the Lord. He instead worshipped the pagan gods of his pagan wives.
One of my favorite Catholic authors is Herni Nouwen, a Catholic theologian and priest from the Netherlands who died in 1996. Nouwen was a accomplished scholar, having taught at prestigious universities such as Harvard, Yale, and Notre Dame. On the pastoral side, he served as chaplain at the L’Arche Daybreak community in Canada with it founder Jean Vanier, a community that helped individuals with developmental and intellectual challenges. Reflecting upon today’s reading about King Solomon, I thought of Nouwen’s book Can You Drink the Cup? According to Nouwen, part of drinking the cup that Jesus offers to us is holding it and reflecting upon it. Thus, according to Nouwen, if we do not examine our lives, if we do not reflect on our faith and on our journey, we will not grow in our life of discipleship. And without reflection and growth and development in our faith, our loyalty to God will waiver and grow dim. Perhaps this is why Solomon was not able to remain loyal to God in his life of faith.
The Syrophoenician woman in our Gospel, in comparison to Solomon, was able to show loyalty to Jesus, even in the face of rejection and discrimination, even in the face of a Jewish faith that would have seen her as unsafe, unclean, and unworthy. Loyalty is an important moral value we are called to follow on our journey of discipleship: Loyalty to Jesus, loyalty to our faith, loyalty in a world that tries to lure us away in another direction. May all of us feel this call to be loyal to our Lord Jesus Christ.
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