Daily Gospel Reflection – Friday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
February 10, 2023
Memorial of Saint Scholastica, Virgin
Gospel: Mk 7:31-37
Jesus left the district of Tyre
and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
into the district of the Decapolis.
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment
and begged him to lay his hand on him.
He took him off by himself away from the crowd.
He put his finger into the man's ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
"Ephphatha!" (that is, "Be opened!")
And immediately the man's ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly.
He ordered them not to tell anyone.
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it.
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
"He has done all things well.
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."
*United States Conference of Catholic
Bishop Robert Barron
Friends, today we celebrate the memorial of St. Scholastica.
St. Gregory the Great tells a charming story about Benedict and his twin sister, Scholastica, a woman deeply devoted to God. As was her annual custom, Scholastica came to visit her brother in a small building just outside the monastery.
The two of them engaged in intense theological conversation long into the night. When Benedict announced that it was time for him to go, Scholastica begged him to stay. When he continued to insist that he return to the main house, his sister bowed her head in prayer. Immediately, a terrific storm blew up, which prevented Benedict from leaving.
“God Almighty forgive you, sister!” Benedict said. “What have you done?’
“I asked you to stay,” she said, “and you would not hear me. So I prayed to God and he heard me.”
Smiling knowingly at Scholastica, he remained, and the two of them spoke of divine things
until dawn.
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