August 16, 2014

Mt 15: 21-28

Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved. http://www.usccb.org/bible/approved-translations

St. Stephen of Hungary

Matthew 19: 13-15

Then little children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them; but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.” And he laid his hands on them and went on his way.

New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved. http://www.usccb.org/bible/approved-translations

Courage Against All Odds

The Canaanite woman is truly the classical outsider: a pagan, a pest, a challenge to the disciples and even to Jesus. But, amazingly, she wins the day. Can we even say she causes Jesus to expand the horizons of his own ministry? Does this happen to us as well? Does God call us at various times to broaden our vision, our outlook on ourselves, on others, and on God himself? Examine the ways and thank Him for such challenges. The status quo may make us feel comfortable. But God's ways are not always our ways.

Another approach. Is there something of the “outsider” in each one of us? Some way I don’t seem to fit in, a feeling that if someone were to take a microscope and look at the secret depths of my heart, there would be areas which the gospel has not yet touched. They may well be embarrassing. Courage! Jesus can handle even this if we let him and implore him. Just ask the Canaanite woman. Maybe she can teach you a lesson on how to get what you want despite all the odds!

—Fr. Jim Serrick, S.J. is a long-time musician, liturgist, and pastor. He currently serves at Colombiere Jesuit Center, Clarkston, MI.

In God’s View

In today’s Gospel we hear those well-known words of Our Lord: “Let the children come to me... for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Here is some of what “to such as these” means to me. Children are dependent on the love of their families and friends. Sure, they give us love and trust, and sweet hugs, and they make us smile and laugh, but they are really almost totally dependent on us.

I think Jesus is challenging us to recognize how dependent we are on God for everything, every breath we take, every beat of our hearts. Mary has this attitude in the Annunciation, when she says:”Let it be done unto me.” As Teilhard de Chardin points out in The Divine Milieu that Mary is actively receptive. She embraces the message, and recognizes that this is an awesome gift: to be the Mother of God.

Author, Kastanzakas, ends his novel, The Diary of a Country Priest with the dying, far from a pastorally effective priest, who says: What does it matter, everything is gift? And Cardinal Avery Dulles endorses Martin Luther’s insight, when he quotes him in a major address: “We are all beggars.”

—Fr. Robert Braunreuther, S.J., a Jesuit of the New England province, assists in University Ministry at Loyola University Chicago, where he is also minister of the Arrupe House Jesuit community.

Prayer

Oh God, I wish from now on to be the first to become conscious of all that the world loves, pursues, and suffers. I want to be the first to seek, to sympathize and to suffer; the first to unfold and sacrifice myself, to become more widely human and more nobly of the earth than any of the world’s servants.