Deacon Tom Anthony

 

 

 

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 118

Reading 1

Thus says the LORD:
Observe what is right, do what is just;
for my salvation is about to come,
my justice, about to be revealed.

The foreigners who join themselves to the LORD,
ministering to him,
loving the name of the LORD,
and becoming his servants—
all who keep the sabbath free from profanation
and hold to my covenant,
them I will bring to my holy mountain
and make joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and sacrifices
will be acceptable on my altar,
for my house shall be called
a house of prayer for all peoples.

Responsorial Psalm

R. (4) O God, let all the nations praise you!
May God have pity on us and bless us;
may he let his face shine upon us.
So may your way be known upon earth;
among all nations, your salvation.
R. O God, let all the nations praise you!
May the nations be glad and exult
because you rule the peoples in equity;
the nations on the earth you guide.
R. O God, let all the nations praise you!
May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the peoples praise you!
May God bless us,
and may all the ends of the earth fear him!
R. O God, let all the nations praise you!

Reading 2

Brothers and sisters:
I am speaking to you Gentiles. 
Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles,
I glory in my ministry in order to make my race jealous
and thus save some of them. 
For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world,
what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. 
Just as you once disobeyed God
but have now received mercy because of their disobedience,
so they have now disobeyed in order that,
by virtue of the mercy shown to you,
they too may now receive mercy. 
For God delivered all to disobedience,
that he might have mercy upon all.

 

 

Alleluia

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Jesus proclaimed the Gospel of the kingdom
and cured every disease among the people.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

At that time, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 
And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out,
“Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! 
My daughter is tormented by a demon.” 
But Jesus did not say a word in answer to her. 
Jesus’ disciples came and asked him,
“Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.”
He said in reply,
“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
But the woman came and did Jesus homage, saying, “Lord, help me.” 
 “It is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs.” 
She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps
that fall from the table of their masters.” 
Then Jesus said to her in reply,
“O woman, great is your faith! 
Let it be done for you as you wish.” 
And the woman’s daughter was healed from that hour.

 

MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,

How much do we really love God and how important is He to us in our lives? How much do we desire His love and how much do we desire salvation? These are healthy questions that we should contemplate on a regular basis to keep our focus on our faith and on our relationship with God. It is very easy to be swept up in this life; to be distracted by the demands of everyday living. It can be said that all of us, at one time or another, have forgotten God or did not include Him in our decision-making process. It is ironic how we can and do forget Him when times are good and then demand His presence when we are in crisis. Usually our other relationships develop in good times and bad. With God, being who He is, we can find ourselves detaching from Him or becoming frustrated when He doesn’t follow our dictations. What it comes down to is that if we are the ones that are always dictating the terms of our relationship with God then what we have is something that is pretty dysfunctional and unhealthy.

 

When we were younger there were many times when we probably had a wish list of things that we wanted for Christmas and for our birthday. As one of those specials days approached there was anticipation and a hope that we would get what we wanted. Maybe there was even a little praying involved. There were definitely sleepless nights involved as we fantasized about the gifts we were hoping to receive. There was a genuine excitement and desire to receive what we wanted. If we could all imagine a time like this in our lives and now relate the feelings of anticipation and hope to how we should feel about God. We could take it a step further and imagine our first love. The feeling of butterflies in our stomach as we thought about time spent with that person we thought we could not live without. We would think years into the future making plans and enjoying visions of endless joy. Those feelings are the feelings that we should pursue in relation to God. With desire comes effort to achieve the outcome that is envisioned. God is telling us that we will experience those feelings endlessly if we take the time to know Him and get close to Him.

 

Through the Prophet Isaiah God speaks about how important a relationship with Him is and what will happen if we approach it that way. He sent an invitation out to all of His creation to come forward and “Observe what is right, do what is just…” He indicates that everyone who listens to Him and serves Him in a loving way will be escorted by Him to salvation. Listening to

God and loving Him means getting close to Him and entering into a relationship with him. This relationship is built on a foundation of love which means that, in the relationship, God should not be dismissed or forgotten. If that happens it means that there are problems in the relationship which must be addressed. We as Christians are encouraged to continuously address these problems when they arise because, if we do not, then we will find ourselves in situations that will cause us harm. God said that He will be with us and He will lead us if only we listen to Him. The invitation has already been made and now the only requirement is for us to respond.

 

The Apostle Paul gives us encouragement in that we are not alone when we forget about God. In fact it can be argued that this will indeed happen to everyone because we all are sinners and are conflicted by the temptations and allures of a society infested by the evils of Satan. The offer and promises made by God have never been and never will be revoked. We will witness ourselves and other people falling short of what is expected but we have the opportunity of redemption through Jesus Christ. He is the Good Shepherd and will help us find our way back into a loving relationship with God. In fact, failing God can make our love for Him stronger in the long run. A relationship with God can be all the more appreciated when life is experienced without Him. Ultimately there is no comparison. As Paul tells us and we should already know: God is ever merciful and that through obedience our past transgressions will be forgiven. Obedience means coming back to Him and loving Him again.

 

The interaction between Jesus and the Canaanite Woman emphasizes what a strong relationship with God can do. It can overcome all obstacles and all challenges where we can find ourselves in a better off than we had gone forward without Him. Upon first reaction Jesus may have come across as cruel to the woman who was pleading for her daughter to be released from the control of a demon. In fact He was presenting a challenge to all those who were watching. He was basically asking the same questions that were presented to us in the beginning of this reflection: “How much do you really love God? How important is He in your life?” He dismissed her forcefully in the beginning insinuating that she was inferior but not being a child of Israel. She then persisted, humbling herself completely, and made no argument against her unworthiness. Jesus then rewarded her faith. We too will be called unworthy by many people but in the eyes of God we are beyond approach because through a relationship with Him we receive forgiveness and redemption. There really is no downside.

 

God is waiting for us to enter into relationship with Him. The more we pay attention to and work on that relationship the more we will benefit from it. When we remain attentive to that relationship we will be more apt to feel His presence daily and will benefit from it in ways beyond our comprehension. The deeper we go the better. Things that bothered us before or challenged us will no longer be a factor in our lives because God will be there without the barriers we once erected against Him. What once baffled us will no longer baffle us. What once frustrated or hurt us will be of no consequence. God will be with us and that will be the only thing that matters.

 

Deacon Tom

 

My sisters and brothers in Christ,

Today the readings give us teaching about non-Jewish people being redeemed.  For most of us, that is something that we have always believed.  But we need to remember that this was a new idea for many at the time of Jesus.  The Prophets had foretold that salvation would go to the nations, those who were not born of Jewish blood.  Nevertheless, the Jewish people were not quick to accept this teaching.  Even Jesus often speaks and tells us that He was sent for “His own people,” the Jewish people, as we hear in today’s Gospel.

Even today, we can find people who believe that all who are not Catholic will go to Hell.  This is clearly against the Catholic teaching.  On the other hand, there is no teaching that says that all will be saved, and especially that all will be saved without doing anything.  There must be some response to God, even if it is not clear to the person.  But God’s mercy is incredible.  Just as in the time of Jesus, Jesus Himself could open wider the doors of salvation, so now the Church can open wide the doors of salvation:  but it is always through Jesus and through His Church.

The first reading today is from the Prophet Isaiah and proclaims to the Jewish people of that time that outsiders could be saved:  “The foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, ministering to him, loving the name of the Lord, and becoming his servants-all who keep the Sabbath free from profanation and hold to my covenant, them I will bring to my holy mountain and make joyful in my house of prayer.”  These are foreigners who seem to remain foreigners and yet follow the ways of the Jewish people.  The point of the Prophet Isaiah is that all can be saved.  Yet he is not saying that all are saved.

The second reading is from the Letter to the Romans and basically emphasizes once again that non-Jews can be saved and invited to salvation in Jesus Christ.  One of the points that Saint Paul is making is that God’s Covenant with the Jewish People is irrevocable and still in place.  We must always remember that our salvation has come through the Jewish people and that our New Covenant does not invalidate the Old Covenant with them.

Finally the Gospel of Matthew presents us with a Canaanite woman.  This woman clearly loves her daughter and wants healing for her daughter.  She loves her daughter enough that she is willing to accost Jesus and even argue with him for the healing of her daughter.  The words of Jesus to her sound harsh to us but are also a lesson to us:  faith happens and is not confined to the Jewish people or to the Christian people.  Faith can be present, even faith in Jesus, without a complete belief in the ways that we might wish.

It is clear, however, that the normal way to God is through Jesus Christ and through His Church.  Today everyone wants to be the exception and this seems often only from insecurity.  Rather we need to become secure enough in God’s love that we can become ordinary believers.

Your brother in the Lord,

Abbot Philip

We can find a single theme running through all three readings this Sunday: the inclusive scope of God’s saving plan.

When the Israelites returned from Exile, they found that many foreigners and neighbouring peoples had moved into the land which once they had called their own. How was living cheek by jowl with non-Israelites compatible with Israel’s sense of identity as a holy people, set apart for the service and worship of God?

In the First Reading, Isa 56:1, 6-7. the great prophet of the Exile (Isaiah 40-66) presents a bold vision where God will actually bring to the 'holy mountain' (the Temple mount) foreigners who have attached themselves to the Lord, making of the Temple a house of prayer for all the peoples (cf. Mark 11:17). The privilege of worshipping God is so central to Israel’s identity that it is hard to think of a stronger expression of inclusivity than this.

INCLUSIVENESS

The Gospel, Matt 15:21-28, telling of Jesus’ encounter in the region of Tyre and Sidon with a Canaanite woman whose daughter was tormented by a devil, presents us with one of the most striking episodes of inclusiveness in the Gospel tradition.

Just before entering this Gentile region, Jesus had given a long instruction in response to criticism from Pharisees and scribes that he did not live according to the tradition of the elders concerning ritual purity, that is, what was 'clean' and 'unclean' in a technical religious sense (15:1-20). Rebutting the criticism, Jesus insisted that 'uncleanness' (meaning incapacity for worship) is not something that one 'catches,' like a contagious disease, from external objects or particular kinds of food. Rather, such incapacity is something that proceeds from within a person. It is not the failure to perform external rituals like hand-washing but evil intentions and behaviour that flow from the heart that renders a person unclean. 

Having thus broken through the ritual cleanliness barrier in his teaching, Jesus now enacts such boundary-crossing 'geographically', so to speak, by crossing over into a region (Tyre and Sidon) where 'unclean' Gentiles made up the majority. There the faith of a Gentile woman brings about a breaking of the barrier in a far more significant way.

CROSSING BOUNDARIES

In the very full account of the episode given by Matthew, the sense of separation of 'holy' Israel from 'unclean' Gentile world emerges with increasing intensity.

Jesus first ignores the woman completely, despite the persistence and force of her plea, as she turns to the Jewish Messiah ('Son of David') for help. The disciples’ urgent recommendation, 'Send her away', seems to imply 'Get rid of her by granting her what she wants', but Jesus he coldly insists that his mission is restricted to 'the lost sheep of the house of Israel' (cf. 10:5-6). When, in one of the most moving gestures in all the Gospels, she comes and kneels before him and simply begs, 'Lord, help me', all she receives is a third rebuff in the form of the heartless image about not throwing the children’s food to dogs. 

But here, at last, is her chance. With superb wit, she takes up Jesus’ image and turns it against him – or at least against the restrictive attitude he is displaying.

Certainly, food prepared for children is not intended for domestic animals. But children eat untidily and house dogs under the table seize any scraps that fall. 'Outwitted', Jesus gives in, agreeing to her request and praising the greatness of her faith.

Many readers of the Gospel will doubtless be troubled by the apparent coldness that Jesus initially displays towards this desperate person. By depicting him acting in such a way, however, the narrative first intensifies the sense of the barrier between Jews and Gentiles, only to highlight the significance of what is happening when, as a result of the woman’s faith, the barrier comes crashing down.

HERO OF THE GOSPEL TRADITION

Recent feminist interpretation has rightly identified this Canaanite woman as one of the great heroes of the Gospel tradition. Jesus allows her to 'educate' him out of the narrow understanding of his mission that his early responses betray. He is not only Messiah for the Jews but also the One in whose 'name the Gentiles will place their hope' (12:21). The great mission charge to the nations at the end of the gospel (28:18-20) has its anticipation and impulse here.

In the Second Reading, Rom 11:13-15, 29-32, inclusiveness works the other way round, so to speak. The bulk of Israel has said 'No' to the Gospel of the Crucified. Does this mean they have forfeited the chance of salvation? No, says Paul: the God who in great fidelity has worked to include the nations of the world will not fail to act inclusively in favour of the original People of choice, for God’s 'gifts and calling are irrevocable'.

Brendan Byrne, SJ, FAHA, taught New Testament at Jesuit Theological College, Parkville, Vic., for almost forty years. He is now Emeritus Professor at the University of Divinity (Melbourne). His commentaries on the Gospels can be found at Pauline Books and Media

 

This past Saturday we celebrated the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mary the Mother of God, is welcomed into heaven body and soul to be reunited with her son, Jesus. We are encouraged this day to meditate on the relationship between Mary and Jesus which also extends to us. Through Jesus Christ, we have become God's adopted sons and are offered a royal birthright that unites us with our Father. Because of this, Mary is viewed as our Eternal Mother and intercessor in a most beautiful way. She loves us as our own and is always here in our time of need. She is also a messenger for her son and is known to speak on his behalf; tempering the message with a paternal emotion that exudes tenderness and a genuine care for our salvation.

 

We are encouraged to look to Mary as a model of our own lives and how we interact with other people. We must love with the same earnest and purity that Mary has for her son and us. Christ himself delivered us the Greatest Commandment:

 

You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart,
and with your whole soul,
and with all your mind.

This is the greatest and the first commandment.
And the second is like it:
you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

 

Through Christ and his sacrifice we learn how to love and Mary defines it further with the paternal love that she brings. We are constantly invited to participate in this relationship by accepting God in our lives and living it with God and his love. We cannot fully enjoy this experience without opening our hearts and minds to God and surrendering ourselves to him with complete innocence and abandon. We must further admit that to accept God is to relinquish control of our lives; a control that usually leads to our own destruction. This act may leave us exposed and vulnerable but it also forms a relationship of trust. This trust is developed through love as defined by Christ and Mary.

 

Our faith insures our salvation. When we are weak or when we feel lost, we must look to Mary our Mother for that help and tenderness that only a mother can offer. She when then take our hand and lead us to her son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Deacon Tom

Reflections on a Hug 

I was at the grocery store yesterday.  (That’s the only place where anything happens anymore in my life).  And after all these months of ‘sheltering’, this was the first time I’ve seen anyone I know in the store. 

My friend, Jane, was searching for Cheerios down the aisle, just ahead of me.  I was so excited to see a familiar face.  To see my friend after so long.  I called her name and we waved our gloved hands wildly at each other, keeping a respectable 8 feet away.  But, oh how I would have loved to hug her. 

I’m a hugger.  Some people are content with shaking hands.  But me?  I like to hug.  (Well, only if it’s someone I like.  I don’t hug strangers.  I’m not crazy.)   
The way I see it: 

‘Arms are meant for reaching out 
for holding and hugging 
for drawing close and being held…’    

^{(from a Concord Pastor’s blog)} 

But this is a time of ‘no hugging’.  A time for social’ distance.  So, now, more than ever I need God’s hugs.   

In the Arms of God by Tony Alonso   

Come and rest in the arms of God, 

Leave your worry and fear 

Make your home in the heart of God, 

God will dry every tear. 

For the burden you carry will fade within God’s care, 

Come and rest in the arms of God.   

 

Gentle is God’s way and humble is God’s heart. 

God’s love will light the way that leads to peace. 

Surely you shall see God’s goodness and God’s grace: 

Rest now in God’s embrace. 

 

Do not be afraid; God heals the broken heart. 

Through grief and disbelief God still remains. 

God and God alone will be your soul’s true rest: 

Fall in the arms of God. 

 

You are not alone, for God is always near. 

Come, place your doubt and fear within God’s care. 

God will give you rest and soothe your weary soul: 

Dwell in the heart of God.   

 

We’re keeping you in our prayers.  Please keep us in yours.  ~~ Helen and David