Today’s Thoughts: One of the wonderful things about Sacred Scripture is that every once in a while, you can encounter a passage that is rich with many levels and certain our Gospel passage today from Matthew is one of those kinds of passages. We might consider the Canaanite Woman’s faith and the healing of her daughter as our central theme today. Certainly, any story about a person’s faith can be of great help to us.
However, given all that is going on in our world today especially around division, mistrust, racism, prejudice, hate, and misconceptions I think there is another level or layer to our Gospel story that can be helpful. Matthew wrote is Gospel for basically a Jewish Christian community. A community that was steeped in tradition and one we might say had one foot in their Jewish roots and one in their new Christian tradition. Like us they lived also in a world of change. In our second reading today from St. Paul we hear St. Paul challenge his Jewish roots with the presence of the Gentles, a presence that is here to stay. Two communities, different traditions, different paths of getting to this point in time. Many notions, ideas, views of life coming together and not always smoothy. Derogatory terms used to describe one another, “dogs” – “swine”, and I am sure a host of others. Mistrust and demands that things be done a certain way all being stirred into the pot of life and the faith community. Throughout Matthew’s Gospel there are moments, scenes that touch on this struggle of the developing Christian community and today’s story is one of those moments. Jesus seems overly harsh with the Canaanite woman. He is there only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel. You cannot give food that is meant for the children to the dogs! Yet, the persistence and the faith of the woman change the scene. Healing takes place. Jesus is not about a certain few, an elite, privileged few. Jesus has come for everyone. Matthew reminds his community throughout his Gospel of this fact. He works at helping them see beyond their own small little world to a large one. Change is never easy, but it is necessary. We all struggle with change. We all struggle with new ways of looking at life. We all struggle with traditions changing when we want everything to stay the same. Faith becomes the key ingredient to helping us overcome our prejudices, our hate, our misconceptions, and our fears. Faith helps us to let go and let God heal and love! Have a blessed, holy, safe, and healthy Sunday everyone!
1 Comment
Mary E
8/16/2020 04:25:56 am
Our faith asks for our trust not only in God but also in ourselves...to be able to wait it out and believe in God’s time-table.
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Fr. Paul R. Fagan, C.P. "Preacher on the Run"Just a few thoughts to help you on your journey through life...let me know from time to time what you think... Archives
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