Pray humbly and persistantly

 

Deacon Kevin Gingras

August 20th, 2023

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/082023.cfm

Is 56:1, 6-7    Ps 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8

Rom 11:13-15, 29-32   Mt 15:21-28

God is love.  Jesus is love.  When we hear today’s Gospel it doesn’t sound like that’s true, Jesus is using harsh language talking to the Canaanite woman.   As a parent, I love my kids but when they are constantly asking me for things, I can get a little irritated.

We were in bible study many years ago, talking about sin and someone said “Well, when we sin and we are in good company because even Jesus sinned.”  Let me pause to add a VERY important Side note here: Jesus NEVER sinned.  My friend was referring to the time Jesus flipped the money changers table.  That was righteous anger and certainly not a sin.  Let me reiterate, Jesus NEVER sinned.  We have to dig deeper into these questionable parts of scripture.

Let’s do that with today’s Gospel.   A demon is tormenting this poor Canaanite woman’s daughter and Jesus appears to brush her off, even seemingly insulting her so let’s analyze this more.  Let’s take some of the important lines and dig right in.

#1 Then Jesus went from that place and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon

Tyre and Sidon are important as these are Gentile cities in the southern part of Phoenicia bordering the Eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea.  Jewish people didn’t live there.  Keep that in mind: Jewish people didn’t live there!

#2 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.”

A Canaanite woman would be a Gentile, someone who is not Jewish and whose daughter is in a terrible situation.  She seems to know that Jesus can do something to help and even calls him “Lord, Son of David.”  The title she uses is an earthly title of power so she’s not fully there yet with who Jesus really is.  Neither are Jesus’ disciples for that matter!  She persists with her pleas and the disciples seem to get aggravated that this Gentile woman is bugging them asking Jesus to send her away.

#3 Jesus said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

All throughout the Old Testament it’s about the Israelites, God’s chosen nation.  Now God has sent His only begotten Son to the lost sheep of Israel - the Jewish people - they are the lost sheep;  NOT the Gentiles!  Yet the woman persists.  “Lord help me!”  Jump back to #1 and remember, Jesus is in a Gentile city.  He knew what he was doing.

#4 Jesus said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.”

There it is, the line we hardly expect from Jesus!  Remember, Jesus is in a Gentile area.  Who did He expect to encounter here, Jews?  No - Gentiles!  

Jesus didn’t come here to reprimand this woman and tell her He didn’t come to help her because she isn’t Jewish.  No, it’s the exact opposite!  Jesus was teaching His disciples that the ministry is going to open up to far more than the lost sheep of Israel!  The ministry will be for everyone eventually.  He intentionally came to a Gentile area, He knew He would encounter Gentiles!  We see that in our second reading today when Paul tells the Romans how he wants to make his race, the Jewish people jealous:

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.

Much like the Woman at the Well, this was an expected encounter of Jesus with the Canaanite woman.  

#5  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.

The teaching moment for his disciples is over and Jesus does as the woman requests, he heals her daughter.

Ok, so the disciples were supposed to learn Jesus came down from Heaven for everyone on Earth.  As St. Paul said today:

For God delivered all to disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all.

Now what can we learn from this?  Let us focus on the Canaanite woman.  The definition of a gentile is “not Jewish.”  That’s us, so what can she teach us?

She can teach us faith:

"Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters."

Her faith is so strong that she knows that she doesn’t need the whole Jesus but just a scrap will be enough to help her.

She can teach us to be humble and persistent when we pray: 

But the woman came and did Jesus homage, saying, "Lord, help me."

She got on her knees in the dust and dirt and gave Jesus the respect and honor he is worthy of.  When we pray are we humble or do we think Jesus owes us what we are asking?  We need to remain humble and realize it’s Jesus who’s in charge, not us.  That’s where the persistence comes in.  Our prayers may take a bit to be answered, don’t give up!  Keep at it - even if it takes years!

As St. Padre Pio tells us:

“You must always humble yourself lovingly before God and before men because God speaks only to those who are truly humble and He enriches them with His gifts.“

The Bible Is Our Instruction Manual

 

Deacon Kevin Gingras

June 18, 2023

11th Sunday in Ordinary Time

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061823.cfm

Ex 19:2-6a  Ps 100:1-2, 3, 5

Romans 5:6-11    Matthew 9:36—10:8

When I was growing up I wasn’t a fan of rules or instructions from my parents.  I was a figure-it-out-for-myself type of kid.  Well, here’s a story that illustrates how that often didn’t work out so well for me.  Many many ages ago, when I was around twelve years old I went with my mom to the bank and sat in the car while she went in.  Back then you actually had to go cash or deposit checks inside the bank as online didn’t exist yet.  I was sitting alone in the car and there was this push-button cigarette lighter that cars had back then.  Most young folks wouldn’t know what I’m talking about.  Basically, you push the lighter in, it gets screaming hot, pops out, and you can light your cigarette with it.  Yes, back then people also smoked a lot and smoked everywhere.  I told you, it was many ages ago!  I remember my mother once warned me not to play with it, it’s dangerous. I had to figure that out for myself.  I pushed it in and quickly, maybe within 2 seconds pulled it out, and then, as you can guess I had to see if it was hot. I looked and it wasn’t blazing red hot so I put my finger on it quickly and yes indeed it was hot.  As hot as a small sun! The nicely circular rings of the heated element quickly burned my finger and I had lovely reddish-black perfectly concentric circular ring marks on my finger.  I put the lighter back and then noticed something.  The car smelled like cooked finger!  I had to get that smell out before mom came back so I rolled down all the windows, yeah, manually rolled them down.  That’s not easy to do with a smoldering finger but I managed.  Fortunately, by the time she got back, the smell was gone but my pained finger remained.  Lesson learned, well, at least THAT lesson was learned.  

Why did my mother have all these warnings and rules for me?  Because she was some awful tyrant?  No, it’s because my mother loved me and she had the wisdom to keep me safe.  This was the same wisdom I clearly did not possess yet.

Therefore, if you hearken to my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my special possession, dearer to me than all other people, though all the earth is mine. You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.

God also has His covenant rules, the ten commandments, and if we follow them it might not keep us from burnt fingers but it can instead bring us to eternal life.  How can we not want that?  God gives us these rules because He loves us more than we can imagine and wants us to be with him for eternity!  God created us and He knows us better than we know ourselves!  He knows what we need to do to remain happy.

How did the Israelites do with these rules?  Well, if we jump ahead in the story we can see - not well.  Moses took too long to come down so they built the golden calf and worshiped that instead.  I won’t get into the details here but let's just say that wasn’t a good idea! - and the result for them was far worst than a burnt finger!  

They were promised to be God’s chosen people, God’s priests, prophets, and kings.  Time after time the Israelites fell to sin but God is indeed a forgiving and patient God and would give them chance after chance.

The final thing God did for them was to offer His own son as the perfect redemptive sacrifice! 

But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. How much more then, since we are now justified by his blood, will we be saved through him

The Israelites had one final chance as Jesus told his Apostles to announce the Kingdom of God to the Jewish people first:

Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’

They didn’t listen again and we know the rest of that story! 

What about us? By our Baptism, we have that same promise the Israelites had, that of being a nation of priests, prophets, and kings - a holy nation!  We do this through the Catholic Church.  The Church is like a giant toolbox of things we need to take advantage of to get us into Heaven.  I won’t name them all, just a few.

The Bible - It’s our instruction manual that God Himself gave to us.  All things we buy these days have an instruction manual.  I’m sure my mom’s old car had a manual telling you to be careful with that lighter, it gets hot!  Who reads instruction manuals?  Well, when it comes to our salvation the Bible is one instruction manual we DO want to read and study!

Confession - yes, like the Isrealites we will fall into sin from time to time and thanks be to God, we can ask for forgiveness when we offend Him! In Confession, we receive that forgiveness that only God and the sacrament can guarantee!

The Eucharist - this is the Source and Summit of our faith.  It is our food for the spiritual journey.  Far superior than the manna from the desert for sure!

Prayer - if we want to really know God on a personal level then we must talk to Him.  We do that in prayer.  It can be a rote prayer or a made-up prayer.  Something as simple as “God, help the smell of burnt finger be gone from the car when my mom gets back”.

Humility - always be humble with others as well as when addressing God.  God loves a humble heart!

Saint Augustine tells us:

It is not that we keep His commandments first and that then He loves but that He loves us and then we keep His commandments. This is that grace which is revealed to the humble but hidden from the proud.