Our prayer is that we live in a Church where everyone belongs, where everyone is welcome.

 

Twentieth Sunday in OT  A  2020

In the Gospel, the Canaanite woman cried 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 said: “Send her away.”  Jesus then said to the disciples: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  (It sounds like Jesus is saying his Church is a gated community, a member’s only club.) The persistent woman came and did Jesus homage, saying, “Lord, help me.”  He said: “It is not right to take food of the children and throw it to the dogs.”  (A rather harsh reply) She responded with courageous faith: “Please Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.”  Jesus finally affirms the woman: “Woman, great is your faith.  Let it be done for you as you wish.  Your daughter is healed.”

In today’s Gospel passage, this is not a pleasant conversation; not one you want to hear your children overhear.  You wonder how it ever got recorded in our family Bible.  It is less a conversation and more an argument.  In no other miracle account has a petitioner been treated so harshly.

Reflecting on the disciples’ encounter with the Canaanite woman, are their people who we attempt to exclude from God’s presence today?  We ask ourselves are their people who do not feel welcome in entering our Church?  Sad to say, sometimes, when a person’s family life has been torn apart, they don ‘t feel welcome in Church.  Church is only for “good Catholics.”  Nothing could be further from the truth.  In the words of Pope Francis, the Church is a field hospital.  The love of Jesus touches most deeply in the broken places of our lives.

Let’s face it:  the inclusive work of the Church is hard work, and it goes against the way the world is organized, the way our worldly hearts want to behave.  We would rather hang out with people like us -- people who speak our language, vote for our political party, share our skin color, live in our zip codes.  But that is not the way of God, and, please God, not the way of the Church. 

We see in our Gospel story for today, where Jesus met a Gentile woman, who begged him to heal her daughter.  This posed a problem for Jesus, not because he did not care for this woman and her daughter, but because the plan of God was to begin the spread of Christianity from the center of Israel.    Jesus wanted to honor God’s chosen people, the Israelites.  Yet, human need and this woman’s great faith “converts” (in parenthesis) Jesus to reveal more fully that everyone is welcome, everyone belongs in the kingdom of God.

The Canaanite woman becomes a sign of the Gospel universality.  No one belongs under the table, much less away from it.  As we come to the table of the Lord to celebrate Eucharist at the Lord’s altar table, is it not true in the plan of God that no one belongs under the Eucharistic table, no one is to be excluded.  All are welcome.

A way of looking at the welcome of Jesus is to ask ourselves:  if Jesus will welcome even us, who are we to issue restrictions?  In the words of Pope Francis: “Who am I to judge?”  May we never lose touch with our own craziness, our own messiness, our own sinfulness, and yet know, at the same time, we are God’s beloved.  As God issues no restrictions on the love he has for us, so too, may we issue no restrictions on God’s love for all of His people.

Please God, in this house of God, everyone belongs.  There are no restrictions with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender children of God.  There are no restrictions with people of other faiths, of other zip codes, of other skin color.  All are welcome.  All of us are recipients of the generous, unconditional love of God.

The Canaanite woman of the Gospel and her daughter in need of much love and healing stand for all the folks who cry out:  Black Lives Matter.  The message of Jesus stands against all forms of hatred, racism, and bigotry that can be called America’s original sin.   We stand against every form of oppression.”

On this day, in which we welcome into our faith community  newly baptized, the precious gift and grace for Charlie Ryan Truisi and Shea Costello is that they receives the life of Christ Jesus.  Plain and simple, they are God’s beloved.  We pray that the Church and the community they live in will inspire all newly baptized to come to know the merciful love of Jesus.

May the world they live in all the days of our life be not a world of racism and hatred and war.  No child in all of God’s creation deserves to be raised in an environment of hatred.  This is not God’s plan for any child.

May the hope we have for our newly baptized and for all children on the face of the earth inspire us to live lives where forgiveness, joy, respect, and love characterize how we are with one another.

In the words of Martin Luther King, “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.  He then goes on to say:   I have decided to stick with love.  Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

I would add: “We have a dream that we will pray and live in a Church where everyone belongs, where we celebrate that all of us are the recipients of the merciful love of Jesus.

 

Have a blessed day.