This has been another week filled with sadness, violence, and disrespect for life around the world and in our own country. We pray for all those adversely affected in any way and for reconciliation and peace. We look to our Lord Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth and the life to guide us. He is the hope in the midst of sadness, violence and disrespect for life.
With this real world background we listen to today’s Gospel which seems to have an uncharacteristic harshness to it. Of note is the reaction of the disciples to the Canaanite woman seeking healing for her daughter. Finding her annoying they said: ”Send her away.” That is not exactly a charitable reaction to a frightened mother. To put it in some perspective she likely was a pagan and certainly a foreigner in the eyes of the Jewish disciples, and therefore an outsider in the prevailing culture. Jesus changed all that and the disciples themselves, for later in their ministries they traveled the world to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with all peoples. Their message became not send them away but that of our psalm response: “O God, let all nations praise you.”
Some commentators suggest that Jesus used this unusual dialogue with the Canaanite women to bring forth from her deeper conversion of faith and to teach a key principle to us that can further reconciliation and peace.
A loving mother in agony over the illness of her daughter, against all the societal rules sought relief from Christ. Her love moved her to action. She had that core natural sense that Jesus could heal her daughter. Her faith deepened as they encountered each other. Despite Jesus first ignoring her plea, she followed him not giving up, and then kneeled before him. She was persistent; evidencing both spunk and humility. The qualities she showed – love, faith, persistence, hope, spirit and humility -are qualities of Christian discipleship.
Jesus by publicly responding to her changed the rules and underscored that he came that all might have life and have it to the full even those looked down upon by the world. God loves all, saint, sinner and all of us who struggle between the two. This message that Jesus became man to personally deliver was prophetically noted in our first reading from Isaiah some 500 years before in which the Lord declared: “My house shall be a house of prayer for all peoples.” St. Paul affirms it in our second reading that Christ’s mercy is available to all. This was an extraordinary societal change which likely baffled the disciples at first. It had to be hard for them to overcome their prejudices because change is hard. Christ can give us the strength to do so if we listen to him.
My first pastorate as a priest was in a picturesque rural parish affectionately known as St. Mary of Pine Bluff in Wisconsin. It was dedicated to the Blessed Mother and was located in a beautiful unincorporated town out in the countryside. It was settled by Irish and German immigrants in the mid1880s. In the sanctuary of the church were statues of St. Patrick, the patron of Ireland, and St. Boniface, the patron of Germany. In most places in the 1800s the Irish and the Germans demanded separate parishes, not unlike so many ethnic based parishes in our diocese. However the fiscally prudent decision was made to have one parish. The German families sat on one side of the Church and the Irish on the other. Located between St. Patrick and St. Boniface was the tabernacle, the presence of Christ. It symbolized that when Christ is at the center, all of us can live together despite our human differences, real or imagined.
I was told that tension was high when not unexpectedly young people fell in love and “inter-married”. The real tension came when the couple had to choose which side of the church they together as a new family would sit sat on. That division was gone by the time I became pastor. For God’s house had become a house of prayer for all people.
In a book entitled, a “New Song to the Lord”, the author tells of being a member of a choir. The group begins rehearsals for a new musical program shortly after a successful public concert. Gone is the familiar music so much fun to sing. In its place is new music, new words to learn. The early rehearsals are painful. Individuals look back with fond memories, nostalgic for the music they had sung so well. Some wondered why we have to learn new things at all, let’s just sing what we know.
Yet as time passes slowly but surely something beautiful comes into existence. Finally the day comes and the choir performs the new and now familiar music for the enjoyment of others but also for themselves. The past music remains in their repertoire and in their hearts and the new music enhances its richness.
We experience that in the Church. When there is a change in Pope, or bishop or pastor it takes a while to adjust to the new. It happens in families. It is always a delight to talk with the parents of a newborn child. If the baby is their first, they are awed by the miracle but acknowledge the change of lifestyle the little one fosters. When there are other children the parents are still awed by the miracle but must acknowledge the expansive change they and the brothers and sisters must accept fostered by the newborn. It is also true in nations and communities when immigration, economic changes and social needs more challenge us. We ought not to fear God driven change, nor be over-whelmed by it but rather embrace it. While doing so we must not forget the rich time tested and unchanging truths upon which our faith stands.
May we with grateful and open hearts learn the music of our day without compromising Christian values, and welcome all God’s children. “O God, O Jesus Christ, let all the nations praise you.”