INTERCESSION IN FAITH, RESPECT IN THE DIFFERENCES
By our Pastor, Fr. Carmelo Jimenez
For this Sunday, I will base my reflection more on the Gospel, of course that doesn’t mean I’ll put aside the other readings altogether. I would like for us to ask ourselves, “How do I treat strangers?” I want to clarify that a stranger includes: religion, race, town, country, ideologies, and even political parties.
The Gospel reading for today places us in a particular region of Israel: Tyre and Sidon, which is a land of pagans. That characteristic separates them from the apostles and disciples, and it seems like Jesus Christ as well, since they were Jewish. The dialogue that takes place between Jesus and the Canaanite woman seems like it would be humiliating because he calls the pagans dogs. However, the woman is resolved that she is going to get what faith has told her is true, the miracle for her daughter. She wasn’t asking for herself, but rather for her daughter. How many times are we certain in faith, but we falter when we face problems and humiliations? That Canaanite woman teaches us the value of persistence and the value of humility. With this Jesus Christ teaches us, by accepting the faith of the Canaanite, the universality of the Church. In the first reading we find: “the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, ministering to him, loving the name of the Lord, and becoming his servants.”
Another aspect that we should reflect on is intercession. It’s true that we can speak directly to God, as many of our Protestant brothers and sisters would tell us. In this Gospel we hear the Canaanite woman speaking to Jesus, but he doesn’t listen to her, so the disciples intervene: “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.” That is when it seems like he takes what she says more seriously, only to start a dialogue. Many of us Catholics forget that we have the saints, God’s friends, that can intercede for us before God the Father. Besides their intercession we also forget that God the Holy Spirit is our advocate, who groans incessantly before the Father and the Son for each of us. Intercession is a resource that we should have close at hand for one another. Prayer, personal as well as communal, is a spiritual strength that brings us closer to God and with the intercession of others it is easier to get what faith assures us is true.
Jesus Christ, in the end recognizes the faith of the woman: “ ‘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.” He gives the Canaanite woman the most precious gift of the Jews: faith. Faith, was and is something for which the Jewish people felt proud, even now. Because of faith some look down on many people, even some of their own race. Because of their faith, some Jews are so radical that they kill. Christ, ends up granting and recognizing the faith of the Canaanite. And for that faith and humility, and for the intercession of the disciples, Christ performs the miracle that the woman asks: to cure her daughter.
In this way the readings for this Sunday teach us that in the Church there are no strangers, the faith is the same, here and in China or in Rome or in the Holy Land, or in any part of the world, which is to say the Church is Universal. Just like the disciples and Christ, we should not look down on anyone, because everyone is a child of God. We should help one another with our prayer and intercession, as well as look for the intercession of the Saints.
May God help us grow in love and respect for each other, no matter what race, creed or ideology, we are all brothers and sisters in faith. May God help us to grow in faith. Amen.