Twentieth Sunday of the Year - 2023

Not feeding the dog at table may be a rule at your home. Lucky for dogs there are a few young folks who aren’t getting the message. Lucky too for the Canaanite Woman in today's gospel text. Here we find that Jesus has moved into the northern regions, predominately occupied by the pagan Canaanite people. (Today Lebanon and Syria). The Jews despised these people, they considered them as cursed by God with no hope of redemption. Both Matthew (15:21) and Mark (7:24) have this account. Mark says that Jesus did not want people to know he was in the region. Matthew recounts Jesus asserting that his mission is only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Jesus may have withdrawn to this region for a time to avoid the growing hostility toward him by the Jewish leaders.  There appears a Canaanite woman who has a daughter possessed by a demon. She has heard of Jesus' reputation in such matters and has discovered where he is staying.  She came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me." And he answered, "It is not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." Mtt: She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And he said to her, "Let the children first be fed, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." But she answered him, "Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." Mk: Jesus enters into a little role playing with the woman. He plays the part of his antagonists with their misconception of God's plan of Mercy. She is given the role of true faith - faith that Jesus is revealing by his gospel.  Then Jesus answered her, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly. The subject of God's mercy has been once again brought into focus for us by Pope Francis and the Year of Mercy he established. Once again we see there is a right and a left side to the way it is approached. On the right, like the Pharisees of old, God's mercy is seen as something earned, a reward for the righteous efforts made by one who judges themselves as righteous. On the left are those influenced by a secular humanist view, dominant in our day, that mercy is an automatic. Since any fault must lie within the limits of human nature and not the person, God does not hold anything against us. The woman in today's gospel becomes a model for us to contemplate. The direction and remedy for our lives is not found in the solutions we create, whether by our designing or our doing. It is found in the TRUTH we discover when we come to Jesus in humble faith, in person-on-person encounter. Only God's Truth can make us free. Mercy releases us from the folly of our lives and opens a path to a truly holy life.  Mercy resides in in the heart. The Divine Mercy of God is found in the heart of Jesus. The heart of Jesus is found only in the communion of deep and personal prayer. It is there that we too will hear these words,  "O my child, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire."

.