Word to the Wise
Wednesday, August 8, 2018 - Wednesday in the 18th Week in Ordinary Time
[Jer 31:1-7 and Matt 15:21-28]WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2018. ST. DOMINIC DE GUZMAN, O.P., FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF PREACHERS (DOMINICANS) [Jeremiah 31:1-7 and Matthew 15:21-28. These scriptures will vary at Dominican locations because of this feast day] “Lord, help me.” He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” [Matthew] The woman in question is a pagan Canaanite, yet she addresses Jesus as “Lord, Son of David!” There is faith of some kind in her person. In this incident there are two dimensions. There is the personal request of the woman and the broader “policy” question of the mission of Jesus (and subsequent preachers of the faith.). The woman’s perseverance pays off in the face of Jesus’ blunt question about his own mission. It is her faith that Jesus recognizes and responds to. The broader issue concerned the question of preaching to the Gentiles and bringing them to faith. The primarily Jewish-Christian community to whom the Gospel According to Matthew was originally addressed would be concerned about this. How broad is the mission? On this feast of St. Dominic, this gospel passage reminds us that faith is where you find it. Our mission of preaching is to the whole world and not just to the “saved.” As an example, the current Latin rite archbishop of Baghdad in Iraq is a Dominican friar. It is the Iraqi Dominican sisters who have stayed with the people throughout the terrible warfare in Iraq and Syria at the risk of their lives. Dominican cloistered nuns in Africa bear witness and have given their lives in the endless conflicts there. Dominican Laity are prominent in their numbers and witness in Vietnam and elsewhere. The sons and daughters of Dominic, for more than 800 years, have followed in the footsteps of St. Dominic to the whole world. We want to do more than give the scraps from the Master’s table. We want to invite everyone to the feast. AMEN
config
view
logs
4096.0 KB
97 ms
4
