Word to the Wise
Wednesday, August 5, 2020 - Wednesday in the 18th Week in Ordinary Time
[Jer 31:1-7 and Matt 15:21-28]"O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed from that hour. [Matthew]
The story of the Canaanite (Syro-phoenician) woman speaks to us on a number of levels. The first, and most obvious, is the interaction between Jew and non-Jew in the mission of the early church. Were non-Jews welcome? The behavior of the disciples suggests that there were some who felt that pagans ("dogs") were not welcome. They urge Jesus to "send her away." This tension would come to a head when St. Paul and other Christian missionaries began to receive Gentile converts. [Acts 15:1-12] Jesus, in this account, clearly opens the way to the faith of outsiders.
As we must always do with the scriptures, we fast forward to our own time and circumstances. How welcoming are we to "outsiders" in our church? On an institutional level, we may see this as a matter for the RCIA program. As important and powerful as that process is of formal admission to our community, it is not the only way. In my own pastoral experience, I have had to instruct persons in the faith who could not participate for various reasons in that program. On another level, I have known non-Catholic spouses who have attended Mass with their Catholic spouse for years and found it spiritually helpful.
Jesus teaches us that faith is where one finds it in others. It takes discernment and gentle challenge to respond to and nurture that faith, which sometimes can be expressed in inconvenient ways! The Canaanite woman interrupted the focused attention of the disciples. We can become so focused on our own faith that we fail to see faith in others. AMEN