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frmartinshomiliesandreflections · 6 years ago

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9th August >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on

Matthew 25:1-13 for the Feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)

And/Or

Matthew 16:24-28 for Friday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time.

Feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Matthew 25:1-13

The wise and foolish virgins

Jesus told this parable to his disciples: ‘The kingdom of heaven will be like this: Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were sensible: the foolish ones did take their lamps, but they brought no oil, whereas the sensible ones took flasks of oil as well as their lamps. The bridegroom was late, and they all grew drowsy and fell asleep. But at midnight there was a cry, “The bridegroom is here! Go out and meet him.” At this, all those bridesmaids woke up and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish ones said to the sensible ones, “Give us some of your oil: our lamps are going out.” But they replied, “There may not be enough for us and for you; you had better go to those who sell it and buy some for yourselves.” They had gone off to buy it when the bridegroom arrived. Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding hall and the door was closed. The other bridesmaids arrived later. “Lord, Lord,” they said “open the door for us.” But he replied, “I tell you solemnly, I do not know you.” So stay awake, because you do not know either the day or the hour.’

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 25:1-13

Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!

Jesus told his disciples this parable: “The Kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps. Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, there was a cry, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise ones replied, ‘No, for there may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.’ While they went off to buy it, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. Then the door was locked. Afterwards the other virgins came and said, ‘Lord, Lord, open the door for us!’ But he said in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

Reflections (3)

(i) Feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

Saint Teresa Benedict of the Cross, also known as Edith Stein, was born a Jew in 1891 in Poland. She had abandoned her Jewish faith by the time that she was thirteen and declared herself an atheist. A brilliant student, she gained her doctorate in philosophy at the age of twenty-three, in 1914. In the wake of the awful slaughter of World War 1 Edith began to feel a growing interest in religion. In 1921 she happened upon the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Avila, the sixteenth century Carmelite nun. With fascination, she read through the night and by morning concluded, ‘This is the truth’. She was baptized a Catholic the following New Year’s Day in 1922. Edith felt that by accepting Christ she had been reunited with her Jewish roots. She went on to obtain an academic post in the University of Munster in Germany in 1932. However, with the rise of Nazism she was dismissed from her post because she was considered a Jew by the Nazis. The loss of her job enabled her to pursue her growing attraction to the religious life. She applied to enter the Carmelite convent in Cologne and was formally clothed with the Carmelite habit on April 15, 1934. She took as her religious name, Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Believing that her presence in the convent endangered the sisters, she allowed herself to be smuggled out of Germany to a Carmelite convent in Holland. In 1940 the Nazis occupied Holland. She was captured and sent to Auschwitz where she died in the gas chamber on August 9, 1942. In 1998 she was canonized as a confessor and martyr of the church by Pope John Paul II. Edith Stein responded to the Lord’s call. In the end it brought her into a wilderness, the awful wilderness of Auschwitz. When Jesus responded to the call of God the Father, it led him to the wilderness of Calvary. We can all find ourselves in something of a wilderness because of our commitment to the Lord and his way. Yet, in today’s first reading, God promises his people that he will speak to their heart in the wilderness. The Lord does not abandon us in our wilderness; he speaks to our heart when we are at our most vulnerable. God spoke a word of love to Jesus on the cross which brought him through death into risen life and he did the same for Edith Stein in her wilderness. The Lord will speak a word of love to our heart in our own wilderness moments. The Lord remains faithful to us, especially when we walk through fire. The life and death of Edith Stein encourages to remain faithful to the Lord in bad times as well as good. In the language of the parable in today’s gospel reading, she inspires us to keep the lamp of our faith burning brightly when all seems dark.

And/Or

(ii) Feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

Saint Teresa Benedict of the Cross, also known as Edith Stein, was born a Jew in 1891 in Poland. She had abandoned her Jewish faith by the time that she was thirteen and declared herself an atheist. A brilliant student, she gained her doctorate in philosophy at the age of twenty three. In the wake of the awful slaughter of World War 1 Edith began to feel a growing interest in religion. This culminated one night in 1921 when she happened upon the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Avila, the sixteenth century Carmelite nun. With fascination, she read through the night and by morning concluded, ‘This is the truth’. She was baptized a Catholic on the following New Years Day in 1922. Edith felt that by accepting Christ she had been reunited, by a mysterious path, with her Jewish roots. She went on to obtain an academic post in the University of Munster in Germany in 1932. However, with the rise of Nazism she was dismissed from her post because she was considered a Jew. The loss of her job enabled her to pursue her growing attraction to the religious life. She applied to enter the Carmelite convent in Cologne and was formally clothed with the Carmelite habit on April 15, 1934. She took as her religious name, Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Believing that her presence in the convent endangered the sisters, she allowed herself to be smuggled out of the country to a Carmelite convent in Holland. In 1940 the Nazis occupied Holland. She was captured and sent to Auschwitz where she died in the gas chamber on August 9, 1942. In the words of this morning’s gospel reading, she was ready when the bridegroom came, and went with him into the wedding banquet of eternal life. In 1998 she was canonized as a confessor and martyr of the church by Pope John Paul II. She sensed her forthcoming death and came to understand it as an act of solidarity with her Jewish people, an act of atonement for the evil of her time, and a conscious identification with the cross of Christ. She is an inspiration to all who are seeking the truth today. Her life inspires us not just to seek the truth but to live the truth of Christ, even if it means the loss of everything else. She calls out to us to keep our lamps burning, to keep the flame of faith alive in our hearts, even in the darkest night. She invites us to share her gospel conviction that the light of Christ shines in the darkness and the darkness will not overcome it.

And/Or

(iii) Feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

The gospel reading for the feast of St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) is the parable of the wise and foolish virgins from Matthew’s gospel. Of the ten virgins, only five of them had their lamps burning to greet the arrival of the bridegroom at the house of the bride. They were wise enough to have sufficient oil to keep their lamps burning for the long haul, so that, when the bridegroom was unexpectedly delayed, they were not caught out, unlike the five whose oil had run out by then. The image of the wise women calls out to us to keep faithful watch until the end so that our light continues to shine and never dims. A earlier verse in Matthew’s gospel at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount suggests what this involves, ‘let you light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven’ (5:16). When we are faithful to the good works called for by the Sermon on the Mount the light of our faith and love will shine for all to see. The challenge is to be faithful in our good works so that, even though our light may grow dim from time to time, it never goes out, and, when the Lord comes to meet us at the end our lives, we are there to greet him with his light shining through us. Such as person was Edith Stein. She was born a Jew in 1891 in Poland. She had abandoned her Jewish faith by the time that she was thirteen and declared herself an atheist. A brilliant student, she gained her doctorate in philosophy at the age of twenty three. In the wake of World War 1 Edith began to feel a growing interest in religion. This culminated one night in 1921 when she happened upon the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Avila, the sixteenth century Carmelite nun. With fascination, she read through the night and by morning concluded, ‘This is the truth’. She was baptized a Catholic on the following New Years Day in 1922. She obtained an academic post in the University of Munster in Germany in 1932. However, with the rise of Nazism she was dismissed from her post because she was considered a Jew. The loss of her job enabled her to pursue her growing attraction to the religious life. She applied to enter the Carmelite convent in Cologne and was formally clothed with the Carmelite habit on April 15, 1934. She took as her religious name, Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Believing that her presence in the convent endangered the sisters, she allowed herself to be smuggled out of the country to a Carmelite convent in Holland. In 1940 the Nazis occupied Holland. She was captured and sent to Auschwitz where she died in the gas chamber on August 9, 1942. The light of her faith and love continues to shine for us today.

----------------------------------------------------

Friday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Matthew 16:24-28

Anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it. What, then, will a man gain if he wins the whole world and ruins his life? Or what has a man to offer in exchange for his life?

‘For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and, when he does, he will reward each one according to his behaviour. I tell you solemnly, there are some of these standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming with his kingdom.’

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 16:24-28

What can one give in exchange for one’s life?

Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay each according to his conduct. Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”

Reflections (3)

(i) Friday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

In the gospels Jesus often speaks in the language of paradox. One of the most striking instances of that is to be found in this morning’s gospel reading, when Jesus says, ‘anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it’. Another way of expressing that is to say, ‘if we seek ourselves only, we will lose ourselves, whereas if we reach beyond ourselves towards God and towards his Son Jesus we will find our true selves’. If we look to ourselves alone and our own needs and preferences, we risk losing ourselves, whereas if we look towards the Lord, which will always mean looking towards others, we will find life in this world and eternal life in the next. Jesus expressed this fundamental paradox of his teaching in another way when he said, ‘give and it will be given to you’. In other words, it is in giving that we receive. Our own experience of life teaches us the truth contained in this paradox. It is when we look beyond ourselves to others, to the Lord present in others, that we experience the Lord’s own joy, the Lord’s own life, which is a foretaste of the joy and life of the kingdom of heaven.

And/Or

(ii) Friday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus declares that if anyone wants to become his followers they must be willing to deny themselves and take up their cross. Self-denial is not greatly in vogue at the present time. You are more likely to hear talk of self-fulfilment. In calling for self-denial Jesus is not trying to extinguish all joy or fulfilment in life. The self we are to deny is what we might call the false self, a way of life that is self-centred and self-absorbed, in which everything revolves around myself. This is the self that wants to be at the centre of everything and is constantly seeking its own satisfaction and gratification. Jesus declares that if we are to follow him, we must lose this false self. The loss of this false self will be painful; denying our self in this sense will entail a way of the cross. Yet, Jesus declares that this saying ‘no’ to our false self is the way to true life, to discovering our true self, ‘if anyone loses his life for my sake, he will find it’. Our true self, our best self, is the self that is open to the Lord’s love, that allows itself to be constantly transformed by that love and so, as a result, becomes a loving person, a self that puts the interests of others before one’s own. This is life in the true and full sense that Jesus promises to all who follow him and allow themselves to be led by him.

And/Or

(iii) Friday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Jesus asks a thought provoking question in this morning’s gospel reading, ‘What will a man gain if he wins the whole world and ruins his life?’ Jesus is suggesting that we can gain a great deal of what the world has to offer and values, and, yet, lose out at some more fundamental level of our being. We can gain the whole world and, at the same time, lose our life, lose that which makes us truly alive with the life of God. Jesus declares that the opposite is also true. People can lose a great deal of what is highly valued in the world and yet preserve their life, be fully alive with the life of God. Jesus tells his disciples and all of us in this morning’s gospel reading that it is in following him that we will find this fullness of life. Following the Lord will often mean often mean having to renounce ourselves; in that sense it will mean losing out in the eyes of many. Yet when this is done for the Lord’s sake, out of love for him, out of our desire to be faithful to his values, we will grow into our true selves, the self that is made in the image and likeness of our Creator. The call to renounce ourselves can sound very negative to modern ears. Yet, the Lord’s call is a call to fullness of life. Our self-denial is in the service of that fullness of life which he desires for us all.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

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romancatholicreflections · 8 years ago

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9th August >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflection on Matthew 25:1-13 for the Feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), Virgin, Martyr (Europe) Or Matthew 15:21-28 for Wednesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time (USA, New Zealand, Australia, Canada & Southern Africa).

Feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), Virgin, Martyr Gospel (Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Canada & Southern Africa) Matthew 25:1-13 Jesus told this parable to his disciples: ‘The kingdom of heaven will be like this: Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were sensible: the foolish ones did take their lamps, but they brought no oil, whereas the sensible ones took flasks of oil as well as their lamps. The bridegroom was late, and they all grew drowsy and fell asleep. But at midnight there was a cry, “The bridegroom is here! Go out and meet him.” At this, all those bridesmaids woke up and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish ones said to the sensible ones, “Give us some of your oil: our lamps are going out.” But they replied, “There may not be enough for us and for you; you had better go to those who sell it and buy some for yourselves.” They had gone off to buy it when the bridegroom arrived. Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding hall and the door was closed. The other bridesmaids arrived later. “Lord, Lord,” they said “open the door for us.” But he replied, “I tell you solemnly, I do not know you.” So stay awake, because you do not know either the day or the hour.’ Gospel (USA) Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him! Jesus told his disciples this parable: “The Kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought flasks of oil with their lamps. Since the bridegroom was long delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, there was a cry, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise ones replied, ‘No, for there may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.’ While they went off to buy it, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him. Then the door was locked. Afterwards the other virgins came and said, ‘Lord, Lord, open the door for us!’ But he said in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour. Reflections (3) (i) Feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross Saint Teresa Benedict of the Cross, also known as Edith Stein, was born a Jew in 1891 in Poland. She had abandoned her Jewish faith by the time that she was thirteen and declared herself an atheist. A brilliant student, she gained her doctorate in philosophy at the age of twenty-three. In the wake of the awful slaughter of World War 1 Edith began to feel a growing interest in religion. In 1921 when she happened upon the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Avila, the sixteenth century Carmelite nun. With fascination, she read through the night and by morning concluded, ‘This is the truth’. She was baptized a Catholic the following New Year’s Day in 1922. Edith felt that by accepting Christ she had been reunited with her Jewish roots. She went on to obtain an academic post in the University of Munster in Germany in 1932. However, with the rise of Nazism she was dismissed from her post because she was considered a Jew. The loss of her job enabled her to pursue her growing attraction to the religious life. She applied to enter the Carmelite convent in Cologne and was formally clothed with the Carmelite habit on April 15, 1934. She took as her religious name, Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Believing that her presence in the convent endangered the sisters, she allowed herself to be smuggled out of the country to a Carmelite convent in Holland. In 1940 the Nazis occupied Holland. She was captured and sent to Auschwitz where she died in the gas chamber on August 9, 1942. In 1998 she was canonized as a confessor and martyr of the church by Pope John Paul II. In the parable Jesus tells in today’s gospel reading, only some of the bridesmaids had their lamps lighting when the bridegroom arrived. When a child is baptized, the priest says to the parents, ‘keep the flame of faith alive in his/her heart’. The parable calls on us to keep that flame of faith alive in our hearts, in good times and in bad. The dark experiences of life can sometimes cause the flame of our faith to flicker or even go out. Saint Teresa Benedicta kept the flame of her faith burning brightly in the most difficult of human situations, and she is an inspiration for us to do the same. There was a time in her life, in her youth, when the flame of her faith did go out. It was the reading of a saint’s life which fanned her faith into a living flame again. Her experience reminds us that when the flame of our own faith grows weak or is even extinguished, it can always be relit. The Lord can relight that flame once more. He can touch our hearts through some human experience, such as the reading of a saint’s life, as in the case of Saint Teresa Benedicta. The Lord is always working to find a way through to us. And/Or (ii) Feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross Saint Teresa Benedict of the Cross, also known as Edith Stein, was born a Jew in 1891 in Poland. She had abandoned her Jewish faith by the time that she was thirteen and declared herself an atheist. A brilliant student, she gained her doctorate in philosophy at the age of twenty three. In the wake of the awful slaughter of World War 1 Edith began to feel a growing interest in religion. This culminated one night in 1921 when she happened upon the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Avila, the sixteenth century Carmelite nun. With fascination, she read through the night and by morning concluded, ‘This is the truth’. She was baptized a Catholic on the following New Years Day in 1922. Edith felt that by accepting Christ she had been reunited, by a mysterious path, with her Jewish roots. She went on to obtain an academic post in the University of Munster in Germany in 1932. However, with the rise of Nazism she was dismissed from her post because she was considered a Jew. The loss of her job enabled her to pursue her growing attraction to the religious life. She applied to enter the Carmelite convent in Cologne and was formally clothed with the Carmelite habit on April 15, 1934. She took as her religious name, Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Believing that her presence in the convent endangered the sisters, she allowed herself to be smuggled out of the country to a Carmelite convent in Holland. In 1940 the Nazis occupied Holland. She was captured and sent to Auschwitz where she died in the gas chamber on August 9, 1942. In the words of this morning’s gospel reading, she was ready when the bridegroom came, and went with him into the wedding banquet of eternal life. In 1998 she was canonized as a confessor and martyr of the church by Pope John Paul II. She sensed her forthcoming death and came to understand it as an act of solidarity with her Jewish people, an act of atonement for the evil of her time, and a conscious identification with the cross of Christ. She is an inspiration to all who are seeking the truth today. Her life inspires us not just to seek the truth but to live the truth of Christ, even if it means the loss of everything else. She calls out to us to keep our lamps burning, to keep the flame of faith alive in our hearts, even in the darkest night. She invites us to share her gospel conviction that the light of Christ shines in the darkness and the darkness will not overcome it. And/Or (iii) Feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross The gospel reading for the feast of St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) is the parable of the wise and foolish virgins from Matthew’s gospel. Of the ten virgins, only five of them had their lamps burning to greet the arrival of the bridegroom at the house of the bride. They were wise enough to have sufficient oil to keep their lamps burning for the long haul, so that, when the bridegroom was unexpectedly delayed, they were not caught out, unlike the five whose oil had run out by then. The image of the wise women calls out to us to keep faithful watch until the end so that our light continues to shine and never dims. A earlier verse in Matthew’s gospel at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount suggests what this involves, ‘let you light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven’ (5:16). When we are faithful to the good works called for by the Sermon on the Mount the light of our faith and love will shine for all to see. The challenge is to be faithful in our good works so that, even though our light may grow dim from time to time, it never goes out, and, when the Lord comes to meet us at the end our lives, we are there to greet him with his light shining through us. Such as person was Edith Stein. She was born a Jew in 1891 in Poland. She had abandoned her Jewish faith by the time that she was thirteen and declared herself an atheist. A brilliant student, she gained her doctorate in philosophy at the age of twenty three. In the wake of World War 1 Edith began to feel a growing interest in religion. This culminated one night in 1921 when she happened upon the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Avila, the sixteenth century Carmelite nun. With fascination, she read through the night and by morning concluded, ‘This is the truth’. She was baptized a Catholic on the following New Years Day in 1922. She obtained an academic post in the University of Munster in Germany in 1932. However, with the rise of Nazism she was dismissed from her post because she was considered a Jew. The loss of her job enabled her to pursue her growing attraction to the religious life. She applied to enter the Carmelite convent in Cologne and was formally clothed with the Carmelite habit on April 15, 1934. She took as her religious name, Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Believing that her presence in the convent endangered the sisters, she allowed herself to be smuggled out of the country to a Carmelite convent in Holland. In 1940 the Nazis occupied Holland. She was captured and sent to Auschwitz where she died in the gas chamber on August 9, 1942. The light of her faith and love continues to shine for us today. ———————————————————— Wednesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time Gospel (New Zealand, Australia, Canada & Southern Africa) Matthew 15:21-28 Jesus left Gennesaret and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Then out came a Canaanite woman from that district and started shouting, ‘Sir, Son of David, take pity on me. My daughter is tormented by a devil.’ But he answered her not a word. And his disciples went and pleaded with him. ‘Give her what she wants,’ they said ‘because she is shouting after us.’ He said in reply, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.’ But the woman had come up and was kneeling at his feet. ‘Lord,’ she said ‘help me.’ He replied, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house-dogs.’ She retorted, ‘Ah yes, sir; but even house-dogs can eat the scraps that fall from their master’s table.’ Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, you have great faith. Let your wish be granted.’ And from that moment her daughter was well again. Gospel (USA) Matthew 15: 21-28 O woman, great is your faith! At that time Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not say a word in answer to her. His disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.” He said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But the woman came and did him homage, saying, “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.” And her daughter was healed from that hour. Reflections (5) (i) Wednesday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time The gospel reading this morning puts before us a pagan woman of tenacious faith. The initial response of Jesus to her desperate cry for help was one of silence. When the woman persisted with her request and Jesus addresses her directly for the first time, he seems to dismiss her request in a rather harsh fashion. Just as the woman was not put off by Jesus’ silence, she is not put off by his seemingly harsh refusal. She takes Jesus’ image of feeding the children rather than the house-dogs, the people of Israel rather than the pagans, and turns it to her own advantage. Eventually Jesus acknowledges her persistent and humble faith and grants her request. The gospel reading suggests that as far as Jesus was concerned the time had not yet come to bring the gospel to pagans; it would come later, after his death and resurrection. Yet, this woman succeeded in bringing forward that timetable by her persistent faith in the face of the Lord’s great reluctance. Jesus spoke at one point of a faith that can move mountains. This woman’s faith certainly moved Jesus. This pagan woman encourages all of us to remain faithful, even when the grounds for faithfulness seem to be very weak. She inspires us to keep seeking the Lord, even when the Lord appears to be silent and distant. And/Or (ii) Wednesday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time The meeting between Jesus and the pagan woman in today’s gospel reading is unusual in that Jesus seems to be much colder towards her than is usually the case in his dealings with people who approach him for help. He seems to go out of his way to avoid responding to her plea, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel’; ‘it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house dogs’, where the ‘children’ are the people of Israel and the ‘house dogs’ are the pagans. It seems that Jesus is not ready to engage with pagans; his focus for the moment is his own people. Yet, the woman will not take ‘no’ for an answer. She persists, in the face of Jesus’ stone walling and even identifies with the house dogs who eat the crumbs that fall from the children’s table. She shows wit as well as faith. Eventually, she breaks down Jesus’ resistance and Jesus has to acknowledge her great faith and so grants he request. When people are desperate, as she was, they are not easily deflected. This woman encourages us all to keep seeking the Lord, even when he seems unresponsive and distant. The Lord’s seeming unresponsiveness can be an opportunity for us to keep giving expression to our faith, just as it was for the woman in today’s gospel reading. And/Or (iii) Wednesday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time The unnamed pagan woman in this morning’s gospel reading has been described as one of the great heroes of the gospel tradition. It is not easy for us as readers of the gospels today to appreciate the barrier between Jews and pagans in the time of Jesus. Jesus himself shows an awareness of that barrier when he says to the pagan woman who approaches him for healing for her daughter, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel’. In Matthew’s gospel it is only after the resurrection that Jesus sends his disciples to proclaim the gospel to all nations, Jews and pagans. Up until then, the focus of Jesus would be the renewal of Israel. However, this pagan woman is not prepared to wait. In spite of Jesus’ great reluctance to respond to her request, her persistent faith in Jesus and her great wit finally brings crashing down the barrier between Jesus a Jew and herself a pagan. A woman of outstanding faith brings forward Jesus’ timetable for proclaiming the gospel to the pagans. The woman stands in for all of us; she is a wonderful example for all of us of persistent faith. She kept on believing, even in the face of the Lord’s silence and resistance. As a result, her faith created a space for the Lord to work in a powerful and unexpected way. She teaches us that the Lord needs our persistent faith if God’s purpose for our lives and for humanity is to come to pass. And/Or (iv) Wednesday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time This morning’s gospel reading strikes many of us as surprising. Jesus’ attitude towards the pagan woman seems harsh and unfeeling. When she approaches him to heal her sick daughter, she is first met with stony silence. When she continues to shout after Jesus and his disciples, Jesus informs her that he was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. When she comes closer to Jesus and kneels at his feet pleading in great simplicity, ‘Help me’, Jesus responded with what sounds to our ears like a harsh parable, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and through it to the house-dogs’. The ‘children’ here are the children of Israel, the ‘house-dogs’ are the pagans. Yet this woman won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. She takes Jesus’ parable and with great wit turns it to her advantage, declaring that even house-dogs often get to eat the scraps that fall from the children’s plates at table. The gospel reading suggests that Jesus was not ready to begin his ministry to the pagans; that would come later. His work of renewing Israel came first. Yet this woman’s love for her daughter would change Jesus’ timetable. He could not remain unmoved by her great faith. Her daughter would be healed. The woman encourages us to keep on seeking, to keep on knocking, to keep on asking, even when the Lord seems silent and unresponsive. Jesus once spoke of a faith that moves mountains. Her faith moved Jesus; it was a faith that created an unexpected space for Jesus to work in a life-giving way. That is the kind faith that is needed more than ever today, from all of us. And/Or (v) Wednesday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time The pagan woman in this morning’s gospel reading has been described as one of the great heroes of the gospel tradition. She displays a mother’s identification with her child. Although it is her daughter who is in need, her prayer to Jesus is ‘take pity on me… help me’. Her daughter’s distress is her distress; her daughter’s need is her need. Twice she appeared to be rebuffed by Jesus. On the first occasion, he responded to her plea with silence. On the second occasion, Jesus declared to her that his mission was to the people of Israel, that the food intended for God’s children cannot be thrown to the house-dogs, the pagans. Yet, this desperate woman sees an opening in that image of children and house-dogs that Jesus uses. She declares that the children and the house dogs can eat together as happens when the house dogs eat the crumbs that fall to the ground from what the children are eating. This witty and ingenious interpretation of Jesus’ image finally brings Jesus to grant her request, ‘Woman, you have great faith. Let your request be granted’. Jesus may have wanted to limit his mission to the people of Israel during his earthly ministry, but this pagan woman could not wait and in the end Jesus could not but grant her request. She displays the kind of faith that moves mountains; her faith certainly moved Jesus. She shows us what persevering faith against all the odds looks like. Here is a faith that endured in the face of silence and resistance from the Lord. It is perhaps the purest form of faith imaginable. It is the kind of faith that endures the dark night of the soul and waits patiently for the dawn. Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland. Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ieJoinus via our webcam. Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC. Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf. Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

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frmartinshomiliesandreflections · 7 years ago

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9th August >> Fr. Martin's Gospel Reflections on Matthew 25:1-13 for The Feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), Virgin and on Matthew 16:13-23 for Thursday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time.

The Feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), Virgin

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Matthew 25:1-13

The wise and foolish virgins

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 25:1-13

Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!

Reflections (3)

(i) Feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

Saint Teresa Benedict of the Cross, also known as Edith Stein, was born a Jew in 1891 in Poland. She had abandoned her Jewish faith by the time that she was thirteen and declared herself an atheist. A brilliant student, she gained her doctorate in philosophy at the age of twenty-three. In the wake of the awful slaughter of World War 1 Edith began to feel a growing interest in religion. In 1921 when she happened upon the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Avila, the sixteenth century Carmelite nun. With fascination, she read through the night and by morning concluded, ‘This is the truth’. She was baptized a Catholic the following New Year’s Day in 1922. Edith felt that by accepting Christ she had been reunited with her Jewish roots. She went on to obtain an academic post in the University of Munster in Germany in 1932. However, with the rise of Nazism she was dismissed from her post because she was considered a Jew. The loss of her job enabled her to pursue her growing attraction to the religious life. She applied to enter the Carmelite convent in Cologne and was formally clothed with the Carmelite habit on April 15, 1934. She took as her religious name, Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Believing that her presence in the convent endangered the sisters, she allowed herself to be smuggled out of the country to a Carmelite convent in Holland. In 1940 the Nazis occupied Holland. She was captured and sent to Auschwitz where she died in the gas chamber on August 9, 1942. In 1998 she was canonized as a confessor and martyr of the church by Pope John Paul II. In the parable Jesus tells in today’s gospel reading, only some of the bridesmaids had their lamps lighting when the bridegroom arrived. When a child is baptized, the priest says to the parents, ‘keep the flame of faith alive in his/her heart’. The parable calls on us to keep that flame of faith alive in our hearts, in good times and in bad. The dark experiences of life can sometimes cause the flame of our faith to flicker or even go out. Saint Teresa Benedicta kept the flame of her faith burning brightly in the most difficult of human situations, and she is an inspiration for us to do the same. There was a time in her life, in her youth, when the flame of her faith did go out. It was the reading of a saint’s life which fanned her faith into a living flame again. Her experience reminds us that when the flame of our own faith grows weak or is even extinguished, it can always be relit. The Lord can relight that flame once more. He can touch our hearts through some human experience, such as the reading of a saint’s life, as in the case of Saint Teresa Benedicta. The Lord is always working to find a way through to us.

And/Or

(ii) Feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

Saint Teresa Benedict of the Cross, also known as Edith Stein, was born a Jew in 1891 in Poland. She had abandoned her Jewish faith by the time that she was thirteen and declared herself an atheist. A brilliant student, she gained her doctorate in philosophy at the age of twenty three. In the wake of the awful slaughter of World War 1 Edith began to feel a growing interest in religion. This culminated one night in 1921 when she happened upon the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Avila, the sixteenth century Carmelite nun. With fascination, she read through the night and by morning concluded, ‘This is the truth’. She was baptized a Catholic on the following New Years Day in 1922. Edith felt that by accepting Christ she had been reunited, by a mysterious path, with her Jewish roots. She went on to obtain an academic post in the University of Munster in Germany in 1932. However, with the rise of Nazism she was dismissed from her post because she was considered a Jew. The loss of her job enabled her to pursue her growing attraction to the religious life. She applied to enter the Carmelite convent in Cologne and was formally clothed with the Carmelite habit on April 15, 1934. She took as her religious name, Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Believing that her presence in the convent endangered the sisters, she allowed herself to be smuggled out of the country to a Carmelite convent in Holland. In 1940 the Nazis occupied Holland. She was captured and sent to Auschwitz where she died in the gas chamber on August 9, 1942. In the words of this morning’s gospel reading, she was ready when the bridegroom came, and went with him into the wedding banquet of eternal life. In 1998 she was canonized as a confessor and martyr of the church by Pope John Paul II. She sensed her forthcoming death and came to understand it as an act of solidarity with her Jewish people, an act of atonement for the evil of her time, and a conscious identification with the cross of Christ. She is an inspiration to all who are seeking the truth today. Her life inspires us not just to seek the truth but to live the truth of Christ, even if it means the loss of everything else. She calls out to us to keep our lamps burning, to keep the flame of faith alive in our hearts, even in the darkest night. She invites us to share her gospel conviction that the light of Christ shines in the darkness and the darkness will not overcome it.

And/Or

(iii) Feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

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Thursday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada) Matthew 16:13-23 You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he put this question to his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say he is John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ ‘But you,’ he said ‘who do you say I am?’ Then Simon Peter spoke up, ‘You are the Christ,’ he said, ‘the Son of the living God.’ Jesus replied, ‘Simon son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. And the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.’ Then he gave the disciples strict orders not to tell anyone that he was the Christ. From that time Jesus began to make it clear to his disciples that he was destined to go to Jerusalem and suffer grievously at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, to be put to death and to be raised up on the third day. Then, taking him aside, Peter started to remonstrate with him. ‘Heaven preserve you, Lord;’ he said ‘this must not happen to you.’ But he turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my path, because the way you think is not God’s way but man’s.’

Gospel (USA) Matthew 16:13-23 You are Peter, I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi and he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

Reflections (4)

(i) Thursday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

In this morning’s gospel we see the two sides to Peter. Initially he shows great insight into Jesus, identifying him as the Son of the Living God, and in response Jesus addresses him as the Rock on which he will build his church. However, Peter then goes on to rebuke Jesus for speaking about his passion and death, and in response Jesus addresses him as Satan and as a scandal, a stumbling stone, and obstacle in his path. From Rock to stumbling stone! It is hard to conceive of a greater contrast. Something of that same contrast, even contradiction, is in all of us when it comes to our relationship with the Lord. We have moments when we are in harmony with the Lord’s will for us and other moments when we are in conflict with his will for our lives. Yet the Lord kept faith with Peter, in spite of his failings, and the Lord keeps faith with us too, even when we show ourselves unfaithful to him. According to today’s gospel reading, Jesus built his church on a rather flawed rock, a rock that could quickly become a stumbling stone. When addressing Peter as the rock Jesus refers to the church as ‘my church’. Because it is his church, it will endure, even when those with pastoral responsibility for his church fail. Because the church has the risen Lord present within it until the end of the age (Mt 28:20), the gates of the underworld, the powers of evil and death, will never hold out against it; they will not ultimately triumph. Paul declares that Jesus is the ultimate foundation on which the church is built (1 Cor 3:11). Even when in our weakness as disciples we become stumbling stones, he at least remains our rock.

And/Or

(ii) Thursday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus addresses Peter in two very contrasting ways. He initially addresses Peter as the Rock, ‘You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church’. However, within the space of a few verses, Jesus then addresses Peter as Satan, ‘Get behind me Satan! You are an obstacle in my path’. Having addressed Peter as the rock on which he can build, Jesus then identifies him as a stumbling stone, an obstacle on Jesus’ path, because he was not thinking in God’s way. The fact that Peter could be a stumbling stone did not mean that he ceased to be the rock. Peter, like every human being, was complex. He was a mixture of wheat and weeds, to use an image from one of Jesus’ parables. In spite of his failings, Jesus appointed Peter as the rock, the focal point, of the new community he came to form. The Lord keeps faith in us even after we have failed him. The Lord can work powerfully in and through flawed human beings. What he does ask of us is that we keep striving for God’s way, as against a merely human way.

And/Or

(iii) Thursday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

In this morning’s gospel reading, Simon Peter shows great insight into Jesus, when he confesses him to be the Christ, the Son of the living God. This is the insight of faith. Jesus tells Peter that his insight is a graced insight. It is given to him by God. Faith, including the insight that faith gives rise to, is not just a human quality. It is a gift from God. It is because of Peter’s faith that Jesus declares him to be the rock on which he will build his church. Peter will have a foundational role in Jesus’ church. Jesus gives him a special authority, symbolized by the keys, and then indentifies this authority as a teaching authority. The task of binding and losing refers to Peter’s authoritative role in interpreting the teaching of Jesus for the community of believes. We have here a very exalted portrait of Peter as a man of deep faith which equips him for a teaching role in the church. Yet, this teacher immediately shows himself to be a slow learning. Jesus began to teach his disciples about the need for him to go to Jerusalem where he would suffer and die. Peter would have none of this talk; he rebuked Jesus for it. Peter’s faith in Jesus did not embrace the cross. The Son of the living God could not suffer and be put to death – be crucified. Because of Peter’s resistance to this suffering and vulnerable dimension of Jesus’ identity, Jesus now addresses him as an obstacle, a stumbling stone, an agent of Satan. The rock becomes a stumbling stone to trip Jesus up. Within one short reading, we see the best of Peter and the worst of Peter. He clearly had a lot of growing in faith to do. We are all people of faith here this morning. Yet we all need to grow in faith as well. We can never become complacent about our faith; we are always on a journey. God may have begun a good work in us, but he has yet to bring it to completion. Like Peter we can all have our bad moments when it comes to our relationship with Jesus and the living out of that relationship. Yet, the Lord continues to invest in us, as he continued to invest in Peter. We are not defined by our failures. They do not block the Lord from continuing his good work in our lives of bringing us to an ever deeper relationship with himself.

And/Or

(iv) Thursday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

The first question that Jesus asks of his disciples, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ is a relatively easy one. Even today we probably all feel we could say something about how other people see Jesus. Jesus’ second question is a more difficult one, because it is much more personal, ‘Who do you say I am?’ The question invites us to give our own personal confession of faith in Jesus. ‘Who is Jesus for me?’ We might struggle a little more to answer that question. We don’t always find it easy to articulate our own personal faith in the Lord. In the gospel reading, Peter comes forward to give his own personal answer to Jesus’ question, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’. It is a great answer really and Jesus declares Peter blessed because of this God-given insight he has into the identity of Jesus. Because of his answer Jesus sees in Peter the rock on which he can build his church. Peter can be the firm foundation on which the community of believers relies. He can be entrusted with the keys of the kingdom of heaven which allows him to bind and loose. The image of ‘keys’ suggests authority. The language of binding and loosing specifies that authority as a teaching authority. Peter is being given a very important role in Jesus’ church. Yet almost immediately Peter, the rock, because a stumbling stone for Jesus. When Jesus explains the kind of Christ or Messiah he will be, namely, one who is to suffer grievously and be put to death, Peter rebukes Jesus and tries to deflect him from this path. The one whom Jesus declared blessed is now identified by Jesus as Satan. Jesus did not take back the role in his church he had given Peter, but he was reminding Peter in no uncertain terms that he had a lot to learn. We all have a lot to learn when it comes to Jesus. We are constantly having to surrender to who Jesus is in all his mysterious reality, rather than trying to shape him in accordance with our own wishes.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf.

Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

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frmartinshomiliesandreflections · 8 years ago

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9th August >> Fr. Martin's Gospel Reflection on

Matthew 25:1-13 for the

Feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), Virgin, Martyr (Europe)

Matthew 15:21-28 for

Wednesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time (USA, New Zealand, Australia, Canada & Southern Africa).

Feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), Virgin, Martyr

Gospel (Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Canada & Southern Africa)

Matthew 25:1-13

Gospel (USA)

Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!

Reflections (3)

(i) Feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

Saint Teresa Benedict of the Cross, also known as Edith Stein, was born a Jew in 1891 in Poland. She had abandoned her Jewish faith by the time that she was thirteen and declared herself an atheist. A brilliant student, she gained her doctorate in philosophy at the age of twenty-three. In the wake of the awful slaughter of World War 1 Edith began to feel a growing interest in religion. In 1921 when she happened upon the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Avila, the sixteenth century Carmelite nun. With fascination, she read through the night and by morning concluded, ‘This is the truth’. She was baptized a Catholic the following New Year’s Day in 1922. Edith felt that by accepting Christ she had been reunited with her Jewish roots. She went on to obtain an academic post in the University of Munster in Germany in 1932. However, with the rise of Nazism she was dismissed from her post because she was considered a Jew. The loss of her job enabled her to pursue her growing attraction to the religious life. She applied to enter the Carmelite convent in Cologne and was formally clothed with the Carmelite habit on April 15, 1934. She took as her religious name, Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Believing that her presence in the convent endangered the sisters, she allowed herself to be smuggled out of the country to a Carmelite convent in Holland. In 1940 the Nazis occupied Holland. She was captured and sent to Auschwitz where she died in the gas chamber on August 9, 1942. In 1998 she was canonized as a confessor and martyr of the church by Pope John Paul II. In the parable Jesus tells in today’s gospel reading, only some of the bridesmaids had their lamps lighting when the bridegroom arrived. When a child is baptized, the priest says to the parents, ‘keep the flame of faith alive in his/her heart’. The parable calls on us to keep that flame of faith alive in our hearts, in good times and in bad. The dark experiences of life can sometimes cause the flame of our faith to flicker or even go out. Saint Teresa Benedicta kept the flame of her faith burning brightly in the most difficult of human situations, and she is an inspiration for us to do the same. There was a time in her life, in her youth, when the flame of her faith did go out. It was the reading of a saint’s life which fanned her faith into a living flame again. Her experience reminds us that when the flame of our own faith grows weak or is even extinguished, it can always be relit. The Lord can relight that flame once more. He can touch our hearts through some human experience, such as the reading of a saint’s life, as in the case of Saint Teresa Benedicta. The Lord is always working to find a way through to us.

And/Or

(ii) Feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

Saint Teresa Benedict of the Cross, also known as Edith Stein, was born a Jew in 1891 in Poland. She had abandoned her Jewish faith by the time that she was thirteen and declared herself an atheist. A brilliant student, she gained her doctorate in philosophy at the age of twenty three. In the wake of the awful slaughter of World War 1 Edith began to feel a growing interest in religion. This culminated one night in 1921 when she happened upon the autobiography of Saint Teresa of Avila, the sixteenth century Carmelite nun. With fascination, she read through the night and by morning concluded, ‘This is the truth’. She was baptized a Catholic on the following New Years Day in 1922. Edith felt that by accepting Christ she had been reunited, by a mysterious path, with her Jewish roots. She went on to obtain an academic post in the University of Munster in Germany in 1932. However, with the rise of Nazism she was dismissed from her post because she was considered a Jew. The loss of her job enabled her to pursue her growing attraction to the religious life. She applied to enter the Carmelite convent in Cologne and was formally clothed with the Carmelite habit on April 15, 1934. She took as her religious name, Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. Believing that her presence in the convent endangered the sisters, she allowed herself to be smuggled out of the country to a Carmelite convent in Holland. In 1940 the Nazis occupied Holland. She was captured and sent to Auschwitz where she died in the gas chamber on August 9, 1942. In the words of this morning’s gospel reading, she was ready when the bridegroom came, and went with him into the wedding banquet of eternal life. In 1998 she was canonized as a confessor and martyr of the church by Pope John Paul II. She sensed her forthcoming death and came to understand it as an act of solidarity with her Jewish people, an act of atonement for the evil of her time, and a conscious identification with the cross of Christ. She is an inspiration to all who are seeking the truth today. Her life inspires us not just to seek the truth but to live the truth of Christ, even if it means the loss of everything else. She calls out to us to keep our lamps burning, to keep the flame of faith alive in our hearts, even in the darkest night. She invites us to share her gospel conviction that the light of Christ shines in the darkness and the darkness will not overcome it.

And/Or

(iii) Feast of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

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Wednesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (New Zealand, Australia, Canada & Southern Africa)

Matthew 15:21-28

Jesus left Gennesaret and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Then out came a Canaanite woman from that district and started shouting, ‘Sir, Son of David, take pity on me. My daughter is tormented by a devil.’ But he answered her not a word. And his disciples went and pleaded with him. ‘Give her what she wants,’ they said ‘because she is shouting after us.’ He said in reply, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.’ But the woman had come up and was kneeling at his feet. ‘Lord,’ she said ‘help me.’ He replied, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house-dogs.’ She retorted, ‘Ah yes, sir; but even house-dogs can eat the scraps that fall from their master’s table.’ Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, you have great faith. Let your wish be granted.’ And from that moment her daughter was well again.

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 15: 21-28

O woman, great is your faith!

At that time Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not say a word in answer to her. His disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.” He said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But the woman came and did him homage, saying, “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.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.

Reflections (5)

(i) Wednesday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

The gospel reading this morning puts before us a pagan woman of tenacious faith. The initial response of Jesus to her desperate cry for help was one of silence. When the woman persisted with her request and Jesus addresses her directly for the first time, he seems to dismiss her request in a rather harsh fashion. Just as the woman was not put off by Jesus’ silence, she is not put off by his seemingly harsh refusal. She takes Jesus’ image of feeding the children rather than the house-dogs, the people of Israel rather than the pagans, and turns it to her own advantage. Eventually Jesus acknowledges her persistent and humble faith and grants her request. The gospel reading suggests that as far as Jesus was concerned the time had not yet come to bring the gospel to pagans; it would come later, after his death and resurrection. Yet, this woman succeeded in bringing forward that timetable by her persistent faith in the face of the Lord’s great reluctance. Jesus spoke at one point of a faith that can move mountains. This woman’s faith certainly moved Jesus. This pagan woman encourages all of us to remain faithful, even when the grounds for faithfulness seem to be very weak. She inspires us to keep seeking the Lord, even when the Lord appears to be silent and distant.

And/Or

(ii) Wednesday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

The meeting between Jesus and the pagan woman in today’s gospel reading is unusual in that Jesus seems to be much colder towards her than is usually the case in his dealings with people who approach him for help. He seems to go out of his way to avoid responding to her plea, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel’; ‘it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house dogs’, where the ‘children’ are the people of Israel and the ‘house dogs’ are the pagans. It seems that Jesus is not ready to engage with pagans; his focus for the moment is his own people. Yet, the woman will not take ‘no’ for an answer. She persists, in the face of Jesus’ stone walling and even identifies with the house dogs who eat the crumbs that fall from the children’s table. She shows wit as well as faith. Eventually, she breaks down Jesus’ resistance and Jesus has to acknowledge her great faith and so grants he request. When people are desperate, as she was, they are not easily deflected. This woman encourages us all to keep seeking the Lord, even when he seems unresponsive and distant. The Lord’s seeming unresponsiveness can be an opportunity for us to keep giving expression to our faith, just as it was for the woman in today’s gospel reading.

And/Or

(iii) Wednesday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

The unnamed pagan woman in this morning’s gospel reading has been described as one of the great heroes of the gospel tradition. It is not easy for us as readers of the gospels today to appreciate the barrier between Jews and pagans in the time of Jesus. Jesus himself shows an awareness of that barrier when he says to the pagan woman who approaches him for healing for her daughter, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel’. In Matthew’s gospel it is only after the resurrection that Jesus sends his disciples to proclaim the gospel to all nations, Jews and pagans. Up until then, the focus of Jesus would be the renewal of Israel. However, this pagan woman is not prepared to wait. In spite of Jesus’ great reluctance to respond to her request, her persistent faith in Jesus and her great wit finally brings crashing down the barrier between Jesus a Jew and herself a pagan. A woman of outstanding faith brings forward Jesus’ timetable for proclaiming the gospel to the pagans. The woman stands in for all of us; she is a wonderful example for all of us of persistent faith. She kept on believing, even in the face of the Lord’s silence and resistance. As a result, her faith created a space for the Lord to work in a powerful and unexpected way. She teaches us that the Lord needs our persistent faith if God’s purpose for our lives and for humanity is to come to pass.

And/Or

(iv) Wednesday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

This morning’s gospel reading strikes many of us as surprising. Jesus’ attitude towards the pagan woman seems harsh and unfeeling. When she approaches him to heal her sick daughter, she is first met with stony silence. When she continues to shout after Jesus and his disciples, Jesus informs her that he was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. When she comes closer to Jesus and kneels at his feet pleading in great simplicity, ‘Help me’, Jesus responded with what sounds to our ears like a harsh parable, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and through it to the house-dogs’. The ‘children’ here are the children of Israel, the ‘house-dogs’ are the pagans. Yet this woman won’t take ‘no’ for an answer. She takes Jesus’ parable and with great wit turns it to her advantage, declaring that even house-dogs often get to eat the scraps that fall from the children’s plates at table. The gospel reading suggests that Jesus was not ready to begin his ministry to the pagans; that would come later. His work of renewing Israel came first. Yet this woman’s love for her daughter would change Jesus’ timetable. He could not remain unmoved by her great faith. Her daughter would be healed. The woman encourages us to keep on seeking, to keep on knocking, to keep on asking, even when the Lord seems silent and unresponsive. Jesus once spoke of a faith that moves mountains. Her faith moved Jesus; it was a faith that created an unexpected space for Jesus to work in a life-giving way. That is the kind faith that is needed more than ever today, from all of us.

And/Or

(v) Wednesday, Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

The pagan woman in this morning’s gospel reading has been described as one of the great heroes of the gospel tradition. She displays a mother’s identification with her child. Although it is her daughter who is in need, her prayer to Jesus is ‘take pity on me... help me’. Her daughter’s distress is her distress; her daughter’s need is her need. Twice she appeared to be rebuffed by Jesus. On the first occasion, he responded to her plea with silence. On the second occasion, Jesus declared to her that his mission was to the people of Israel, that the food intended for God’s children cannot be thrown to the house-dogs, the pagans. Yet, this desperate woman sees an opening in that image of children and house-dogs that Jesus uses. She declares that the children and the house dogs can eat together as happens when the house dogs eat the crumbs that fall to the ground from what the children are eating. This witty and ingenious interpretation of Jesus’ image finally brings Jesus to grant her request, ‘Woman, you have great faith. Let your request be granted’. Jesus may have wanted to limit his mission to the people of Israel during his earthly ministry, but this pagan woman could not wait and in the end Jesus could not but grant her request. She displays the kind of faith that moves mountains; her faith certainly moved Jesus. She shows us what persevering faith against all the odds looks like. Here is a faith that endured in the face of silence and resistance from the Lord. It is perhaps the purest form of faith imaginable. It is the kind of faith that endures the dark night of the soul and waits patiently for the dawn.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

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