"The scribes and the Pharisees
have taken their seat on the chair of Moses.
Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you,
but do not follow their example.
For they preach but they do not practice." -MT 23:2-3
08/23/2014 Saturday in the Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time
They don't practice what they preach! How horribly hypocritical! Well then, that's a good reason for us to totally ignore them and do whatever we want!
How often is this our attitude? When I was little I had a cardiologist who was a smoker. Can you imagine that? A pediatric cardiologist who smokes! That is totally absurd! But you know what, he was not only an incredibly kind, patient, loving and remarkable man, he was also an incredible cardiologist.
We see this in the lives of so many saints as well. As the old saying goes; "Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future!" As human beings, we are not perfect. But there is nothing to say that God cannot speak and act through us despite those imperfections. The bible is a book FULL of examples of this. The Old Testament has a string of questionable characters. St. Paul persecuted Christians before his encounter with Christ and becoming the greatest evangelist for His good news. Peter denied Christ to save his own skin out of fear, but he became the rock upon which Christ would build his church and our first pope.
The message is double-sided. First, make sure you give everyone a fair shot. Sometimes you have to listen to what people say independent of the source. Nobody has a patent on good ideas and God can point you along your path using any signpost He wants.
The other side of this is to remember that you too are an imperfect vessel. But your imperfections do not keep you from being an instrument of God. He is capable of bringing you through anything He calls you to do. As followers of Christ, we have a responsibility to try to improve our imperfections and follow Jesus more perfectly every day but that doesn't mean we need to keep our mouths shut until we reach perfection. We need to share our journey with others and help to lead them closer to God as well.
Everyone have a good weekend and don't forget this Sunday is, well, Sunday, so get to Mass! You never know what God has waiting there for you.
God bless,
P.D.O.
Quick housekeeping note- I am taking a few days away from the computer as I have been logging major screen time lately and need to get back in touch with the real, organic world. I should be back and writing again on Monday night.
Friday, August 22, 2014
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Daily Mass Readings 08/22/2014 or Tag, you're it! No, you're it! Oh yeah, well what about that OTHER thing it says in Leviticus!?!?
"You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments." -MT 22:37-40
08/22/2014 Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Here they go again. Those crazy Pharisees and Sadducees, they are always trying to beat Jesus with the 'Gotcha' game. Moses let us divorce Jesus. What do you think? Why'd you heal that guy on the Sabbath? Why are your disciples picking grain? Huh, Jesus, what do you say to THAT one, smart guy..... and on and on. But they never win.
In this instance Jesus basically tells them, hey, you can have all the laws memorized and committed to your photographic memory, but if you don't have love in your heart for others and seek out the desires God has for you, you're going nowhere. The other thing that this gospel reading brings to mind for me is the idea of Jesus' yolk being easy and light and not a burden. You notice he doesn't say that the other laws aren't important, he says they all depend on these two. You see, when you love the Lord and your neighbor, the commandments do not feel like a burden or even a restriction.
Let me give an example. I have absolutely no desire to go on a rampage and wreck all the cars in a parking lot with a baseball bat (as therapeutic as that may seem some days) so for me to refrain from doing that and comply with the law is not a big issue.
Because I love God and try my best to orient my life toward His plan for me, the commandments aren't restrictive rules bearing down on me from some taskmaster, they are guidelines from a loving father. And my compliance with them is not for fear of retribution or the damnation of my immortal soul, it is an expression of love and gratitude to my creator for all of the blessings I have. When I fail, and I do so often, I don't fear God's wrath as much as I feel like I let down someone who loves me; someone who would die for me.
Oh, by the way, the 'gotcha' game has not gone away. Just check out any of the mainstream media's reporting about what Pope Francis allegedly said this week, watch any online commentary about any of the hot-button moral issues or between atheists and believers. Snippets of the bible are passed back and forth venomously, never more than two lines at a time and never in context, whether historical or literary. They try to 'get' us and we try to 'get' them and in the end neither of us 'GETS' the others at all.
Sadly, when it comes to encouraging civilized dialogue, I am short on ideas, (perhaps owing to Sicilian and Irish heritage) so most of the time I just keep quiet. It's sort of the other extreme from the venomous exchange, and in many ways, it too is neither loving to God, nor my neighbor.
God bless,
P.D.O.
with all your soul, and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments." -MT 22:37-40
08/22/2014 Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Here they go again. Those crazy Pharisees and Sadducees, they are always trying to beat Jesus with the 'Gotcha' game. Moses let us divorce Jesus. What do you think? Why'd you heal that guy on the Sabbath? Why are your disciples picking grain? Huh, Jesus, what do you say to THAT one, smart guy..... and on and on. But they never win.
In this instance Jesus basically tells them, hey, you can have all the laws memorized and committed to your photographic memory, but if you don't have love in your heart for others and seek out the desires God has for you, you're going nowhere. The other thing that this gospel reading brings to mind for me is the idea of Jesus' yolk being easy and light and not a burden. You notice he doesn't say that the other laws aren't important, he says they all depend on these two. You see, when you love the Lord and your neighbor, the commandments do not feel like a burden or even a restriction.
Let me give an example. I have absolutely no desire to go on a rampage and wreck all the cars in a parking lot with a baseball bat (as therapeutic as that may seem some days) so for me to refrain from doing that and comply with the law is not a big issue.
Because I love God and try my best to orient my life toward His plan for me, the commandments aren't restrictive rules bearing down on me from some taskmaster, they are guidelines from a loving father. And my compliance with them is not for fear of retribution or the damnation of my immortal soul, it is an expression of love and gratitude to my creator for all of the blessings I have. When I fail, and I do so often, I don't fear God's wrath as much as I feel like I let down someone who loves me; someone who would die for me.
Oh, by the way, the 'gotcha' game has not gone away. Just check out any of the mainstream media's reporting about what Pope Francis allegedly said this week, watch any online commentary about any of the hot-button moral issues or between atheists and believers. Snippets of the bible are passed back and forth venomously, never more than two lines at a time and never in context, whether historical or literary. They try to 'get' us and we try to 'get' them and in the end neither of us 'GETS' the others at all.
Sadly, when it comes to encouraging civilized dialogue, I am short on ideas, (perhaps owing to Sicilian and Irish heritage) so most of the time I just keep quiet. It's sort of the other extreme from the venomous exchange, and in many ways, it too is neither loving to God, nor my neighbor.
God bless,
P.D.O.
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Daily Mass Readings 08/21/2014 or When the Holy Spirit Lights you up Don't Stop, Drop and Roll, Set the World on Fire!
"A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me." -PS 51:12-13
Wednesday of the Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time
Have you ever noticed that there are some things that, no matter how hard you try to improve them, no matter how much resolve you can muster, eventually you fall back into the same negative patterns. It can happen with sin, and does thanks to the fall in the garden and our subsequent concupiscence. But it need not apply just to the things that imperil our immortal soul.
It's like a diet. I know I should only eat healthy food and I know I need to get off my, you know what and exercise and I may manage to start and possibly hold it together for a few days or dare I say, a few weeks even. Eventually though, I want a large Italian sub, with french fries and a chocolate milk to wash it down. The temptation is there, and, poof, I give in.
Food is one thing, but it's the unhealthy diet of sin and negativity that is most dangerous for us. It's that fear that we will fail; that part of our brain that only hears the voices telling us we're not good enough. Sometimes it's even our own voice inside telling us the same thing.
Do you really think that's what God wants for us? Does he want us to be fearfully sitting alone in a room not taking the chance on touching others' lives? Or do you think He might have something more planned for us?
So the words of the psalmist ring on, asking God to fulfill in us what we know we can be with His grace:
"A clean heart create for me, O God"
Lord please help me to be stronger against temptation to sin. Give me a clean heart that desires only to do your will for me, positively and enthusiastically spreading your good news.
"A steadfast spirit renew within me"
Give me the courage to be the bold, amazing, wonder of creation that you made me. The persistence to be the best version of myself, the man you created me to be!
"Cast me not out from your presence"
Please draw me nearer to you Lord so that I can feel your love for me burning and radiate that glow to others.
"and your Holy Spirit take not from me."
Give me the wisdom to see your plan for me and the courage to pursue it. When I am feeling weak, or beaten, or not good enough, sustain me with the power of your Holy Spirit so that I may become unstoppable!
Take time today to listen to God's plans for you and ask for the courage to fearlessly set out on that journey.
"Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire." -St. Catherine of Sienna
God bless,
P.D.O.
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me." -PS 51:12-13
Wednesday of the Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time
Have you ever noticed that there are some things that, no matter how hard you try to improve them, no matter how much resolve you can muster, eventually you fall back into the same negative patterns. It can happen with sin, and does thanks to the fall in the garden and our subsequent concupiscence. But it need not apply just to the things that imperil our immortal soul.
It's like a diet. I know I should only eat healthy food and I know I need to get off my, you know what and exercise and I may manage to start and possibly hold it together for a few days or dare I say, a few weeks even. Eventually though, I want a large Italian sub, with french fries and a chocolate milk to wash it down. The temptation is there, and, poof, I give in.
Food is one thing, but it's the unhealthy diet of sin and negativity that is most dangerous for us. It's that fear that we will fail; that part of our brain that only hears the voices telling us we're not good enough. Sometimes it's even our own voice inside telling us the same thing.
Do you really think that's what God wants for us? Does he want us to be fearfully sitting alone in a room not taking the chance on touching others' lives? Or do you think He might have something more planned for us?
So the words of the psalmist ring on, asking God to fulfill in us what we know we can be with His grace:
"A clean heart create for me, O God"
Lord please help me to be stronger against temptation to sin. Give me a clean heart that desires only to do your will for me, positively and enthusiastically spreading your good news.
"A steadfast spirit renew within me"
Give me the courage to be the bold, amazing, wonder of creation that you made me. The persistence to be the best version of myself, the man you created me to be!
"Cast me not out from your presence"
Please draw me nearer to you Lord so that I can feel your love for me burning and radiate that glow to others.
"and your Holy Spirit take not from me."
Give me the wisdom to see your plan for me and the courage to pursue it. When I am feeling weak, or beaten, or not good enough, sustain me with the power of your Holy Spirit so that I may become unstoppable!
Take time today to listen to God's plans for you and ask for the courage to fearlessly set out on that journey.
"Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire." -St. Catherine of Sienna
God bless,
P.D.O.
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Daily Mass Readings 08/20/2014 or Being part of God's flock isn't BAA-d in fact, it's Shear Joy!
"For thus says the Lord GOD:
I myself will look after and tend my sheep." EZ 34:11
Daily Mass readings 08/20/2014 Memorial of St. Bernard
Ah, how I do enjoy being referred to as a sheep!
No, seriously, I do. If my shepherd is the Creator of the Universe and the Author of Life, I am blessed to be a woolly member of His flock.
This passage in Ezekiel is great because he is telling us exactly what the Lord is going to do for us. He is going to come down and take care of business on his own. The imagery of a shepherd trusting his flock to others and then coming himself to save them from mistreatment is uplifting and really should confirm for us how much God wants to draw us back to Himself. Through the prophet Ezekiel, God is telling us that He will come after us because we are worth being pursued.
And the psalm for today is a familiar one as well, Psalm 23 (which I wrote about here). The prophecy gives way to a description of God's love for us and desire to be in relationship with us, blessing us and protecting us. Again, that sounds like a pretty good shepherd to fall in with, no?
What I really like about both of these readings is what it tells us about Jesus. First, the prophecy of Ezekiel foretells exactly what Jesus does when he comes to us. He runs out the old guard and their overbearing ways and shows us that our relationship with Him is not a legalistic exchange of 'x' for 'y', but it is a spiritual exchange of love where we become a part of His love for us all. But even if it were not enough that Jesus lives out and fulfills Ezekiel's prophecy, these readings give Jesus the opportunity to tell us in plain words,who he is. "I am the good shepherd." JN 10:11. Jesus is telling the apostles in very plain language that he is God. He and the father are the same, consubstantial as we refer to it in the creed during Mass.
I know it's not in the readings for today, but when Jesus says that, he is verifying that he is God and that he has come here to pursue us and bring us back to Him.
A couple of years ago we were listening to the girls' CD that they had gotten from Vacation Bible School and there was a song with the lyrics:
"Here is our King
Here is our love
Here is our God who's come
To bring us back to Him
He is the One
He is Jesus"
It was written by the David Crowder Band
Here is the Kingdom Rock VBS version
In that moment, the truth of it all hit me so hard I got choked up while I was trying to sing along. (and if you've heard my singing, then you would know anything that puts an end to that is a blessing)
I then decided that it had been too long since I had been to the sacrament of reconciliation because if He came here to share in our suffering and die so that we could be forgiven, I could at least take the time to stop in and let Him forgive me.
You see there, in the end, it always goes back to God pursuing us for that relationship with Him. As a Catholic I feel abundantly blessed that we exercise that relationship in such a palpable way through the sacraments that Christ left His Church.
Come to think of it, I'm kinda overdue for reconciliation again. I best make that a priority.
God bless,
P.D.O.
I myself will look after and tend my sheep." EZ 34:11
Daily Mass readings 08/20/2014 Memorial of St. Bernard
Ah, how I do enjoy being referred to as a sheep!
No, seriously, I do. If my shepherd is the Creator of the Universe and the Author of Life, I am blessed to be a woolly member of His flock.
This passage in Ezekiel is great because he is telling us exactly what the Lord is going to do for us. He is going to come down and take care of business on his own. The imagery of a shepherd trusting his flock to others and then coming himself to save them from mistreatment is uplifting and really should confirm for us how much God wants to draw us back to Himself. Through the prophet Ezekiel, God is telling us that He will come after us because we are worth being pursued.
And the psalm for today is a familiar one as well, Psalm 23 (which I wrote about here). The prophecy gives way to a description of God's love for us and desire to be in relationship with us, blessing us and protecting us. Again, that sounds like a pretty good shepherd to fall in with, no?
What I really like about both of these readings is what it tells us about Jesus. First, the prophecy of Ezekiel foretells exactly what Jesus does when he comes to us. He runs out the old guard and their overbearing ways and shows us that our relationship with Him is not a legalistic exchange of 'x' for 'y', but it is a spiritual exchange of love where we become a part of His love for us all. But even if it were not enough that Jesus lives out and fulfills Ezekiel's prophecy, these readings give Jesus the opportunity to tell us in plain words,who he is. "I am the good shepherd." JN 10:11. Jesus is telling the apostles in very plain language that he is God. He and the father are the same, consubstantial as we refer to it in the creed during Mass.
I know it's not in the readings for today, but when Jesus says that, he is verifying that he is God and that he has come here to pursue us and bring us back to Him.
A couple of years ago we were listening to the girls' CD that they had gotten from Vacation Bible School and there was a song with the lyrics:
"Here is our King
Here is our love
Here is our God who's come
To bring us back to Him
He is the One
He is Jesus"
It was written by the David Crowder Band
Here is the Kingdom Rock VBS version
In that moment, the truth of it all hit me so hard I got choked up while I was trying to sing along. (and if you've heard my singing, then you would know anything that puts an end to that is a blessing)
I then decided that it had been too long since I had been to the sacrament of reconciliation because if He came here to share in our suffering and die so that we could be forgiven, I could at least take the time to stop in and let Him forgive me.
You see there, in the end, it always goes back to God pursuing us for that relationship with Him. As a Catholic I feel abundantly blessed that we exercise that relationship in such a palpable way through the sacraments that Christ left His Church.
Come to think of it, I'm kinda overdue for reconciliation again. I best make that a priority.
God bless,
P.D.O.
Monday, August 18, 2014
Daily Mass Readings 08/19/2014 or I lost My Mind Once and Thought I was Really Smart
“‘Our own hand won the victory;
the LORD had nothing to do with it.’”
For they are a people devoid of reason,
having no understanding." -DT 32:27cd-28
Tuesday of the Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time
I used to be an atheist. For a short time, around the age of 20, I thought the idea of God was a foolish one for weak people. I thought I was really smart, a true intellectual because I had disposed of the need for this 'crutch' and I was still a good person.
I wonder sometimes when that changed in me and I can't pinpoint a day or an event or a specific turning point. My return was really more gradual. A quiet, still, soft voice, you might say, calling me back to Him. To this day I can't explain why God would call me back to His love and mercy. Maybe He is always softly calling all of us and we only hear it when we listen for it.
I do know this. I am a pretty smart guy with a good head on my shoulders and an engaged intellectual curiosity and now when I look around, I can't conceive of how I could not see God's work and power all around me when I was 20 or so.
I think about the monumental tasks we take on. Marriage, parenting, loving, opening ourselves fearlessly and giving to other people from our hearts. All of these things are extremely brave undertakings and cannot be successful without God's help.
But we do live in a nation that is boastful. 'Look at how great we are! God has nothing to do with it.' and we insist that since He has nothing to do with our greatness, that we must push God out of our society, out of our public square. We've become so arrogant that we think God is the bad guy. Does anyone remember the first two people who were deceived into thinking that? Does anyone remember who deceived them?
We think it makes us smart, enlightened and intellectual to push God out. We think it increases our reason, but in the end it will only stunt our achievements to our own, ordinary, human, limits. We become devoid of reason and with it, passes the extraordinary.
God Bless,
P.D.O.
the LORD had nothing to do with it.’”
For they are a people devoid of reason,
having no understanding." -DT 32:27cd-28
Tuesday of the Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time
I used to be an atheist. For a short time, around the age of 20, I thought the idea of God was a foolish one for weak people. I thought I was really smart, a true intellectual because I had disposed of the need for this 'crutch' and I was still a good person.
I wonder sometimes when that changed in me and I can't pinpoint a day or an event or a specific turning point. My return was really more gradual. A quiet, still, soft voice, you might say, calling me back to Him. To this day I can't explain why God would call me back to His love and mercy. Maybe He is always softly calling all of us and we only hear it when we listen for it.
I do know this. I am a pretty smart guy with a good head on my shoulders and an engaged intellectual curiosity and now when I look around, I can't conceive of how I could not see God's work and power all around me when I was 20 or so.
I think about the monumental tasks we take on. Marriage, parenting, loving, opening ourselves fearlessly and giving to other people from our hearts. All of these things are extremely brave undertakings and cannot be successful without God's help.
But we do live in a nation that is boastful. 'Look at how great we are! God has nothing to do with it.' and we insist that since He has nothing to do with our greatness, that we must push God out of our society, out of our public square. We've become so arrogant that we think God is the bad guy. Does anyone remember the first two people who were deceived into thinking that? Does anyone remember who deceived them?
We think it makes us smart, enlightened and intellectual to push God out. We think it increases our reason, but in the end it will only stunt our achievements to our own, ordinary, human, limits. We become devoid of reason and with it, passes the extraordinary.
God Bless,
P.D.O.
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Daily Readings 08/18/2014 or If You are Crying While Driving your Lamborghini, You Should Probably Drive it to Church
"The young man said to him,
“All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?”
Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go,
sell what you have and give to the poor,
and you will have treasure in heaven.
Then come, follow me.”
When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad,
for he had many possessions." -MT 19:20-22
Monday of the Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time 08/18/2014
The rich young man in the reading has done all of the superficial things he needed to gain eternal life but the thing making it unattainable for him was internal. It wasn't having a lot of possessions that presented the problem for him, it was his attachment to those things that was an issue. He wasn't willing to give all he had to follow Jesus. There was one thing commanded of him that he could not comply with in his heart.
And so it was for us, probably around this time of year, that we were sitting in Mass and our pastor challenged us, asking, "What is the one thing keeping you from getting closer to God?"
My wife and I knew what it was for us and within a couple of weeks we were learning about charting and working towards expressing God's full intention for our marriage. You see, this was the gospel reading that led my wife and I to start practicing Natural Family Planning.
That decision has changed our life, improved our relationship with each other and brought us closer to the true nuptial meaning of God's gift of our sexuality and that is inestimably wonderful. However, the question that Father Gary Belliveau, our pastor at the time, asked, is one that we should all be constantly asking ourselves.
What is in my life right now that I know I need to give up to become closer to God, but with which I am not willing to part?
Judgment? White lies? A bad temper? Selfishness? Envy? Pornography? Attachment to earthly wealth?
What is your false idol?
Another question to ask, almost naturally following that, would be:
How have I twisted God into my own image of what I think He should be, so that I don't feel the need to part with these things?
God bless,
P.D.O.
“All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?”
Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go,
sell what you have and give to the poor,
and you will have treasure in heaven.
Then come, follow me.”
When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad,
for he had many possessions." -MT 19:20-22
Monday of the Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time 08/18/2014
The rich young man in the reading has done all of the superficial things he needed to gain eternal life but the thing making it unattainable for him was internal. It wasn't having a lot of possessions that presented the problem for him, it was his attachment to those things that was an issue. He wasn't willing to give all he had to follow Jesus. There was one thing commanded of him that he could not comply with in his heart.
And so it was for us, probably around this time of year, that we were sitting in Mass and our pastor challenged us, asking, "What is the one thing keeping you from getting closer to God?"
My wife and I knew what it was for us and within a couple of weeks we were learning about charting and working towards expressing God's full intention for our marriage. You see, this was the gospel reading that led my wife and I to start practicing Natural Family Planning.
That decision has changed our life, improved our relationship with each other and brought us closer to the true nuptial meaning of God's gift of our sexuality and that is inestimably wonderful. However, the question that Father Gary Belliveau, our pastor at the time, asked, is one that we should all be constantly asking ourselves.
What is in my life right now that I know I need to give up to become closer to God, but with which I am not willing to part?
Judgment? White lies? A bad temper? Selfishness? Envy? Pornography? Attachment to earthly wealth?
What is your false idol?
Another question to ask, almost naturally following that, would be:
How have I twisted God into my own image of what I think He should be, so that I don't feel the need to part with these things?
God bless,
P.D.O.
Saturday, August 16, 2014
Daily readings 08/17/2014 or If you get too full, everyone can bring home a doggy bag!
"“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 the woman’s daughter was healed from that hour." -MT 15:26-28
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time 08/17/2014
Anyone who reads the gospels and knows about Jesus is pretty aware that he didn't go around regularly calling people dogs. He did, however, often do things and say things to illustrate a point. And being God in the flesh, it's probably safe to assume he could read people's hearts and know how they would respond to his words and actions. This leads me to think that he was using the reference to the Canaanites as 'dogs' to illustrate a point, knowing full well that this woman would respond to him in faith and that he would go on to heal her daughter.
The point he is making is that he intends to open salvation up to everyone, not just the Jews. In a sense, it could come off like he's taking them down a peg saying, look, this woman is a gentile, she is not one of God's 'chosen people', but because she has faith in me, I am going to respond to her. But in a very real sense, he's not taking them down a peg as much as showing them that there just aren't any pegs?
He's not denying the dignity of the Jews in the least. Certainly he's calling out their false sense of superiority and their overblown pride, but he isn't lowering their dignity at all. He is showing them that all people have the dignity of being created in the image and likeness of God, and all people are deserving of that respect.
Considering what Isaiah, one of their own prophets, wrote in the first reading, quite frankly, they shouldn't have been surprised.
But then again, here we are with God, in the flesh teaching us this lesson and we still can't get it right. Well, I guess that's something we can all work on changing this week, right?
God bless,
P.D.O.
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 the woman’s daughter was healed from that hour." -MT 15:26-28
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time 08/17/2014
Anyone who reads the gospels and knows about Jesus is pretty aware that he didn't go around regularly calling people dogs. He did, however, often do things and say things to illustrate a point. And being God in the flesh, it's probably safe to assume he could read people's hearts and know how they would respond to his words and actions. This leads me to think that he was using the reference to the Canaanites as 'dogs' to illustrate a point, knowing full well that this woman would respond to him in faith and that he would go on to heal her daughter.
The point he is making is that he intends to open salvation up to everyone, not just the Jews. In a sense, it could come off like he's taking them down a peg saying, look, this woman is a gentile, she is not one of God's 'chosen people', but because she has faith in me, I am going to respond to her. But in a very real sense, he's not taking them down a peg as much as showing them that there just aren't any pegs?
He's not denying the dignity of the Jews in the least. Certainly he's calling out their false sense of superiority and their overblown pride, but he isn't lowering their dignity at all. He is showing them that all people have the dignity of being created in the image and likeness of God, and all people are deserving of that respect.
Considering what Isaiah, one of their own prophets, wrote in the first reading, quite frankly, they shouldn't have been surprised.
But then again, here we are with God, in the flesh teaching us this lesson and we still can't get it right. Well, I guess that's something we can all work on changing this week, right?
God bless,
P.D.O.
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