GOD’S WORD FOR THE DAY (based on Catholic Liturgical Readings)
DATE: 20TH AUGUST 2017
TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
FIRST READING: Isaiah 56:1, 6-7
PSALM: Psalm 67:2-3, 5,6,8
SECOND READING: Romans 11:13-15, 29-32
GOSPEL: Matthew 15:21-28
THEME: “O WOMAN, GREAT IS YOUR FAITH”
We all have dreams and aspirations but it takes a certain push to make them come true. Desires are good but as someone rightly said, “they do not put food on the table”. Faith gives that push and initiates the needed action to make things happen. Faith by nature is more of a verb than a noun.
A Canaanite woman, we are told, expressed her desire to Jesus saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon” (Mt. 15:22). Apparently, there was no response from the Lord. This made the disciples to say, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us” (Mt. 15:23). Next, her desire took on the character of faith in action with her persistence, gesture (kneeling before the Lord) and utterance (“Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table”). Her faith moved Jesus to grant her request – “Woman, you have great faith. Let your desire be granted” (Mt. 15:28). Take note, Jesus did not say “Woman you have great desire”. He said, “Woman you have great faith.” On account of her faith, we are told that from that moment her daughter was well again.
In and through the person of Jesus, God has established a new relationship with humanity, a relationship no longer founded on blood or by belonging to a particular tribe/nationality but on faith. It fulfils the prophetic promise made in the First Reading to the gentile world: “Thus says the Lord…the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord…I will bring to my holy mountain” (Is. 56:1, 6-7). This renewed understanding of how one becomes part of the family of God was at the heart of the missionary mandate of Paul who, in the Second Reading, refers to himself as ‘the apostle to the Gentiles’. His mission was to elicit faith in the hearts of the gentiles because where there is faith in Jesus, salvation is possible.
Faith is trusting in the Lord’s ability in the face of one’s own inability. Faith is persevering in prayer even if it appears the Lord is delaying or unresponsive to a request. Many of us easily give up when our prayers are not yielding immediate results. We ought to be inspired by the story of the Canaanite woman. When we have prayed and prayed and yet nothing seems to work, we should pray again. It pays to persevere. Jesus cannot be pushed around but if you have faith, you can “move” him to favour you.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I turn to you in prayer. I kneel before you and with faith, humbly present this petition of mine to your Sacred Heart…(name the request)…No one ever came to you, trusting wholeheartedly and was left unaided for there is nothing too difficult for you. Favour me and grant this request of mine. For the sake of your name I pray. Amen.
Andrews Obeng, svd
DIVINE WORD MISSIONARIES
BIBLICAL PASTORAL MINISTRY
(Ghana Province)
“May the darkness of sin and the night of unbelief vanish before the light of the Word and the Spirit of grace. And may the heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all people” (St. Arnold Janssen).