\u00c2\u00a0 August 17, 2008<\/p>\n
There’s great news for all of you in today’s scripture!\u00c2\u00a0 God wants all of you to be saved.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
First, Isaiah says:\u00c2\u00a0 “For my salvation is about to come, my justice is about to be revealed”.\u00c2\u00a0 Then, St. Paul echoes this same theme when he says:\u00c2\u00a0 “For the gifts of the call are irrevocable.”\u00c2\u00a0 The call is the call to be a member of the Kingdom of God; the gift is everlasting life.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, all of you are called to that gift.\u00c2\u00a0 And finally, Jesus says in the gospel that the Canaanite women is saved by her faith.\u00c2\u00a0 This was a real departure- Jesus is travelling outside Palestine- the only time he ever did that.\u00c2\u00a0 The area was populated by Canaanites- traditional enemies of the Jews\u00c2\u00a0 So, as a Jew practicing Jewish tradition, Jesus was just affirming the belief that only the chosen Israeli people could be saved when he says: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel”.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
But, the Canaanite woman was excepted because of her true faith and the active response to that faith she displayed- by her persistence.\u00c2\u00a0 This exception applies to all of us.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 So these readings bring to mind two important things about salvation.\u00c2\u00a0 First, that God has called everybody to be saved and to experience eternal happiness.\u00c2\u00a0 And second, that our response to that call is important.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
First, consider that God wants everybody to be saved.\u00c2\u00a0 That means he wants you- all of you out there.\u00c2\u00a0 He also wants the guy that cut you off on the way into the parking lot; the difficult boss you work for; the bully at the school you attend; the neighborhood gossip; the atheist you see on the talk show; and even those weird looking people you’d rather not associate with.\u00c2\u00a0 He wants everybody.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
I have two short stories that demonstrate this point.\u00c2\u00a0 The first has to do with a recently canonized saint.\u00c2\u00a0 In 2006, the pope canonized St. Raphael Guizar, a Bishop from Mexico.\u00c2\u00a0 St. Raphael prayed constantly that his bitter enemy would be saved.\u00c2\u00a0 In fact, he was quoted as praying that he would give his right eye if God would give his saving grace to this hard-hearted sinner.\u00c2\u00a0 Thirty years after his death, Raphael’s body was exhumed so that they could move it to a new burial place.\u00c2\u00a0 They were amazed to find his body still fully intact- just as soft and pliable, and as unspoiled as the day he was buried- except- except for his right eye, which was totally decomposed.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
The second story involves St. Theresa of Lisieux.\u00c2\u00a0 St. Theresa prayed incessantly that a notorious murderer would experience a change of heart, and repent of his sins.\u00c2\u00a0 Despite her daily prayers, the villain refused a priest repeatedly while awaiting execution.\u00c2\u00a0 But, just before his execution, as he lay before the executioner’s sword, he asked for a crucifix, which he kissed, and then proceeded to ask for forgiveness.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yes, God wants all of you to be saved.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s why Jesus died for us- all of us.\u00c2\u00a0 We are all sinners; but no matter what we’ve done, we are all called to the Kingdom of God.\u00c2\u00a0 It is not up to you and I to judge our peers; \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0The justice of which Isaiah speaks is God’s justice, not ours.\u00c2\u00a0 So, hard as it is to believe, God wants all to be saved, even those obnoxious, and seemingly despicable people in the world that nobody likes.\u00c2\u00a0 In fact, as the two stories show, God wants us to pray for our enemies, because by our sacrifices and prayers, we help to convert even the hardest of hearts, and win over sinners for God’s Kingdom.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sometimes, though, we become pre-occupied with judging and condemning others when our focus should be on the second important factor- our response to the call.\u00c2\u00a0 The Canaanite woman demonstrates some very important qualities that we should all exhibit in response to God’s call to us:\u00c2\u00a0 Love, Humility, Faith and Persistence.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now it’s important to understand just how much of an outsider the Canaanite woman was.\u00c2\u00a0 She was not a Jew; she belonged to a group that had been bitter enemies of the Jews.\u00c2\u00a0 In fact, she is not even described as a God-Fearer. \u00c2\u00a0God-Fearers were a gentile people who, despite the fact that they were not Jewish by lineage, followed the God of Israel as their own.\u00c2\u00a0 No, this lady simply heard Jesus, and came to believe that he was the Messiah.\u00c2\u00a0 There is no question of her love, for her actions on behalf of her daughter spoke clearly.\u00c2\u00a0 She was willing to risk public humiliation, and rejection by her own Canaanite people by following after Jesus persistently.\u00c2\u00a0 Her willingness to forget herself in deference to her daughter demonstrates real love.\u00c2\u00a0 Second, she was filled with real faith.\u00c2\u00a0 She addresses Jesus as Lord, the term used to describe God himself by the Jews.\u00c2\u00a0 And she prostrated herself before Jesus as is to give homage to Him.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, she believed that this was God that she was appealing to.\u00c2\u00a0 Jesus sensed the genuine faith, and complemented her.\u00c2\u00a0 Lastly, she was humble.\u00c2\u00a0 Though persistent, she was low key, and respectful.\u00c2\u00a0 Her responses to the comment about the dogs eating the scraps from the table clearly show her humility.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
So let us put aside your judgment of others, and concentrate on your response to the call to the Kingdom of God.\u00c2\u00a0 Practice the virtues- Love, Faith, and Humility.\u00c2\u00a0 And above all- be persistent.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00c2\u00a0 August 17, 2008 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time Is 56: 1, 6-7; Rom 11: 13-15, 29-32; Mt 15: 21-28 Dc. Larry Brockman There’s great news for all of you in today’s scripture!\u00c2\u00a0 God wants all of you to be saved.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 First, Isaiah says:\u00c2\u00a0 “For my salvation is about to come, my justice is about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}