Scott Hahn with David Scott
Most of us are the foreigners, the non-Israelites, about whom this week’s First Reading prophesies.
Coming to worship the God of Israel, we stand in the line of faith epitomized by the Canaanite woman in the Gospel this week. Calling to Jesus as Lord and Son of David, this foreigner shows her great faith in God’s covenant with Israel.
Jesus tests her faith three times. He refuses to answer her cry. Then, He tells her His mission is only to Israelites. Finally, he uses “dog,” an epithet used to disparage non-Israelites (see Matthew 7:6).
Yet she persists, believing that He alone offers salvation.
In this family drama, we see fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy and the promise we sing of in Sunday’s Psalm. In Jesus, God makes known among all the nations His way and His salvation (see John 14:6).
At the start of salvation history, God called Abraham (see Genesis 12:2). He chose his offspring, Israel, from all the nations on the face of the earth, to build His covenant kingdom (see Deuteronomy 7:6-8; Isaiah 41:8).
In God’s plan, Abraham was to be the father of many nations (see Romans 4:16-17). Israel was to be the firstborn of a worldwide family of God, made up of all who believe what the Canaanite professes—that Jesus is Lord (see Exodus 4:22-23; Romans 5:13-24).
Jesus came first to restore the kingdom to Israel (see Acts 1:6; 13:46). But His ultimate mission was the reconciliation of the world, as Paul declares in Sunday’s Epistle.
In the Mass we join all peoples in doing Him homage. As Isaiah foretold, we come to His holy mountain, the heavenly Jerusalem, to offer sacrifice at His altar (see Hebrews 12:22-24,28). With the Canaanite, we take our place at the Master’s table, to be fed as His children.
William of Saint-Thierry (c.1085-1148)
Meditations, No. 2
Sometimes I feel you passing by, you do not stop for me but go straight on, leaving me crying after you like the Canaanite woman… Should I draw near again, when this occurs? Yes, surely, Lord. For the whelps that are chased with blows from their master’s house return immediately and, hanging watchfully about the place, receive their daily bread. I come again when I am driven out; shut out, I howl; and beaten, I implore. A dog cannot live without a man’s companionship, nor can my soul without the Lord her God.
Open to me, therefore, Lord, that I may come to you and be enlightened by you. You dwell in your heavens, but you have made darkness your secret place, even the dark waters amid the clouds of the air. And, as the Prophet says, “You have set a cloud before you, so that our prayer may not pass through,”(Lam 3,44). But, as for me, I have rotted on earth, my heart thick and earthy… Your heavenly stars do not shine for me; the sun is darkened and the moon gives no light. In psalms and hymns and spiritual songs I hear your mighty acts proclaimed; out of your Gospels your words and deeds shine forth at me, and the example of your servants strikes unceasingly upon my eyes and ears. Your promises in Scripture, the promises your Truth has made, obtrude themselves without cease upon my sight and battering my deafness with their din… But long persistence in bad ways, along with very great insensibility of mind, has hardened me. I have learned to sleep with the sunshine full on my face, and have grown used to it. I have become accustomed to not seeing what takes place before my eyes…
How long, O Lord, how long? How long will you defer to rend the heavens and come down? (Ps 13[12],1; Is 64,1)… How long will you delay… so to shatter my dullness that I may be no longer what I am… and so be turned, at least at eventide, and hunger like a dog that runs about your city? – the city of which a portion sojourns still on earth but the greater part rejoices already in heaven – so that maybe I may find some who will receive my fainting soul into their habitation?
Isaac of Stella
Sermon 35, 3rd for the 2nd Sunday in Lent (SC 207)
“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” the Lord declared. Put briefly…: he has been sent to the one to whom he has been promised. As it is said: “The promises were made to Abraham and to his descendant” (Gal 3,16). The promise made in time was fulfilled in its time, for the Jews from among the Jews, as it is written: “Salvation comes from the Jews” (Jn 4,22). It was to them that Christ, who was born from them according to the flesh, was sent at the end of time. It was to them that he, who was predestined before time began, was promised at the beginning of time. Predestined for both Jews and Gentiles but born from Jews alone, without intermediary according to the flesh, he was made known at his birth in the flesh to those to whom he had been promised…
But the name “Israel” means “the man who sees God”. With good reason, then, does it apply to every rational spirit. From this we can understand that “the house of Israel” also includes the angels, those spirits predestined for the vision of God… While these ninety-nine sheep… on the mountain of their shepherd’s vision and delight – that is to say of the Word of God – are walking at large and lying down to rest in green and verdant pastures (Ps 23[22],2), the Good Shepherd descends from the Father’s side when the “time of pity” (Ps 102[101],14) has come. He has been sent mercifully in time… who was promised from all eternity; he has come to seek for the one sheep that was lost (Lk 15,4f.)…
The good shepherd, therefore, was sent to mend what was broken and to strengthen the weak (cf. Ez 34,16). What was broken and weak was man’s free will. In times past, when he wanted to rise above himself, he fell and, lacking the strength to support himself, was crushed down and broken…, completely unable to rise again. But mended and comforted at last by Christ himself…, – although not entirely lively so long as he had not been set down in the green pastures with the ninety-nine others – he was carried in his shepherd’s arms, as it is written: “Carrying the lambs in his bosom and leading the ewes with care” (Is 40,11).
Pope Benedict XVI
Angelus, August 17, 2008
Today, the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, the liturgy offers to us for reflection the words of the Prophet Isaiah: “And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him… these will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer… for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (Is 56: 6-7).
In the Second Reading the Apostle Paul also refers to the universality of salvation, as does the Gospel passage that recounts the episode of the Canaanite woman, a foreigner for the Jews, whose wish was granted by Jesus because of her great faith. The Word of God thus gives us an opportunity to reflect on the universality of the mission of the Church which is made up of people of every race and culture. From precisely this stems the great responsibility of the ecclesial community which is called to be a hospitable home for all, a sign and instrument of communion for the entire human family.
How important it is, especially in our time, that every Christian community increasingly deepens its awareness of this in order also to help civil society overcome every possible temptation to give into racism, intolerance and exclusion and to make decisions that respect the dignity of every human being! One of humanity’s great achievements is in fact its triumph over racism. However, unfortunately disturbing new forms of racism are being manifested in various Countries. They are often related to social and economic problems which can, however, never justify contempt and racial discrimination. Let us pray that respect for every person everywhere will increase, together with a responsible awareness that only in the reciprocal acceptance of one and all is it possible to build a world distinguished by authentic justice and true peace.
Saint Bede the Venerable
Homily on the Gospels I, 22
“Woman, you have great faith! Your wish will come to pass.”
The Gospel shows us the Canaanite woman’s great faith, her patience, her perseverance and humility… This woman was gifted with a truly uncommon patience. After her first request, the Lord didn’t answer even with one word. In spite of that, far from ceasing to pray even for one moment, she implored the help of his kindness with greater insistence… Seeing the ardor of our faith and the tenacity of our perseverance in prayer, the Lord ends up by having pity on us and giving us what we desire.
The Canaanite woman’s daughter was “troubled by a demon.” Once the bad agitation of our thoughts has been driven out and the knots of our sins untied, serenity of spirit will return to us as well as the ability to act correctly… If, following the example of the Canaanite woman, we persevere in prayer with unshakeable firmness, our Creator’s grace will be present to us. It will correct all the errors in us, it will sanctify all that is impure, it will pacify all agitation. For the Lord is faithful and just. He will forgive our sins and will purify us from every stain if we cry to him with the attentive voice of our heart.
