WORD FOR MISSION
Missionary reflection  on Sunday Liturgy

THE GOSPEL IS FOR EVERYONE:

without exception

XX Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year “A” - Sunday 14.08.2005

Isaiah  56:1.6-7

Psalm  66

Romans  11:13-15.29-32

Matthew  15,21-28

Reflections

The central theme of the four readings from Scripture this Sunday is salvation offered freely by God, without exception, to every person and to all peoples. This theological affirmation, that is clear and uncontested for us today, was a difficult issue for the Judaeo-Christian community for whom Matthew wrote his Gospel. The exclusivism in which both ancient Israel and the contemporary society of Jesus lived salvation and the alliance as the private property of the Chosen People is well known. The rest were "pagans who, to the Jewish mind, were dogs", as the Jerusalem Bible notes re. Mt.15:26. The Acts of the Apostles, with the complicated way Peter and the community handled the matter of Cornelius (Acts 10-11), the debate at the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15), the controversy between Paul and the Judaeo-Christians, are all clear evidence of how difficult it was for the early Church to deal with the admission of converted pagans.

Isaiah's text (1st Reading) gives us a breath of universality: Foreigners enter the house of prayer joyfully; their sacrifices are welcomed by God in the temple that He will open to all peoples (v.7). This universal openness, hymned with joy by the Psalmist (Responsorial Psalm) was still conditioned by the observance of the Sabbath and the pilgrimage to the Holy Mountain (cf. Is.56:6-7), though these elements began to decline immediately after the Resurrection of Jesus. The growing pains towards universality are clear in the dialogue of Jesus with the Canaanite woman (from the area of Tyre and Sidon) and the miracle that followed. Mark, in his Gospel, insists on describing her as a foreigner and a pagan: "by birth a Syrophoenician" (Mk.7:26). The slow overcoming of this exclusivism becomes clear, in the end  in the open admiration of Jesus for the faith of that pagan and foreign woman: she is aware that she is not a daughter, but a little dog that begs for at least the scraps dropped by the children (cf.v.26-27). Jesus extols the truly great faith (v.28) of that mother, and grants her appeal by curing her sick daughter instantly. Just as he had cured the servant of the pagan centurion in Capernaum, praising his faith as the first fruit of the many who would sit at the table of the Kingdom, coming "from east and west (cf. Mt.8:10-13).

In the light of these facts it is clear that the real belonging to the people of God will not come through nationality but through Faith, which is always and only a free gift of the mercy of God, Father of all. Of the Jews first, then of the pagans, as Paul teaches (2nd Reading) the Romans. The priority of the Jews regarding salvation is a true one, but only temporarily; it does not mean the exclusion of  the other peoples. All have been equally disobedient and unfaithful to God: the pagans first, but now the Jews also. But now God wants to show mercy to all (cf. v.32): In the same way! This is the mystery of the merciful love of God. For all! This is the wonderful missionary news that the world needs. For its life and its happiness!  *

The danger for local Churches today is not that of denying that all are admitted to Salvation in Christ, but rather of considering, in practice, that the Gospel is their private property: it is not denied that all are equally called to know the Good News, but in practice, very little or nothing is done to proclaim it to those who have not yet heard it!  It is like thinking: "Yes, they have the right, but they can wait a while longer!" So it is urgent to discover mission as a gift and as an urgent task.

The Pope's words

  “The Christian Community feels close to all who are experiencing this painful condition (refugee); it endeavours to encourage them and in various ways shows them its interest and love, which is expressed in concrete gestures of solidarity so that everyone who is far from his own Country will feel the Church as a homeland where no one is a stranger”.

Benedict XVI

+++ on World Refugee Day  - Rome, Angelus of 19 June 2005

In the steps of Missionaries

- 14/8: St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, a Polish Franciscan (Conventual), founder of the Militia of Mary Immaculate in Europe and Japan. He took the place of a husband and father and was killed in Auschwitz. (+1941).

- 15/8: Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven. The missionary activity of the Church fulfils Mary's prophecy: "all generations will call me blessed".

- 15/8: Bl. Isidor Bakanja, a young catechist who died in a plantation in the Belgian Congo (+1909), having been beaten by the landowner, whom he forgave.

- 16-21/8: XX World Youth Day in Cologne. The theme is "We have come to adore Him" (Mt.2:2). Pope Benedict XVI will take part from the 18th to the 21st.

- 18/8: Bl. Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga (1901-1952), a Chilean Jesuit, founder of the Hogar de Cristo for the homeless. He will be Canonised in Rome on 23rd October this year.

- 19/8: Bl. Ludovico Flores and 14 companions, Martyrs (Nagasaki +1622): the group was made up of foreign missionaries and Japanese sailors.

- 19/8: St. Ezechiel Moreno Díaz (+1906), of the Spanish Augustinian Recollects. He was a missionary in the Philippines and in South America, and was Bishop of Pasto in Colombia

- 20/8: St. Bernard (1091-1153), Abbot and Doctor of the Church. He was a reformer of the Cistercian Order; he travelled all over Europe on missions of peace and unity.

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++++ Editor: Fr. Romeo Ballan, mcci – Former Director of CIAM, Rome

Website:   www.ciam.org “The Word for Mission”