20th Sunday Ordinary Time Cycle A. 13-14 / 08 / 2005

Các Trưởng và Thiếu Nhi Thân mến,

It is a beautiful reading we just heard; Especially a courageous woman facing crisis and showing her faith in God. Let us today focus on this woman and try to learn from her faith what we can practise and bring it into our daily lives.
The woman in the gospel today has presented a good example of her love and care for her daughter in the process of searching for her cure, and at a same time she expressed a great faith in God. These two points would be a great lesson for us to learn as we begin to unfold them. First, that is a love of a mother for her child. The Gentile woman in the gospel today is a mother. A mother who had great concern for her daughter; perhaps her daughter could be a dying person, that’s why she gave her all the concern and love. In fact, she could not just sit there to see what happened to her daughter, but also rather take it on herself. She had taken her illness, carried it on her own shoulder and then made herself present it before Jesus who she thinks has a power to cure her sickness.
As she came to see Jesus, she really put Jesus on the spot. At first Jesus seemed to pay no attention to her, and this made his disciples feel embarrassed. She then shout at Jesus, asked him for help. Making her as much trouble as she could, in order to get Jesus’ attention. For her, she is here and she would not go anywhere until she gets her help from Jesus.
This kind of determination has got our attention and makes us think to ourselves about this woman. Why did a mother have put herself through all these troubles? Looking at her situation, she had been rejected for being an outsider of the Jew. The Lord had put her off. In Short, there is nothing working here for her. She could not get any help at all from Jesus. However, the only thing left for her is the love for her daughter. It is only her love for her daughter that had kept her going and conquered any thing that seems against her. She has shown and proved that her love for her daughter is more important than any thing else. That is why she came forward and insisted for her case. It is so beautiful to see the love of a mother for a child.
My dear brothers and sisters, as we listen to the gospel today, the role of a mother is highlighted and this role has many meanings for us to reflect on. First of all, it invites us to reflect upon our close relationship. Take a look at our family, in own our family; let us asks ourselves: are we really caring for one another? Do we care and make an effort to share our time and talents to nurture and build up our relationships? Do we care enough to look after our children physically as well as spiritually?
The second example from the woman in the gospel today is an example of her faith in God. What did Jesus mean by the expression ‘throwing bread to the dogs?” The Jews often spoke of the Gentiles with arrogance and insolence as ‘unclean dogs’ since the Gentiles was excluded from God’s covenant and favour with Israel. For the Greeks the ‘dog’ was a symbol of dishonour and was used to describe a shameless and audacious woman. Jesus, no doubt, spoke with a smile rather than with an insult because this woman immediately responds with wit and faith-‘even the dogs eat the crumbs’. Jesus praises a Gentile woman for her faith and for her love. Yet, there is another significant point in her faith that we should consider that is her Faith had gradually grown stronger as the conversation she had with Jesus is taking place. First, She began with a request and she ended on her own knees in worshipful prayer to the living God. Oh how beautiful images the woman had shown here. She knelt at Jesus feet. It does make us to wonder how often do we go on our knees to pray to our God. No one who ever sought Jesus with faith was refused his help. “O Woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.’ a great reward for her. Be it done for you as you desire. It is more than what she had come and asked for. Be it done. A question here is do you seek Jesus with expectant faith?
Lord, your love and mercy know no bounds. May I trust you always and persue you with persistence as this woman did. Increase my faith in your saving power and deliver me from all evil and harm. Amen.