A FAITH THAT BREAKS BARRIERS.
August 20, 2023.
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time – A.
"Ah yes, sir; but even house-dogs can eat the scraps
that fall from their master’s table."
A Moroccan proverb says: “The world of humans is divided by
lines, but the mind knows no limits, the heart no barriers.” And a Latin
proverb adds: “Providence our herald, no barrier can oppose us.”
Faith is the only thing that unites people of different
origins, languages, cultures, and races. With faith, all barriers fall, and we
become one people. No more discrimination, rejections, or segregation.
Looking back to the events of Lisbon a few weeks ago,
precisely, last August 1 to 6, that gathered millions of youths from all over
the world, I can only exclaim that faith makes all things possible. No one
bothered about in which language will they communicate. No one cared about
which color are you. Neither do they care about degrees. All went for one
purpose, imitate Mary: "Mary arose and went with haste." (Lk 1:39).
They all arose, on the invitation of the Holy Father, and went in haste to
Portugal, at the feet of our Lady of Fatima, to say their faith in Jesus, Lord,
and God of all peoples. That is the magic of faith.
Living out of one's country, we get to understand how uneasy
it is to be alien. Some faithless and unmannered people will make you feel how
hard it is to be a foreigner. Others will disrespect you because of your color,
race, origin, or language. But you will get the joy and strength of being, only
with faith. Faith in God, faith in yourself, and faith that you hold in common
with some. I could tell you a lot about my experience in the Philippines. Faith
breaks barriers erected by human beings.
Where there is genuine faith, all become one people, the
people of God who make no difference between white and black, yellow and green,
big and small, Gentiles and Jewish. To them all, he gives his love and graces
without measure. And we also learn that genuine faith goes together with filial
boldness.
In that regard, the Catechism says, "Just as Jesus
prays to the Father and gives thanks before receiving his gifts, so he teaches
us filial boldness: "Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you receive
it, and you will." Such is the power of prayer and of faith that does not
doubt: "all things are possible to him who believes." Jesus is as
saddened by the "lack of faith" of his own neighbors and the
"little faith" of his own disciples as he is struck with admiration
at the great faith of the Roman centurion and the Canaanite woman." CCC
2610
Today's liturgy of the word invites us to contemplate God as
the Father of all, a God who opens his heart and his house to all who believe
in him without looking at their origin. Through the Prophet Isaiah, he
announced himself that he would bring foreigners to his holy mountain and that
his "house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples."
Therefore, the Psalmist can invite us to sing: "O God,
let all the nations praise you!" For, his pity reaches us all, and we all
exult in his blessings and love.
This prophecy of Isaiah finds fulfillment in the encounter
between Jesus and the Canaanite woman. Though salvation is first a priority and
prerogative of the people of Israel, all who open themselves in faith to the
Lord will also be saved. We read in the Gospel a kind of strange and somewhat
funny if not abusive in word, conversion between Jesus and the Canaanite woman.
This event put in the scene a broken-hearted mother, but not of broken faith.
The place, Jesus is a Pagan territory, the region of Tyre
and Sidon. Then the event, a mother pleads, begs for the healing of her
daughter possessed by a demon. Then though Jesus could be said of kind-hearted,
he reminds not so friendly to the woman that his key ministry is to the Jews,
not the Gentiles. "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of
Israel... It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the
house-dogs." But then the trigger not only will come from the boldness of
the woman, but also from her firmness in faith. She was not discouraged by the
Lord’s tough words: "Ah yes, sir; but even house-dogs can eat the scraps
that fall from their master’s table." And seeing such a genuine and great
faith, the Lord could not refrain from saying: "Woman, you have great
faith. Let your wish be granted."
Faith is all that it requires to see God at work in our
lives. Where there is faith, there is no
impossibility. Don't we say that faith can move mountains? The faith of the
Canaanite woman made the Lord switch the center of his ministry. Moreover,
because those for whom he came, the lost sheep of Israel could not respond with
such faith. Let's remember his reproach to Peter last Sunday: "O you of
little faith, why did you doubt?"
"Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of
this faith is to see what you believe," says Saint Augustine. So, the
Canaanite woman's faith was rewarded. Her daughter was healed from that hour.
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