{"id":1428,"date":"2014-08-17T12:26:14","date_gmt":"2014-08-17T16:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=1428"},"modified":"2014-08-17T12:26:14","modified_gmt":"2014-08-17T16:26:14","slug":"20th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-a-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/20th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-a-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

20th<\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A<\/a>
\nIsaiah 56:1, 6-7
\nRomans 11:13-15, 29-32
\nMatthew 15:21-28
\nAugust 17, 2014<\/p>\n

Jesus finds time to withdraw to the region of Tyre and Sidon.\u00a0 One might expect this to be a place where Jesus might find some rest.\u00a0 He has been ministering to the Jews and is widely known about them but Tyre and Sidon are Gentile regions.<\/p>\n

So Jesus may have gone there looking for some rest but he is recognized by a Canaanite woman.\u00a0 She is not a Jew yet she comes to Jesus in faith.\u00a0 She comes to Jesus in need for her daughter.\u00a0 She even calls him Son of David indicating a faith not found in some of the Jews.<\/p>\n

At first Jesus ignores her.\u00a0 It\u2019s what any self-respecting Jew would have done in those days.\u00a0 The Jews saw themselves as a chosen people with an elite status.<\/p>\n

The woman persists and Jesus replies that he was sent to the lost sheep of Israel so he is not there to help her.\u00a0 She persists in her request and Jesus heals her daughter.<\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 ministry in the gospel focuses on the Jews but is not exclusive to them.\u00a0 After Jesus\u2019 Crucifixion and Resurrection, the disciples go out to the Gentiles.<\/p>\n

However, God\u2019s offer of salvation to the Gentiles did not start when the disciples went out or with Jesus\u2019 own help for the Gentiles.\u00a0 God\u2019s offer of salvation has always been available to all<\/p>\n

For instance, 600 years before the birth of Jesus, today we hear Isaiah speak, \u201cthe foreigners who join themselves to the Lord.\u201d\u00a0 The foreigners were not Jews.\u00a0 They grew believing in other (false) gods.\u00a0 While the Israelites saw themselves as elite, God says his salvation is open to all who love the Lord and keep the Sabbath holy.<\/p>\n

God\u2019s love is open to all but not all are aware of God\u2019s love.\u00a0 When we see people who do not believe in God, we should be moved with compassion for them.\u00a0 That compassion includes being aware of their needs and doing what we can to help them.<\/p>\n

One way we do this as a Church is through Catholic Charities.\u00a0 Catholic Charities exists to respond to our mission to help those in need but it is not just Catholics they help.\u00a0 Catholic Charities doesn\u2019t exist to make people become Catholic.\u00a0 Catholic Charities exists to show people that they are loved by us and by God.<\/p>\n

To understand Catholic Charities is not just to know what they do. \u00a0We must know why they do it, love and mission.<\/p>\n

For me this idea of mission is important.\u00a0 I serve on the Board of Directors for Catholic Charities locally because I believe in the mission.<\/p>\n

When I give my own money to charities, this sense of mission is very important to me.\u00a0 Most of the money I give is to Catholic groups but in no way simply because they are Catholic or any idea on my part to help just Catholics.\u00a0 I give to Catholic agencies because I know they do not help just Catholics but respond to anyone in need that they are able to.<\/p>\n

The reason I choose to give to Catholic agencies is the mission and values.\u00a0 When I give to Catholic agencies, I know they will not use it for things that go against my beliefs.\u00a0 My beliefs are very important to me.\u00a0 An important part of our belief is that God\u2019s salvation is open to all.\u00a0 What do you do to help others know of God\u2019s saving love?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Isaiah 56:1, 6-7 Romans 11:13-15, 29-32 Matthew 15:21-28 August 17, 2014 Jesus finds time to withdraw to the region of Tyre and Sidon.\u00a0 One might expect this to be a place where Jesus might find some rest.\u00a0 He has been ministering to the Jews and is widely known …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-n2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1428"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1428"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1429,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1428\/revisions\/1429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}