GOD’S SAVING LOVE
FOR ALL
(see Is 56:1.6-7;
Rom 11:13-15.29-32;
Mt 15:21-28)
Fr. Francis Nguyen, O.P.
Dear
Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
The message
that we receive this Sunday comes from the three Readings which we have just listened
to. It tells us this very important and
touching truth that God wants to gather all peoples from the four corners of
the world into His house of prayer where they, as one family, will worship Him
in love and gratefulness.
The Prophet
Isaiah, eight centuries before Christ, disclosed that the Lord God made a
covenant with not only the People of Israel but also the Gentiles. Foreigners though, they would be admitted
into the Holy Temple of God, if only they were able to “observe what is right,
do what is just.”
It is
thanks to this very open policy that countless peoples and nations have joined
the Church in serving the true God and loving Father of all.
People
need, however, to do their best in cooperation with God’s grace of merciful
love in order to become the People of the New Covenant, signed in the Blood of
Christ.
Now,
Christians should not ignore the fact that the People of the Old Covenant were
removed from their place in God’s Holy Church for failing His
Commandments. In this sense, Saint Paul,
in the second Reading, warns us about the danger of being rejected for
disobeying God’s law.
Aware of
the reality that in these days we Christians are very much affected by many
forms of crisis, we cannot but ask ourselves whether or not the lesson of the
People of the Old Covenant is still meaningful and helpful.
Saint
Matthew, in the Gospel story, assures us that faith in Christ remains always
the key to best solutions.
The
Canaanite woman, the suffering mother whose daughter fell victim in the hands
of the forces of evil came to Christ asking Him for help. She knocked at the right door and the door
was opened for her.
But the
question is: how could she get Christ’s merciful healing power for her
child? The answer is what Christ said to
her: “great is your faith.”
This, in my
opinion, is the very message that you and I receive today when we approach
Christ in this Holy Mass and ask Him for help.
The key to our problems is nothing else but our trust in Christ mercy
and power, not in money, and much less in any form of superpower of this world.
United with
people celebrating the VI Asian Youth Day being held in Korea, we listen to
Pope Francis who, in behalf of Christ, is calling us: “Asian youth, wake
up! The glory of the martyrs shines upon
you.”
Let us not
give up to temptations of forces of evil.
Let us
stand up and follow Christ who is the source of love, peace and true and happy
life.
Amen.
Fr. Francis Nguyen, O.P.
