Sunday Sermon : Gods’ gifts are for all who are ready to receive them

The liturgy of the twentieth Sunday is based on the following readings: Isaiah 56:1, 6-7; Psalm 67; Romans 11:13-15, 29-32; Matthew 15:21-28. The main theme of these readings is the universal nature of God’s salvation. Isaiah 56, probably written after the return from the Babylonian exile, declares the Lord’s promise that all those who “join themselves to the Lord” (Is.56: 6), not just the Jews, will come to God’s holy mountain. At that time, the prophet already made it clear that salvation is not for one nation, but for all people. The psalmist stresses the same idea in Psalm 67, that on the appointed time, all nations will come to acknowledge the justice of the Lord’s ways, and feel the necessity of being converted to believing in God. In the second reading, St. Paul reacts to one of the common mistakes of man of self glorification. Some Gentile converts thought that the Jews would not be saved! St. Paul corrects their selfish view explaining to them that God’s hands are open to all nations. According to the Apostle’s view, Gods’ gifts are for all who are ready to receive them. This idea of God’s generosity which is extended to all nations is demonstrated in a clear way by Jesus himself in the Gospel. A pagan woman insists as she calls the attention of Jesus to her petition. But at first, Jesus apparently refuses to answer the woman’s petition. The reason he gives is valid, because his earthly mission is to teach and to minister first to the “house of Israel” (Matt.15: 24), here Jesus was referring to the divided and scattered kingdom of the twelve tribes of Israel. Moved by this woman’s great faith shown by her insistence, Jesus seemingly changes his mind and granted her what she was asking for. And Jesus teaches us a great lesson here: Gods’ gifts are for all who are ready to receive them. From a doctrinal point of view, these readings taken together refer to the universality of God’s message and salvation. As God made man, Jesus Christ offers through his teaching, death and resurrection the way to salvation for all peoples. Though limited in historical time, his teaching, life, death and resurrection have a universal appeal to all nations. This means that in the human life of Jesus each person can find the key to understanding the meaning and value of his own life, and the power and the strength to follow him. Jesus Christ continues his salvific work in the Church he founded: This Church constituted and organized as a society in the present world, has its divine origin but is run by men guided by the Holy Spirit. This fact enables us to believe that it is Jesus who teaches and makes people holy through the teaching, liturgy, sacraments, and effective pastoral action of the Church. From a pastoral point of view, the above fact calls to mind one of the greatest challenges that the church in our modern time faces: the effective and proper use of her authority. In our modern world, the arguments of authority, valid as they are, may not be the best when it comes to evangelize and to convince our contemporary man. He or she feels the need to find his or her own way, to experience the reality of things rather than to be told how things have been and how they are now. There is a powerful tendency in man today, of using his or her understanding, freedom and dialogue to question the already established truth. And everyone has the right to his or her opinion which should be respected, even if those opinions do not agree with our own. Today, more than ever before, institutions should train themselves to say: Well, I disapprove of what you say, but I recognize your right to say it. The church has a pastoral challenge therefore of showing that Jesus Christ, and his way, fulfils our freedom’s desires. In fact, the church can help many people to see that, in the discernment of their experiences, they are not alone. That all along, knowing it or not, they have been walking with their God. That it is primarily in their heart that they have to discover God. In doing this, then it becomes clear that what is put to question often is not some people’s freedom of thought, but their different interpretations of reality. It is with this kind of walk towards freedom and truth, that we all believe Gods’ hands to be open for all those who wish to be embraced by Him. His gifts are for all who are ready to receive them. As Christians, we also believe that each person can, through God’s grace, experience the presence of Jesus Christ within his or her heart. That is why this liturgy is essentially a call to us all to turn our eyes in the right direction and our ears to the right sounds of this experience. That way we shall become true Christians; marked by the attraction of the presence of Jesus Christ and his way of life. Ends