Articles

Sunday August 16

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

1. How Catholic Are We?
2. Strangers No More

Greeting (See First Reading)

My house will be called
a house of prayer for all peoples,
says the Lord.
As the Lord welcomes us,
may we be open to all.
May the Lord, the Savior of all, be with you. R/ And also with you.

Introduction
1. How Catholic Are We?
How wide are the doors of our Church? Is there place in our Church for everyone? We know and profess that God is the Father of all people. We believe and announce that Jesus died for everyone and all. Yet, is that the reality? We even look down on other Christians, and at times on other Catholics too, because they do not honor the Lord in exactly the same way as we do. Let us ask the Lord of all to help us do away with all discrimination and with him to make us open to all.

2. Strangers No More
What do we think of aliens and strangers and how do we treat them? What is our attitude toward people who are different? The Christian position should be one of acceptance and welcome, for this is God’s attitude. All are God's children, and he wants the happiness of all. He calls all to his house and wants it to be a house of prayer for all. With Christ, let us welcome all.

Penitential Act

Let us ask pardon from God and one another
that our hearts are often closed
and not as wide as God's heart.
(pause)
Lord Jesus, Son of David,
you revealed to us your Father
as the God of all people:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, you came to save all people
and you died and rose for all:
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy
Lord Jesus, you hear the prayer of pagans
and make yourself known
to all those who seek you:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Have mercy on us, Lord,
and forgive us our narrow-mindedness
and our selfishness.
Give us wide open hearts
and lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.

Opening Prayer

Let us pray to the Father of all
that our heart, like his own,
may be open to all people
(pause)
Father of all,
long ago you chose the people of Israel
to make your name known to all the nations.
Your Son Jesus Christ made it clear
that forgiveness and fullness of life are the share
of all who believe in him.
Make your Church truly a place of encounter
for all those who grope for you,
that all obstacles and barriers may be removed
and that the riches of all nations and cultures
may reveal the thousand faces
of the love you show us
in Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

First Reading: Foreigners Are No Longer Strangers

Not only the Jewish people but also pagans are called to live in the house of God. All those who want to be part of the covenant are no longer strangers to God and his people.

Reading 1: IS 56:1, 6-7

Thus says the LORD:
Observe what is right, do what is just;
for my salvation is about to come,
my justice, about to be revealed.

The foreigners who join themselves to the LORD,
ministering to him,
loving the name of the LORD,
and becoming his servants—
all who keep the Sabbath free from profanation
and hold to my covenant,
them I will bring to my holy mountain
and make joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and sacrifices
will be acceptable on my altar,
for my house shall be called
a house of prayer for all peoples.

Responsorial Psalm 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8

R. (4) O God, let all the nations praise you!
May God have pity on us and bless us;
may he let his face shine upon us.
So may your way be known upon earth;
among all nations, your salvation.
R. O God, let all the nations praise you!
May the nations be glad and exult
because you rule the peoples in equity;
the nations on the earth you guide.
R. O God, let all the nations praise you!
May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the peoples praise you!
May God bless us,
and may all the ends of the earth fear him!
R. O God, let all the nations praise you!

Second Reading: God’s Mercy Extends to All

Most of the Jews did not accept Christ as the Savior. This was the occasion for the Church to preach the Good News to the pagans. God wants all to be saved, Jews and pagans.

Reading 2: ROM 11:13-15, 29-32

Brothers and sisters:
I am speaking to you Gentiles.
Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles,
I glory in my ministry in order to make my race jealous
and thus save some of them.
For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world,
what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.
Just as you once disobeyed God
but have now received mercy because of their disobedience,
so they have now disobeyed in order that,
by virtue of the mercy shown to you,
they too may now receive mercy.
For God delivered all to disobedience,
that he might have mercy upon all.

Alleluia CF. MT 4:23

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Jesus proclaimed the Gospel of the kingdom
and cured every disease among the people.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel: There Is Room for Pagans in the Father’s House

Jesus affirms that priority is given to the Jews as heirs of the Messianic promises. Yet the kingdom is open to all who believe.

Gospel: MT 15:21-28

At that time, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out,
"Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!
My daughter is tormented by a demon."
But Jesus did not say a word in answer to her.
Jesus' disciples came and asked him,
"Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us."
He said in reply,
"I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
But the woman came and did Jesus homage, saying, "Lord, help me."
He said in reply,
"It is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs."
She said, "Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps
that fall from the table of their masters."
Then Jesus said to her in reply,
"O woman, great is your faith!
Let it be done for you as you wish."
And the woman's daughter was healed from that hour.

Commentary
The Woman Who Converted Jesus
I wished that I was not there! I was on a bus in the south of Mindanao going to visit the mother of Brother Joe. Joe and I had been together in community for fifteen years. On his silver jubilee of Profession, he had been given a trip to Ireland. There it was discovered that he had cancer of the liver. His family had been informed, but now I was bring the news that is was only a matter of days until the end. I felt totally inadequate to console his family because, inside, I was in turmoil myself. I myself could not make any sense of what was happening and felt angry toward our so-called good God.
When I arrived at the bamboo house in the middle of the rice fields, his mother said in the local dialect, "He's dead?"
"No," I answered, "but the news is not good."
She sniffled for a while and then, with all her quiet matriarchal dignity, said, "Remember this, lad, whatever happens is a gift from heaven."
After a little while she said, "He will be buried here?"
I explained how for many reasons it would be impossible to bring his body back to the Philippines. After another silence she said, "When you don't see the body, the pain is doubled. But, remember this lad, whatever happens is a gift from heaven."
I had gone to console and I was consoled. I had gone to bring faith but it was I who received it. I had gone to evangelize but it was she who evangelized me.
This is one of the richest concepts that have emerged in the post Vatican II Church. Mission is not just to evangelize the poor (whatever kind of poverty it may be) but also to be evangelized in the process by the poor.
I could go on and on giving examples of people who by their words and acts, especially by their reflections on the word of God in times of stress, challenge our assumptions, our righteousness, our structures which we assume are the only channels of God's presence. The poor convert and evangelize those who believe they have more.
There is one clear example in the Gospel of how Christ himself was converted by the poor. In Matthew 15, today's Gospel, Jesus is met by the Canaanite woman who asks him to have pity on her because her daughter is troubled by a demon. The woman is poor in many senses. In the culture of her day being a woman was to be poor, and she was a foreign woman at that! She has no right to approach Jesus. She is poor also because of her daughter's plight.
When she approaches Jesus she puts him on the spot. By instinct he is a man of compassion but his self-understanding of his mission at this time is that he has been sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. He answers not a word; he pauses over his dilemma. He is pushed by the apostles to get rid of her and he tells her rather weakly that she is not included in his mission.
When she comes back at him again he tells her, with the aggressiveness of the insecure, that it is not right to give the food of the children to the dogs. She answers him back, "Even the dogs eat the leavings that fall from the master's table." Her rejoinder is the last straw. "Goodness gracious!" he must have heard from within himself, "this woman does have faith! These people can have faith. I am called to reach to her and her kind." His self-understanding has been expanded by his encounter with this poor woman. He has been converted and evangelized by her.
We see the extent to which he was evangelized a little while later in chapter 20 of the same Gospel when he tells the story of the owner of the estate who went to employ laborers for his vineyard. Some he called at dawn, others at mid-morning and others at the eleventh hour. But all were paid the same. In this parable Jesus was saying that the latecomers, the non-Jews, would receive the same reward, or place in his kingdom, as the Jews themselves.
What allowed Jesus to pause, what gave him the ability to reflect, the sensitivity to be affected by the woman on this occasion? I think it was the recurring theme, the background music that we hear so frequently during the life of Jesus. "He went apart to pray." From his presence to his Father he gained stillness, a poise, and alertness that enabled him to hear the Father's voice in the voices of the poor.
We too need to be open to being evangelized by the poor, to hearing the Lord speak through the poverties within us and around us, to question our assumptions, to soften our rigidities, to let go of our boxed in concepts of how God should act. We will be able to do this only to the extent that we have stillness within ourselves, a stillness that can be cultivated by saying the mantra for 20 to 30 minutes each morning and each evening.

Intercessions

Let us pray to God our Father, who opens his heart and home to all who seek him, and let us say: R/ Listen to your people, Lord.

– That the Church may be attentive to the life and needs of today’s world and discover in its aspirations bridges toward Christian hope, let us pray:
R/ Listen to your people, Lord.
– That there may be room in the universal Church for the cultural riches of various peoples and for manifesting one and the same faith in a variety of languages and forms of expression, let us pray:
R/ Listen to your people, Lord.
– That the Jews, the first people called by God, may see their hopes fulfilled and one day discover Christ as their Savior, let us pray:
R/ Listen to your people, Lord.
– That we may open our hearts and homes to those that are hard to accommodate: strangers and refugees, the jobless and the poor, victims of discrimination and oppression; that we may do all we can to integrate them into the human and Christian community, let us pray:
R/ Listen to your people, Lord.
– That all of us here may be concerned about those who are not here because they are estranged from the Church, that our lives may reveal Christ to them, let us pray:
R/ Listen to your people, Lord.

God our Father, do not allow us ever to become a self-enclosed, self-satisfied group, but make us into a real community open to all people and all needs, on account of Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

Prayer unnoticed—it takes place normally during the Agnus Dei—and the Gifts

God our Father,
you set the table of your Son
for all who are willing to come:
for saints and for sinners,
for the poor and the rich.
Give us your Son Jesus Christ.
May we learn from him
to give to all those who ask for food or love
not meager crumbs or leftovers,
but the food of ourselves,
as Jesus does here for us,
your Son and our Lord for ever. R/ Amen.

Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer

At the heart of the Eucharistic celebration we remember that Christ died and rose for all and wants to gather all into his kingdom.

Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer

In the words of Jesus our Lord
let us pray to the Father of all
that his kingdom may come to every person on earth. R/ Our Father...

Prayer for Peace

Lord Jesus Christ,
you want to bring the peace of your kingdom
to everyone willing to receive your love.
At the table of your kingdom
you regard no one as a stranger.
Dispose us too, to recognize in every person
a beloved son or daughter of your Father.
Make us share your peace with all
and lead all into your kingdom
where you live for ever. R/ Amen.

Invitation to Communion

This is Jesus the Lord,
who has set his table for us.
He invites all those who believe in him
and are willing to come to him. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...

Prayer after Communion

God our Father,
in this Eucharist we have all been one
in Jesus Christ your Son.
He died and rose to life for all;
his likeness is reflected
in the face of every human being:
let it become visible in all.
Let his face not be marred or divided
by our prejudices and fears;
do not allow our love to be less than universal,
but unite us all in him
who is our common way to you and to one another,
Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.

Blessing

We have heard the Lord tell us in this Eucharist:
“My house shall be called
a house of prayer for all peoples.”
The Lord’s house is not merely
this building of stone where we gather to pray,
but the People of God, the living body of Christ.
May there be room in this house,
that is, among us, in our Christian communities,
for all people, whatever their race or social class,
their culture or education.
May almighty God bless you all:
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Go and bear witness to the world-wide love of the Lord. R/ Thanks be to God.