One way of looking at the reply of our Lord to the plea of the Syrophoenician woman for
the cure of her daughter when he says it's not right to throw the food of the children to the
dogs would to be say that our Lord is being very severe, even insensitive. That's the way of course
the world would look at it. Another way of seeing it is that our Lord is showing forth his kingship
and asking the woman to recognize who he is,
truly, and who she is in respect to God, to him. That's something we often forget.
Christ has made himself available to us through his grace, especially through the Eucharist,
and we come to him with confidence, come to him for his mercy, and we should come to him
with confidence in order to receive his mercy.
But,
we need to get out of the habit of thinking he owes us something. We who owe him something,
we owe him everything.
The world has forgot about the kingship of Christ.
So when this woman who was not a person of the covenant, she was a pagan, not a Jew,
came to our Lord, he established his kingship. He made it clear to her that he was king.
And in the face of that,
the only,
the only legitimate response can be humility.
And that's true for all of us who come before the Lord.
Our response to him has to be one of humility. Without humility, there can be no act of faith.
There can be no entrance into the grace of God and into his kingship, into his family,
without a fundamental act of humility.
And so this is what our Lord did for the woman, is he elicited from her
an act of humility.
He elicited from her an act of humility.
He elicited from her an act of humility.
of faith and an act of humility. And through that
act of humility, of course, she not only
obtained the cure of her daughter,
which was her immediate goal,
but more importantly, she obtained the favor of God. And what could be better than that?
To recognize that God is pleased with us,
that the king is pleased with his servants.
That is the best thing that we could possibly hope for.
And this is what this woman received.
Today, when we are
confronted with secularism
and a lack of faith, cynicism
and skepticism, we are often
tempted to question
God, question
the
his revelation. We know that so often the church's teaching is challenged.
And what is missing is this act of humility.
You know, the gospel is not just a story.
It's not just a piece of literature. And very often it's approached by
even, unfortunately, approached even sometimes by priests
as though it were an artifact to be dug up
and examined and pulled apart and analyzed.
And not something to be responded to. And in the first place,
you know, our Lord challenges us when we read the gospels.
When we hear the teaching of the church, it's a challenge, it's a personal challenge from God to us
to make that act of humility.
God, the faith is
what our Lord has revealed to us
and it demands our assent.
But the act of faith in the first place
is saying yes to God, not saying yes to something, but saying yes to someone.
And so we need to always pray that we are truly open to the faith,
which means not only to believe the creed,
but to recognize the teaching of the church in the choices that we make.
We have opportunities every day to face temptation, to overcome doubt,
to recognize the presence of Christ in people that annoy us.
Over and over again, every day, we are challenged to put the faith into practice
and to make the act of humility.
Without that fundamental act of humility, we can't do any of it.
It will never happen.
Today we celebrate.
It's a memorial of St. Jerome Emiliani, who was born in 1486
and entered religious life after having lived a military life.
And he made the act of humility.
He put himself out there for the sake of the poor and the suffering.
He dedicated himself in the religious community he founded, the Somaskins.
He dedicated that.
He dedicated them to the care of the poor and the sick
during a time when Italy had a great deal of sickness, plague was going around.
And in the end, he himself lost his life caring for the poor and burying the dead.
He did it for the Lord.
He did it for those who were in need.
He didn't think of himself.
He thought of others.
He was willing to make an act of humility.
So let us remember.
Let us remember the importance of humility.
At the beginning of our spiritual life when we are challenged to believe in all that the Lord has taught us.
And at the end of our spiritual life when we are called to perfect our charity
by forgetting ourselves completely and serving others and ultimately giving our life for Christ.
This is what the saints have done.
This is what our Lord challenges us to do.
Each time we hear the word of God.
This is what the saints have spoken and preached each time we come before the altar of the Lord to receive him in Holy Communion.