Pastor's Spiritual Reflections

By Fr. Leo Schneider (8/17/2008)

Dear People of Holy Name,

“My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” (Is 56:7)

All three readings this week point to the universal intent of Jesus to call all peoples to share in the fullness of his life. In our first reading from the Prophet Isaiah, God welcomes the foreigners to his house and wants his house to be known as a house of prayer for all peoples.

St Paul in his Letter to the Romans is speaking to the Gentiles, who he believes are equally called to believe in Jesus as are his fellow Jews. Paul does not settle for the clannishness so much a part of Jewish culture. For Paul, God’s mercy is his gift to all who believe in the Name of Jesus.

The Gospel of Matthew, written for the Jewish-Christians in Jerusalem, also makes the claim that salvation is for the non-Jew as well as the Jew. The disciples, representing the current thinking, want Jesus to send the Canaanite woman away as she is not worthy of God’s grace. With her persistence, even Jesus seems to change his thinking when he recognizes her faith and heals her daughter.

The universal intention of God to share himself with all peoples is good to remember, as we can sometimes become very parochial in our thinking. We can do this as individuals, as a parish, as an archdiocese, and even as the church universal. There is a tendency in all of us to keep our inner circle familiar and secure. We love the people in our lives, our family and close friends, and don’t want anything to change.

While such an attitude is understandable, I think we cut ourselves off from a whole life giving source of relationships with people different than us, when we keep our circle of friends and family closed to new people. Diversity can enrich each of us, not take away from what we have.

In the seminary I used to eat with the people I felt most comfortable with. One day there wasn’t room so I ate with a Vietnamese classmate of mine. His story was so powerful, of what he had lived through in a war torn land, that we found a place to continue our conversation after dinner. What I would have missed had I not been able to hear his story, and I believe hearing his story has changed me and made me more sensitive to the work of God in all people and in all places. It also makes me wonder what the stories are of the people around me that I still do not know.

As our faith calls us to live in communion with each other and all people, being willing to expand the circle of people around us, and also to contemplate our connection with all humanity, changes the way we live. We will find over time that we no longer live for ourselves but for God. As we move in this direction, we will be rewarded with a caring community that will be there in our need, as we are in theirs. To take communion is to be open to the work of the Holy Spirit that makes us all one in Christ. Trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit to enrich our lives as we learn to share them with others is the gift of faith. Let us pray for this kind of faith, that as we receive the Eucharist, we may come to know the unity that God creates among those who call upon his name. May the Lord bless us and make us all one.

In Christ’s peace, Fr. Leo