Corpus Christi Blog

Our powerful Gospel today follows immediately after last week’s Gospel in which Peter confessed that Jesus is the Messiah, and Christ said he would build the Church upon Peter, the rock, and promised the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church.  And in this Gospel today, we learn that for the Church to prevail over the enemy, there must be a battle.  Indeed, we have entered into a battle.  There must be a battle because love in the world is always confronted by, to use Saint John Paul II’s phrase, the culture of death.  One of the primary characteristics of the culture of death is selfishness; looking out for the self, doing whatever I want to do, whatever will make me happy.  True love, which is always the opposite of selfishness, is always in opposition against this culture of death we live in, and so we live in a battle, there is a battle in our own hearts.

Before I begin this homily, I'd like you stop, take a breath, and ask for the grace not to think "oh, I know what he is going to say because I've heard this Gospel many times, but instead I invite you right now to ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart to His truth and the truth in your life, for each one of us will be held accountable to the truth of this Gospel.

 Jesus said to the woman, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” Some of you might be scratching your heads right now,-perhaps thinking that doesn’t sound like the Jesus I know- the Jesus who taught us to love your neighbor, and even your enemies.  This is one of those Gospels which, to some, just doesn’t make sense, many have wondered why did Jesus treat this woman so harshly?  It kind of sounds like Jesus had a bad day or something, doesn’t it?  Before I explain what I think Jesus was doing treating the woman that way, let us gain insight from our other readings, for they also give us a clue.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, each of our readings today teach us one important spiritual truth about who God is.  This spiritual truth is difficult for us human beings to fully understand but it is essential for us to comprehend if we really want to be happy.  The great spiritual truth that our readings teach us is this:  God is grace, grace- gratia, God is free gift.  God does not need us, nothing we do adds to God.  Even creation itself wasn’t necessary, God did not get anything by creating the universe, in fact, God holds the whole world in his hand.  Nothing adds to God, God is full and complete in Himself.  Living a moral life does not add to God, God doesn’t need anything from us.  Even our praise to God, Scripture says, adds nothing to His greatness, but it profits us for salvation.  We do not earn anything from God, our good moral acts does not compel God to give to us.  Everything God does is because God loves us, it is a free gift.  We do not earn God’s love, God does not owe us anything.  This is a truth we have probably heard before, but it is hard to live, isn’t it?