Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (2022-2023)

Introduction:

Today's Gospel tells us about the Canaanite woman.

For Jews of that time, Canaan was associated with the worst.

To be a Canaanite meant to be rejected. To be named a Canaanite is to recognize someone as the greatest enemy.

Yet today, we are taught that this Pagan woman, the Canaanite woman's faith was greater than Peter's last week—who doubted walking on water.

Peter lost sight of Jesus, but this woman didn't lose him even when challenges came.

My dear brothers and sisters, this very Gospel tells us today that:

There is no person to whom Jesus would not come.

There is no one so rejected, there is no sin to which Jesus would not come as a doctor, as a Savior who loves us with His infinite love.

At every Eucharist, the same Jesus comes to us.

Homily:

The Gospel might surprise us and be a bit hard to understand when we look at how Jesus treated the Canaanite woman in today's story.

We can see her truly begging and putting all her energy into asking for mercy for her daughter. She's saying, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.”

So, what does Jesus do?

He doesn't say anything, just stays quiet and doesn't pay much attention to her. He doesn't even speak a word.

Even the disciples act like they don't care, telling Jesus, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.”

But the woman doesn't give up and keeps begging.

Then, Jesus says something that could sound mean: “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.”

But the woman seems to be very clever. She comes back with a smart reply: “Please, Lord, even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.”

And then the Lord Jesus says: “O woman, great is your faith!”

And at that moment - says the Evangelist - her daughter was healed.

Why did Jesus reject this woman? Why was he treating her like this?

Let's start with something that might surprise us: the woman is referred to as a Canaanite woman, but Canaan didn't even exist at that time. Not only that, Canaan disappeared from the map of the world around 1300 BC.

So for 1,300 years, there was no Canaan.

Why does the gospel use this term?

For Jews, Canaan was associated with the worst. To be a Canaanite was to be rejected, to be the greatest enemy.

The Canaanites were so disgusting in the eyes of the Israelites that, for example, Abraham expressed that Isaac should not marry a Canaanite woman.

My Brothers and Sisters, Jesus knew that He would heal this little girl.

The Gospel says that since a Canaanite, a woman totally rejected in the eyes of Jews, compromised, seemingly beyond the margins, if such a person receives grace from the hands of Jesus, then everyone has a chance; there are no people without a chance.

That is a huge lesson - that no one is excluded from God’s grace.

I don't know if you've ever heard of Rudolf Hoess.

He was the commandant of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau during World War II.

Rudolf Hoess came from a Catholic family and was an altar boy in his childhood.

He even made a pilgrimage to Lourdes with his parents.

He gradually advanced in his career, joining the NSDAP and taking on more responsible tasks for the Germans.

He was active in the Dachau camp and then, when it was necessary to establish a new concentration camp in Auschwitz, there was no better candidate than him.

And he, in a very effective way turned this camp into a death factory.

After the war ended, Hoess was arrested, tried, and sentenced to death by hanging in the camp where he caused the death of thousands, millions of innocent people.

Hoess was awaiting execution in the prison in Wadowice, the same city in Poland where Pope St. John Paul II was born and raised.

While in that prison, he requested to see a priest.

But no priest could be found in the area who was willing to hear Hoess's confession.

Perhaps they didn’t know the German language, or maybe it was just an excuse because many priests spoke German at that time.

Perhaps they were afraid of confronting this man, in opinion of many - a real monster.

Then a priest who had almost been killed by Hoess because he had attempted to visit the camp and the prisoners a few years earlier decided to visit him.

Father Władysław Lohn, a Jesuit priest who had served as a provincial and was then the chaplain of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Łagiewniki near Kraków, where St. Sister Faustina Kowalska lived.

The confession lasted eight hours.

The concerned guard looked through the peephole to see what was happening inside.

Rudolf Hoess was kneeling on the floor and crying, and his confessor was standing over him.

The next day, Father Władysław Lohn returned for a second time.

They talked again for hours. Hoess received Holy Communion.

The confession took place three days before Divine Mercy Sunday.

Look, only the Lord God could arrange such a thing.

These situations orchestrated by God are amazing.

And this story illustrates that there is no person to whom Jesus did not come.

One tear, a slight opening of the door of the heart is enough for the Lord Jesus to enter the heart and take a person to Himself.

If the Canaanite woman, who to the Jews personified evil and was a worshiper of Baal, found favor in the eyes of Jesus, if Hoess could meet his confessor, then each of us, without exception, has a chance.

Each of us, even if we say "yes" only a little and open the door of our heart just a crack, will encounter Jesus.

Let's remember this for ourselves, for our relatives, children, grandchildren, and friends.

And let's do everything we can to show the chance, to show people Jesus as the One who truly comes to everyone, without any exception.