Oh Lord, Its Hard to Be Humble!

What strange words we hear in the upcoming readings for Sunday. As I reflect on them this week, I notice that the last few weeks were pretty straightforward in comparison to this Sunday's readings, especially at first glance. A woman comes to Jesus to plead him to help her daughter, who is tormented by demons. Ok, so we can all relate to this. We all are plagued by demons, sometimes I struggle so much with trying to do what I know is right, and feeling an unbelievable pull to do the exact opposite. There are moments that I know that the Devil is around me, wanting to win my soul for the destruction of God's kingdom. I often ask myself, if I really believed the Word of God, wouldn't I have more of an urgency to save my own soul for Heaven. I know that I struggle with demons everyday, one of which is closely related to last weeks readings, that I often doubt, especially myself and the words that I hear God speaking to me. Thinking that I really don't have what it takes to do what I know He has asked me to do. I hope, like this mother, people who love me, will ask Jesus to heal me from these demons.

But Jesus' reply is odd to me. I imagine this woman, coming up to Him in a panic, desperate, and He doesn't say anything! His disciples, advise Him to send her away, it seems that she has been bugging them for a while. Jesus, to my surprise, looks at her and says, (paraphrase) What I have is for the lost sheep, those already belonging to the shepherd, in order to get them back, and really it shouldn't be wasted on ....  a dog?! It seems so harsh. I guess for most people they would have left it at that. Wouldn't you? But she shows her faith so much, that she will put herself with the dogs, and take the scraps that is left. Her admission of this, moves Jesus to know her faith and helps her daughter.

This brings many things to mind for me in today's church. I am always amazed at how some people come to Church for what the Church can do for them. The current members of society seem to have such a sense of entitlement, and this doesn't seem to change with their relationship with God or the Church. If someone is in need, and they try prayer, and they don't get the answer they want, they simply say that it didn't work for them. Many times you hear of peoples "feeling" about the church, and can't seem to also understand the reason of faith and the Church and so walk away. I have a hard time believing that many people these days, would be ok with comparing themselves with a dog. (A sidenote: a "dog" in Jesus' day had a much different life than the "dogs" of today, who actually in some circumstances are better treated than children and the elderly.) Anyway, back to my thought, for many, people come to the Church demanding that the Church do something for them. For example, the way people come to the Church to receive the Sacraments. Strangers to the church, stop by the rectory and tell Father they want to Baptize their baby, or have their child receive First Communion with no sense that it can't just be "given". If Fr. asks something of them, they walk away, never to be seen of again, perhaps they find another church in which the priest will not ask anything of them. We always have to remind people, that this membership into this Catholic Church, is a relationship with Jesus that comes alive in community. Perhaps being more like Jesus was in this reading isn't such a bad thing, to allow people to ask for what they want, and to prove their faith a little bit. Perhaps when we pray, and we don't quickly hear God's reply, we can reflect on how we are asking for it. Our brothers and sisters in the Saints often teach us of humility, and the fact that we need God so much more than He needs us, but He loves us so much that He makes Himself available to us each minute of everyday.

Ah and so it is humility in which I think is one of the points Jesus is trying to teach us in the Gospel. The fact that one should never give up asking for Christ in our life, and praying for the faith to understand that no matter our position in life, He will hear our prayers and will give us exactly what we need.