This is the time of year when students go back to school. This year is a bit different as schools of all types struggle with the COVID virus and what is the best way to keep students safe and at the same time offer a good education. As of this writing (August 1st), Ave Maria Academy is scheduled to open on August 27th. Please consult the school website: avemariapgh.org for all information concerning the school. A different type of school is also opening this weekend: Saint Paul Seminary in Crafton, PA. St. Paul’s is the local seminary for college age and pre-theology students to discern their call to the priesthood. We are pleased to announce that Bishop Zubik has accepted Peter Henkels, a Saint Thomas More parishioner, as a pre-theology student. Peter has been teaching in Ohio the past few years and is an accomplished musician. As he begins his discernment, we ask you to keep him and his classmates in your prayers.
In today’s gospel, a Canaanite women, despised by Jews, actually comes to Jesus hungry for “more”—she wants healing for her tormented daughter. The apostles just want her gone. They miss Jesus’ core message: it is the God-given right of every starving, emotionally needy, or ill person to ask for “more”!
What happens when a poor person asks us for money, don’t we usually ask “Why doesn’t he have a job? Is he lazy? Will he just spend it on drink or some other vice?”
Even more, we feel that the “asker” is crossing some boundary that they have no right to cross, as if we’re the “have”, and they are a “have-not” asking for more than they are entitled to.
What were the apostles trying to protect Jesus from by saying “Send her away?” Maybe Jesus was using this as a “teachable moment” to show us that God’s universal love and healing are the original plan. Food, shelter, warmth and care are the right expectation of every person. We set up false boundaries of “have” and “have not”, out of fear and self-protection. Distinctions between people arrived once evil entered the world. But for God, there are still no “haves” or “have nots”. We deny God’s reality when we do not cry out for the respect God wants for all of us. Let us wail and cry, and beg for “more” for all people who desperately need it!