My Brothers and Sisters,

“Great is your faith!” — How I wish Jesus would say this about me! But would it be true?

The praise of Jesus was well deserved in the case of the Canaanite woman.  Jesus was astonished at how she reacted to the hardship of having a daughter who was possessed as well as to all the problems that probably led to the possession and followed after it.  The dialogue with Jesus pushes her faith to the limit.  No doubt, most of us have experienced a moment when we would have liked to have said; “You know what, Lord.  I never expected this of you!”  The end result of today’s scripture conversation is a growth in faith.  We can enter the scene of today’s Gospel and learn from this woman how we, too, can nourish our faith so that it may truly become great.

Yet the question that ought to have demanded our attention from the beginning, still echoes:  At this time, is our faith great, small, or just average?  Do we live our faith?  Is our faith the most important aspect of our identity?  If Jesus came today, would he praise us as he did the Canaanite woman or would he say to us as he often said  to some of his closest followers from the beginning: “ Oh you of little faith!”

A hearty thank you to all who found the time to take part in our first parish meeting regarding the Diocesan initiative – “Renew my Church”.  We have another meeting ahead of us to which you are all invited.  This meeting will take place on August 30th at 3:00pm in Church.  Please come!

Your Priest,

Fr. Paul