By Fr Antony Christy, SDB –
August 16, 2020: 20th Sunday in Ordinary time
Isaiah 56: 1, 6-7; Romans 11: 13-15, 29-32; Matthew 15: 21-28
Will those who do not believe in God be saved? Will the Hindus or Muslims be saved? Will those who belong to this particular church be saved? – Haven’t we frequently heard these questions? But these, we need to understand, are questions asked by those who have not truly understood the omnipotence and the mercy of God, and the relationship between the two. God wills that all be saved, declares St. Paul (1 Tim 2:4). The Universal Salvation of God has been effected once and for all, from the Cross. What is left for us is to claim it for ourselves from the Lord, in Lord’s Mercy.
Is it on our merit that we can claim it? Or are we left so desperately at the mercy of the Lord that we live till the last moment of our life with intense insecurity and total obscurity? Both these options are out of place when we remember the SAVING LOVE OF GOD. I can never merit it for I do not deserve the love that the Lord showers on me. I am not desperately left in obscurity for I have the hope in the fact that Jesus has given me the power to become a child of God (cf. Jn 1:12). The readings today highlight this salvific act of God’s love on my behalf.
God’s saving love knows no history. As the second reading points to us, the salvific love of God does not depend on what history I share and with whom? It does not keep in mind the account of the undeserving acts, in which case I would be damned to eternity. The appeal that God’s love makes to us, is made afresh every day and every moment. It is in every single moment of choice that I make, that I have to receive this love, so freely and so generously given.
As the Lord would point out through prophet Ezekiel (18: 21, 24) – we need to grow very critical of common views expressed like, the sins of the previous generation would affect the present, that our past sins condition who we are and what happens to us, and so on. It has become a fashion even for Christians and catholics to speak in terms of ‘karma’… aren’t we missing something so deep and profound here? Our life and life conditions cannot be let at the mercies of some dumb principle – the Lord’s saving love is much greater and deeper than anything that can ever affect the meaning of our life.
God’s saving love respects no geography. As the second reading and the Gospel point out to us, God does not love us on the basis of the background that we come from, the family that brought me up, the institutions I got educated in and the ministries that I have carried out. No, there is no geography in God’s salvation because the whole earth, what is within it and what is around it belongs to God. Lord God is the Lord of the universe! And that is precisely why God’s salvation is universal.
Today, there is so much made about where a person comes from – the global north versus the global south; the first world and the rest of the world, the regions with their language and cultures… even the value of what is said is gauged depending on from where he or she hails. This regionalism, sectarianism and factionalism has no sense in the sight of the Lord – the only favouritism that the Lord shows is towards the lost, the least and the neglected, there is no geography beyond it.
God’s saving love holds no memories. I need not despair at the bitter past that I have had, nor need I make such great acts of reparation to ‘appease’ my God! They are in no way related to the love that my God has for me. The love that the Lord has for me is so absolute and boundless that nothing on earth or beyond the earth can separate me from that love in and through Christ Jesus. That love of God does not keep count of my faults or my failures; all that counts is the choice I make at a given moment, a choice lovingly made, and a choice absolute for God and for everything that belongs to God.
Memories, records and revenge seem to have become the rule of life not only to ‘many’ persons but to the society on the whole, the nations and the entire humanity. There is so much of bad and bitter memories at work, and deciding what we should feel, experience and make of our lives in today’s context. The worst affected are the innocents, the weakest in the society, the helpless and the those who have absolutely no power to decide or choose for themselves. This is a logic that is diametrically opposed to God and God’s saving love! God wishes the salvation of all, the fullness of life for all, a holistic humanity… this is salvation. In Jesus’ terms, this is the Reign of God.
In summary, the Word today tells us that our salvation is assured on the part of God; but on our part we need to grow into our salvation: through our daily choices and everyday commitment. We need to think beyond history and geography; go beyond our memories and experience the saving love of God, becoming ourselves signs of that salvation, promoting a humanity guided by compassion and a universe filled with love.
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He is currently pursuing his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him.