Jesus' reaction to this woman is a real problem, that is, if we think Jesus changed his mind about her and, up to then, he was being unkind to her. It's also a problem if we ourselves expect to change Jesus' mind: if we keep all this up, surely Jesus has to stop being indifferent and unkind towards me, and start giving me what I want. This is a problem. We must begin from the will of God. What is God's will for this non-Jewish woman and her daughter? From all that follows
If you have ever read through the First Book of Kings, the passage we have for our first reading this Sunday certainly would have stood out. It is a book about the lives of the kings of Israel and Judah. They are born, they go to war, often they are killed. There are lots of stories and characters, and those stories and character are not always edifying. This short passage is different. It is the story of Elijah on Horeb, the mountain of God, when the prophet encounters God
St Dominic spent his life salting the earth and lighting the world; so, we celebrate him today, in the hope that we may follow him here on earth and so into heaven. To follow the way of Dominic, we need to look at his life. Our Dominic was born at the high point of the Reconquista, that series of military campaigns by a coalition of Christian rulers to retake the Iberian Peninsula. And so, even from the cradle, Dominic had impressed upon him a key principle: heroic efforts
Aug 2
PREACHING
From the beginning, St Dominic’s friars have set about preaching with the mind of the Church. Our homilies are offered here for the good of their readers and the support of homilists everywhere.
