Father Mark Nolte - Aug 16

St. Philip Catholic Church: Good morning, everybody. Woman, great is your faith. Jesus has never said those words before to anyone. And this woman he speaks to in the gospel today is not a Jewish woman. She's a Canaanite. So to give a little context to the gospel today, because it's good to keep everything in context so we can understand what the Lord's trying to teach us. Jesus is being persecuted, he's being rejected by his own people. This was prophesied. John says this in John's prologue of the gospel, he said it says that he came unto his own, but his own did not accept him. So Jesus is now going out into pagan territory. He's going out into Gentile territory. So think of it this way. What part of Franklin or Nashville would you never, ever, ever go into? Think about that for a minute. And Jesus says to you, guess where we're going today? How many of y'all would go with him? Two people. See, Jesus is breaking new ground. It's the beginning of the end of all barriers. Jesus came into our world as the word made flesh, God incarnate, and he comes into our world and he says, Enough of the barriers, enough of the walls, they're coming down. I want all people to be one in me and I in them. And he brings he leads them into Canaanite territory. Now, if you know Jewish history, the Canaanites and the Jews were ancestral enemies. They don't hang out together. Okay? They hate each other. They wouldn't dare go into each other's neighborhoods because they may fear for the life. And what does Jesus say? He takes the apostles into Canaanite territory. So Jesus is always teaching us something in our life experience. So Jesus is preparing the twelve apostles for the mission that's going to come later after his resurrection. His mission right now in his own person is to the Jewish people. But he knows later it will go to the whole world. And so he's preparing the twelve, he's teaching them, hey, you need to get over some prejudice in your heart. You need to get over some fears and prejudice that you have in your heart towards the pagans, the Gentile people. I love the Gentiles just as much as I do the Jews. And he leads them into this territory. He encounters this Canaanite woman. So the theme of today's gospel is faith. And we've been hearing for the last two or three weeks, we've had this theme of faith. The faith of this woman is great, but also the faith of Jesus Christ is great because look, Jesus is a Jew. He grew up a Jew. He knows you do not go into that neighborhood. You don't go over there. And Jesus says, Yeah, we're going over there because I know who I am and I know the mission that the Father's given to me. It's for all people. My house shall be a house of prayer for all people. And I know sometimes as Catholics we struggle with differences in ethnicities. Right? We struggle with that. But if we understand what the word Catholic means, it means universal. That God's love is a universal love for all peoples, even the people you may not care for or you're afraid of. And here he goes into this territory, and this woman, great is her faith, she's a gentile woman. She's got two strikes against her. She's a woman, sorry, ladies. She's a woman, and she's a gentile. So women and children were considered property back then. Did y'all know that? But here's Jesus saying, No, that's gonna end right here. This is gonna end. And what does he do? Just like the woman at the well, he speaks to the woman at the well. He doesn't ever shame her or say, Well, I know you've got you've had five men in your life. He never sa he says it, but it's not in a condemning way. And he encounters this woman and she's begging him to come and deliver her daughter from a demon. She's desperate. She knows that she's not even supposed to approach a Jew, but she does it because great is her faith. Her love for her child is greater than her fear. I have a little plaque in my house and and in my office. Somebody gave it to me years ago, and it says, Let your faith be bigger than your fear. Let your faith be bigger than your fear. See, this woman allowed her faith to be bigger than her fear. She was determined. I love that about her. She's like, I know I'm not supposed to approach him, and he's not as supposed to approach me, but I've heard things about Jesus. I heard he's different. I'm gonna approach him because I know he won't reject me. And she goes up to him and she gets she begs him to have mercy. And what does he do? What's his first response? He says nothing to her. Does it ever feel that way when you pray to God? You just hear crickets. How many of you all heard crickets during prayer? I have crickets in my prayer time. I don't even bring them with me, they just show up crickets. Please, God, please help me. I should have brought the sound effects of crickets. Are you there? Do you care? Can't you see what I'm going through? Why are you letting us go through all this? Right? And it just seems like he's indifferent. But he's not. You see, he knows what he's doing. He doesn't reply to her. Not because he doesn't love her or doesn't care. He's testing her faith. He's gonna see he wants to see how bad she really wants it. That sounds cruel, but that's not what he's about. And then he finally says, I've come to the Jews. He's not saying he won't take care of her. You'll come later. How many times has God made you wait? You know, I asked the Archbishop of Omaha to let me go two years ago to come to the Nashville Diocese. Two years ago. Here I am two years later. You know what he said to me on the first time? I want to transfer, I want to hit the transfer portal. I want to go to the Diocese of Nashville. 'Cause I feel like God's calling me here. No, you can't go. But I had to trust God in that. You can't go. Not right now. Okay. Second year. I go next year. Transfer portal, I'd like to transfer. No, not right now. Trust God. Wait. Third year, here I am. So sometimes he has you wait. But you know, looking back on that, it wasn't the right time. If I came here, this assignment would have been open. I'd be somewhere else. Probably on the boondock somewhere. The bishop did ask me that, would you like to be in a rural parish? I said no. I'm a city guy. I I need at least give me a bigger town. And when he gave me Franklin, I'm like, yay, Franklin. So sometimes he'll have you wait. He always answers prayers. Always. It's just sometimes the answer is no. Parents, do you give your children everything they ask for? Everything that they beg you for, please. I just want that new video game. I know it's a thousand dollars, but please. And you say what? Yes. Yes, honey, you should have that video game. It's horrible, but we you should have it. God's not gonna give you something he knows you're not ready for. See I he God knows my heart. He probably knew you're not ready to move yet. So We can learn a lot from Jesus and this woman. Look at their faith. So maybe you're praying about something and you don't know why he's not answering. It's not because he doesn't love you, okay? He's having you wait. Why are you making me wait wait, Lord? Because Mark, I want you to trust me. I want you to trust that I know what I'm doing. I want you to know that I'm right here with you. I hear you. I know what you're going through. I know everything about you. I know you better than you know yourself. But I need you to trust me. I'm leading you into new territory. See, he was leading the twelve into new territory. What is this new territory that God wants to lead you into? He wants to to lead you into the territory of faith, trust. He wants you to trust him with everything. You see, and when we trust him with everything and we persevere in faith and we keep praying, like this woman, she she was not taking no for answer, was she? I love that about her. She was like determined. But Lord, please. She kept begging, kept begging, persevering. And then he looks at her and says, You are driving me crazy. wait a minute. No, it doesn't say that. He says, Woman, great is your faith. And it said, From that hour her daughter was delivered. So what can we learn? When see, when we put our faith in him, our trust, God can do miraculous things. He just needs your faith. He needs you to trust him. But he also wants you to keep persevering. Some of you here today, you have children who have left the faith. You're going through some really hard things. And you feel like giving up. How many of y'all have ever felt like just giving up on God? Giving up on your faith? Yeah. But don't give in to fear and don't give in to discourage. This woman was not taking no for an answer. Do not give in to fear or discouragement. Keep praying. Keep pressing in and always know this. God is always with you. He's always loving you. He hears everything you're saying. He's right there. And sometimes he'll say to you, not right now. Not right now. Just know I'm I'm with you. I'm with you in this struggle you're going through. I'm with you right here. He just needs our faith. Saint Monica, Saint Augustine's mother, you know how long she prayed for Augustine? Thirty years. I call him Gus. Gus was a playboy. Did you know that? He was a playboy. He had a child out of wedlock, he was a wild child. In Saint Monica, she would not quit. She just kept praying, praying, and he ends up being one of the greatest saints in the church. So parents, especially mothers, whatever y'all are going through, especially with your children, maybe it's health issues, whatever it is, he loves you. Keep pressing in, keep praying, and watch what he's gonna do. It may not be on your time, but he will answer your prayers.