Proper readings for the Memorial of St. John Mary Vianney
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| “Saint John Mary Vianney” artist and date are unknown |
“Send men to reconnoiter the land of Canaan,
which I am giving the children of Israel.
You shall send one man from each ancestral tribe,
all of them princes.”
met Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation of the children of Israel
in the desert of Paran at Kadesh,
made a report to them all,
and showed the fruit of the country
to the whole congregation.
They told Moses: “We went into the land to which you sent us.
It does indeed flow with milk and honey, and here is its fruit.
However, the people who are living in the land are fierce,
and the towns are fortified and very strong.
Besides, we saw descendants of the Anakim there.
Amalekites live in the region of the Negeb;
Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites dwell in the highlands,
and Canaanites along the seacoast and the banks of the Jordan.”
“We ought to go up and seize the land, for we can certainly do so.”
But the men who had gone up with him said,
“We cannot attack these people; they are too strong for us.”
So they spread discouraging reports among the children of Israel
about the land they had scouted, saying,
“The land that we explored is a country that consumes its inhabitants.
And all the people we saw there are huge, veritable giants
(the Anakim were a race of giants);
we felt like mere grasshoppers, and so we must have seemed to them.”
and even in the night the people wailed.
“How long will this wicked assembly grumble against me?
I have heard the grumblings of the children of Israel against me.
Tell them: By my life, says the LORD,
I will do to you just what I have heard you say.
Here in the desert shall your dead bodies fall.
Forty days you spent in scouting the land;
forty years shall you suffer for your crimes:
one year for each day.
Thus you will realize what it means to oppose me.
I, the LORD, have sworn to do this
to all this wicked assembly that conspired against me:
here in the desert they shall die to the last man.”
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Commentary on Nm 13:1-2, 25–14:1, 26a-29a, 34-35
In God’s encounter with the children of Israel, Moses does the will of God. Those entrusted with seeing the land that was given to them come back disheartened because it appears to them to be impossible to take the land the Lord has promised. Further, because Moses had picked the scouts (instead of having God pick them by lots), some detractors were able to sow distrust in Moses' leadership, further distancing their thoughts from God's plan. In response to their lack of faith, God condemns them to remain in the desert for forty years (a generation) until those who opposed his will perish. They will never see the promise fulfilled.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 106:6-7ab, 13-14, 21-22, 23
we have committed crimes; we have done wrong.
Our fathers in Egypt
considered not your wonders.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
But soon they forgot his works;
they waited not for his counsel.
They gave way to craving in the desert
and tempted God in the wilderness.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
They forgot the God who had saved them,
who had done great deeds in Egypt,
Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham,
terrible things at the Red Sea.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
Then he spoke of exterminating them,
but Moses, his chosen one,
Withstood him in the breach
to turn back his destructive wrath.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
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Commentary on Ps 106:6-7ab, 13-14, 21-22, 23
Psalm 106 is a song of lament. In this passage, we hear the remorse of the people who challenged the will of God. In spite of their great sin, Moses intercedes for them and the Lord relents.
CCC: Ps 106:23 2577
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Gospel: Matthew 15: 21-28
And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out,
“Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!
My daughter is tormented by a demon.”
But he did not say a word in answer to her.
His disciples came and asked him,
“Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.”
He said in reply,
“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
But the woman came and did him homage, saying, “Lord, help me.”
He said in reply,
“It is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs.”
She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps
that fall from the table of their masters.”
Then Jesus said to her in reply,
“O woman, great is your faith!
Let it be done for you as you wish.”
And her daughter was healed from that hour.
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Commentary on Mt 15:21-28
There was a long history of tension between the Canaanites and the Hebrews that was at a high point when Jesus encountered the woman. She clearly knew what she was doing as she addressed him as “Lord, Son of David,” identifying him by that name as a Hebrew.
In this selection Jesus has withdrawn from Palestine to escape the persecution of the Pharisees and scribes and to spend time training his disciples. The region they come to is predominantly Gentile and sets the scene for his encounter with a Canaanite woman (in St. Mark’s Gospel it is the Syrophoenician woman (Mark 7:24-30).
Jesus, while the words attributed to him are harsh, did not, as most of his own contemporaries would have, begin throwing stones at her to drive her away. His disciples were begging him to do that. Jesus recognized the great gulf between them, but opened his healing touch to the woman’s child when her faith in him was demonstrated.
The exchange between Jesus and the woman is intended to describe the universal nature of the messianic mission. Within the dialogue we see Jesus initially refuse to accede to the woman’s request (even though she recognized his authority: “the woman came and did him homage, saying, 'Lord, help me'”).
This same pattern of refusal and then acquiescence is found in St. John’s Gospel (John 2:4, John 4:48). The metaphor being exchanged in this banter refers to the “children” being the Hebrews, and the “dogs” a reference to the Gentiles (frequently referred to as such by Hebrews of the day). While this seems out of character for the Lord, our translation leaves out some conversational nuances that soften the dialogue. The word translated as “dogs” in this translation could be more accurately expressed as “pups.” It is also significant that the children and pups are eating at the same table, again expressing the universal nature of the mission of the Messiah.
CCC: Mt 15:22 439, 448; Mt 15:28 2610
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Reflection:
Once again, Scripture pushes us to examine our own faith. In the first reading from the Book of Numbers we hear how the children of Israel see something through human eyes and doubt the word of God, which contradicts what they feel. God had promised them a land “flowing with milk and honey.” When he commanded Moses to send leaders from each of the twelve tribes to scout the area, they came back saying that indeed the land flowed with milk and honey, but it was already occupied and heavily fortified. Their human efforts would not be sufficient to make a place for themselves in that land. They forgot God, became disenchanted, and because they did not believe what God had told them, they suffered a great punishment.
[1] The picture is “Saint John Mary Vianney” artist and date are unknown.
[2] S.S. Commemoratio
[3] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
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