Our theme of reflection today is “The door of God’s mercy and grace is open to all.” Today, we celebrate and rejoice in God, who welcomes everyone into his house and presence. His house is a place of prayer, a place of unity of all peoples, and a place where no one who has faith in him is denied any favour.
In the first reading, the word of God reminds us that God’s house is open to every foreigner who desires to serve God and pray to Him.
In the second reading, St Paul tells us about his mission to preach the good news to pagans. That means the word of God is intended to benefit Gentiles as much as the Jews. God desires the salvation of those who seem far away from him through their sin and disobedience.
In the gospel, Jesus healed the daughter of the Canaanite woman because the woman demonstrated faith in Him despite all obstacles. Despite being a foreigner, the woman shows a rare faith that she and her family will not be excluded from those who Jesus favoured.
God does not show favouritism, and no one is excluded from his presence because of their origin and individual differences. That means that all who come to God should be disposed to allow God to work on them. They should be humble for the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to heal and make them better. He makes fishermen into fishers of men, sinners into saints, the sick become healthy, the divided become united, and the sad become joyful, all in his presence.
Within our worshipping community, every individual is welcomed unconditionally. We must try to fight off feelings of bias with regard to others’ race, language, ideologies, political and religious beliefs and try to be accommodating and tolerant. Also, we must not lose who we are and what makes us Christians in the guise of tolerance.