 |
| Jesus and the Canaanite Woman |
At first Jesus seems to treat this mother harshly. Then the mother utters a prayer: “Lord, help me.” Jesus replies: “Great is your faith. Let it be done for you as you wish.” And the daughter was healed.
This faith-filled woman segues into the many heroes and heroines in Christianity who can coach us about our spiritual life. St. Augustine, whose feast day we celebrate this month, is one of these many heroes. After many detours in his life he met Ambrose, bishop of Milan, whose persuasive homilies led Augustine to focus on the direction of his life.
Augustine went into his garden and just sat. He heard a voice say, “Take and read, take and read.” He picked up the Bible. His autobiography, Confessions, notes: “I seized, opened, and in silence read that section on which my eyes first fell: ‘Put on the Lord Jesus Christ...' instantly... all the darkness of doubt vanished.”
Augustine found his purpose in life. “God, you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” That’s our purpose too: be in relationship with God.
A question that haunted Augustine his entire life, even as he pursued a relationship with God was the problem of evil. How can I have a relationship with a supposedly all-good God when there's such incredible human suffering. The universe, the work of God, he came to believe, is essentially good. A provident God guides this universe to the fullness of the kingdom at the end time. The disciples of Jesus throughout the ages, the one Church, is holy, yet it’s made up of saints and sinners.
Human beings need God's grace to live the kind of life God wants them to live. But some people choose evil over good, falsehood over truth. Why? Because there's a tendency or pull to choose our worse rather than our better selves. Augustine called this “original sin.” Human beings had fallen from grace and cry out for salvation.
Augustine praised an all-good God who became “one of us” in Jesus so that all who believe in hime might have eternal life. This Jesus Christ is alive by the power of the Spirit. By God's grace, Augustine argued, humans are in relationship with God but still must struggle to choose right over wrong.
The quality of our life and our soul’s destiny ultimately will be measured by our character: going the extra mile; being faithful in our relationships and responsibilities; and trusting always in an all-good and compassionate God who is ever near and who will guide us safely to our heavenly dwelling place
