Meditation of His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa for the XX Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Below you can find the Meditation of His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, for the XX Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A, Sunday 20th of August 2023.

Mt 15:21-28

The past few Sundays, the “Word” was found at the center of all the Gospel readings that we heard during the Liturgy.

In one passage, the Word was portrayed as a seed that grows in different soils and produces abundant fruit only if welcomed and buried deep in the soil. In another passage, the Word was portrayed as the good grain that does not fear the presence of other seeds, of other plants, but rather grows free from all fear.

Later, the Gospel highlighted the Word of the Father, which was spoken on the mountain. And the resounding Word spoken amidst the storm. All, to assure us of the ever-present Word that illuminates our life. A Living and life-giving Word.

However, in today’s Gospel, Jesus is silent and seems to utter no words for a woman who approached Him crying out in distress.

Matthew made this clear by stating: "But he did not say a word in answer to her" (Mt. 15:23), to the extent that, after a short period, the disciples tired or perhaps embarrassed by the woman's cries, intervened, and asked Jesus to resolve the matter, if not out of mercy and compassion, at least to put an end to this hurdle.

Nevertheless, if we go to the end of the passage, we see that Jesus does not only speak to the woman, but also speaks encouraging words of appreciation and acknowledgment: “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish” (Mt. 15:28). Words that heal and save.

Then, we can pause and ask ourselves why Jesus was initially silent, and: What brought forth this Word, which seemed not fitting to be said to a non-Jewish, foreign woman?

Jesus is silent because the words he uses are not His own, and therefore cannot utter them freely. This is shown in Chapter 12 of the Gospel of John, where Jesus makes it clear that he does not speak out according to his will, and that his words are the words of the Father who sent him: “Because I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and speak” (Jn. 12:49. This shows that there is an act of obedience even in speaking, which is cherished by Jesus, because salvation always comes through a word, said at the right time and place.

Subsequently, Jesus is silent because the history of salvation is subject to a place and time, which gradually expands: The history of salvation began with Abraham, and little by little it expanded and extended everywhere. It is not an immediate act. Because it requires the involvement of everyone, without discrimination, to enter a logic different from human logic: that of free giving to all. The road to this transformation is long and arduous. Yet, Jesus is the first one to travel it.

This is the reason for Jesus' silence…

This Meditation was originally published on the website of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Please click here to read the full text.