Things work out - Praise God! Things don’t work out – ditto!

Last Sunday’s Gospel reading brought us the Canaanite Woman – who’s “great faith” was the cause of the healing of her daughter.

We’ve all had things we’ve prayed for, and often with all the faith we can muster, but the prayer wasn’t answered in the way we hope.  Our challenge is to trust in God, even in that seemingly unanswered prayer.

For many of the Youtube atheists (such as Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and so on) this is proof-positive of the irrationality of religion – that it is just a pile of superstition, wrapped in a cloak of hogwash, served on a bed of irrationality, and with a heaping side of group hallucination.

“You Christians, when things turn out positively you cry out ‘Praise the Lord!’ and when things don’t work out well, you cry out, ‘God is so mysterious!’”

What, then, is the option?

We have no further to look than the same Bible that is the target of the atheist’s ire and barbs.  Perhaps the most direct alternative to Christianity is found in the book of Ecclesiastes.  The wise author (perhaps Solomon) tells us what to make of life without Christ – “vanity of vanities and all is vanity!”

Vanity – as in everything we do is “in vain”.

In fact, when the atheists take God out of the equation (sort of the definition of atheism), vanity is all they have left to work with.  For them, just as the author of Ecclesiastes taught thousands of years ago, everything is “in vain.”  Don’t take our word for it, take theirs:

"The world is meaningless, and we are nothing." - Jean-Paul Sartre

"Life is a meaningless chaos, and death is the only release." - Arthur Schopenhauer

For most people, thoughts like those simply do not reflect reality.  They sense there is a deeper, transcendent meaning to our lives.

But life is also filled with trial and suffering.  And for Sartre and Schopenhauer the algebra of suffering seemed simple:  Suffering isn’t meaningful.  But life comes with a bushel and peck of suffering.  So life can’t have meaning.  So there is no God.

The error, of course, is the assertion that “suffering isn’t meaningful.”

Suffering is filled with meaning (and Grace) when we unite it to Christ.

And that is why the Christian can truly say “Praise God” when things “work out” – because that’s what friends do – they share in life’s celebrations together.

And that is why the Christian can truly say “Praise God” when things “don’t work out” – because we all need to share in the suffering of Christ from time to time.  We say “Praise God” because that’s also what friends do - they share life’s burdens together.

More than that, we also know that God never just “ignores” our prayers.  St. Ignatius teaches that in discerning God’s will, His answer to our prayers will be one of three things:

1. Yes – now.
2. Yes – but not yet.
3. No – because I have something better.

And in all three of these – we trust and believe in God’s goodness

You know, in Sunday’s Gospel Jesus says to the woman, “great is your faith” – and you can sense how pleased Jesus was – for the woman’s sake, not for His.  How much greater faith do we show God when we trust that He is answering our prayers even if it’s not in the way we asked?

Blessings on your journey with Christ –

Steve and Karen Smith

Interior Life

Postscript:   Mt 15:21-28

At that time, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.  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 Jesus did not say a word in answer to her.  Jesus' 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 Jesus 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 the woman's daughter was healed from that hour.