Christine Vladimiroff, OSB

Matthew 15:21-28

Jesus is in Gentile territory and a Canaanite woman seeks him out.  The woman is portrayed as assertive, coming forward to approach Jesus.  She ignores any cultural taboos about Gentile women talking to Jewish males.  She is also noisy, crying out as she is coming forward.  We are told to “behold” her for she will be the catalyst of the important revelation the story presents us today.

A Canaanite woman!  As a Jew, Jesus becomes a lightning rod for an exploration of a cultural and religious problem: what to do with this alien, this Gentile woman, this unclean foreigner.  You can feel Jesus embarrassment, and, most interesting of all, his silence over what to do.  It is the eternal dilemma: crying women and embarrassed men. The disciples are not in doubt.  They are decisive and push for her exclusion.

She may be both assertive and noisy, but she is also insightful.  She knows who Jesus is.  She calls him “Lord, Son of David.”  Jesus is Lord, meaning intimately connected to God, and therefore meant for all people.  But he is also Son of David, coming from a specific people with a particular heritage and distinctive traditions.

In Jesus mind he has construed his identity and mission within the boundaries of Israel.  He belongs to Israel and the gathering in of the strayed members of that house.  This woman is outside that house, and so she is of no concern to the savior of the Jews.  Even Jesus’ declaration of his exclusive Jewish identity and mission did not keep her from coming forward.  When she addresses him, it is with a simple and unvarnished need.  There is no flattery, no bargaining, and no argumentation.  There is only vulnerability:  “Lord, help me.”  The women’s brash courage actually “converts” Jesus.  This is the only debate in the Gospels in which Jesus seems to lose an argument.  The woman brings him to the full realization of the implications of his universal mission.  The pestering one becomes the bearer of a deeper truth. 

The Canaanite woman knows who Jesus is also knows what he has to give.  The woman is not content to be ignored, because she is convinced that her daughter deserves to be given a chance at living a normal, productive life.  She asks for mercy.  Her bold begging for mercy is because her daughter is in agony with a demon.  She is in such solidarity with her daughter that if Jesus has mercy on her it will flow through her to her daughter.  She does not want something for herself.  What will be given to her will immediately be given to her daughter. 

This believing Gentile poses a sharp contrast to the unbelieving Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem of the preceding passage.  Jesus is rejected by fellow Jews, yet Gentiles are able to recognize him as one who has mercy on them and exorcizes the demon of paganism so that they can join the children at God’s table. 

Clearly, Christ’s mission and work on earth was for all people, and even all creatures on earth.  Everything is new in Christ.  Today, our ministry is participation in the very mission of Christ.  It is about the restoration of all things, the transformation of all beings, the reordering of fallen creation in Christ.  If we look at our world we have a glimpse of what is at stake and awaiting redemption in our own global economy.  There is at this time nation butchering nation over boundaries.  We see it in the struggle between Georgia and Russian and countless people are killed.  We have seen the horrors of war in the last century like no other based on ethnic cleansing: gas chambers, firing squads, anonymous graves.  There continues to be exploitation of poor countries with national resources by wealthy, industrialized nations.  Jesus came to make possible what looks impossible: that nations with self-interests might never take up their swords any more.  It is our dream for the world.

Listen to the debate around immigration in our own country.  We fear those who are “other” and do not look like us.  We want to build fences and patrol borders to keep people out.  The foreigner and stranger are exploited and demonized.  Their very humanity is called into question.  The mean spirited national harangue is not worthy of a people who make up one human family.

The sisters whom we celebrate today have been ambassadors of the reconciling and transforming ministry of bringing mercy and compassion to our suffering world.  There is no stranger but only neighbor.  There is no outsider only a sister or a brother to be embraced.  There is no private good that merits our attention but only a common good that will benefit all.

The act of monastic profession is an affirmation, a public declaration of the baptismal commitment to follow the Christ and announce the Good News.  Monastic profession is about establishing a life-long relationship among all the members to support each other in our search for God.  This relationship grows out of being a follower of Jesus.  It is a relationship began at baptism and the choice to be in communion with the Church.  A religious community is about the common good, the common life and the common mission.

These women stand before us as faithful women over 60, 50, 25 years in monastic life.  Their faithfulness is a commitment of the heart, an allegiance that elicits loyalty and that colors every decision and choice they make.  Faith is the radical centering of our life in God.  It gives us a singleness of purpose and meaning to our lives.

Sister Mary Therese Eichenlaub has been teacher of the young, leading them to know and love God.  She has served the common good of this monastic family through internal service as receptionist and in the business office.  Her attention to the elderly and sick sisters through her ministry as cosmetologist is loving care.

Sister Mary Therese Egan has been administrator and teacher in the Dioceses of Erie, Cleveland, Richmond, Virginia.  She moved on to computer science and was hired by the Diocese of Dodge City becoming responsible for the computer systems in all the diocesan offices and parishes.  We now enjoy her Irish wit and smile here in our monastic home she oversees our Information Technology systems.

Sister Justina Gutowski was teacher to the little ones in parish schools and taught them well.  She moved on to the staff of Benet Press and learned camera work and offset printing.  She managed this operation for years and still yearns to do “jobs”.  Now we all benefit from her work as Director of Food Service at the monastery.

Sister Phyllis Schliecher taught in elementary schools and then on to her alma mater, St. Benedict where she both taught and was a part of the administration of the high school.  She was the Administrator of the nursing home, John XXII Home in Hermitage.  She was one of the founders of Catholic Rural Ministry where she exercises her ministry today.

Sister Rita Zattosky taught many years in the parish schools in the diocese.  She has served her sisters by providing food service and care of our housing arrangements in Sharon, Oil City and Erie.  She was an early staff member at the Second Harvest Good Bank of Northwest Pennsylvania.  Presently she is receptionist at the monastery.

Sister Ann Hoffman worked at Sarah Reed Children’s Center and later at the Erie County Office for Children and Youth.  She has served at the Mission of Friendship in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico.  Presently she is the assistant manager and activities director at Benetwood Apartments.

Sister Cindy Hoover  She brings her happy smile to work each day as she ministers as manager of food service at Saint Benedict Development/East Coast Migrant Day Care Center.  She spends time studying Spanish and practicing her new found language.  She is active in planning liturgy for the community.

I just gave you a quick litany of works engaged in and projects undertaken by our jubilarians.  The faith of today’s gospel is the capacity to see the whole of life –it is faith as vision.  We celebrate the vision of these seven women.  They spend and are spent for the sake of a vision that goes beyond their own lifetime.  Their faith gives them eyes to see the suffering and demon-afflicted world around them and their heart shapes the response to the world in need of their love.  They have a single focus and a passion for the mission of Christ.

Jubilee is a celebration of how life has been set free in these seven faith-filled women.  The women with whom we celebrate this anniversary of monastic profession promised their lives 60, 50, 25 years ago.  They were young with all of life in front of them.  They answered the call in a life-defining way and made a commitment to give all and not hold back anything.  They called out to Jesus confident that he would give them the mercy to reach out to others.

In a strange sort of way, the Canaanite woman is our prophetic guide here, albeit an unlikely one at that.  But that, after all, is the point:  those whom we target as outsiders are often the ones who lead us to the doors of the kingdom.  The character of the Canaanite woman changes throughout the story.  She is noisy and assertive, then pleading and compliant, then clever and confrontative.  Her consistency does not lie in her attitudes and behaviors.  She is unified by her mission.  She has a demon-afflicted child—little things such as social taboos, ethnic diversity and cultural hatred will not stand in the way.  Heartened by her faith, Jesus responds!

It often happens that when we engage in honest dialogue we come to understand ourselves better and make changes for the good of all.  In the end of our story, Jesus learns something new and changes his attitude and behavior.  Jesus takes leave of the Canaanite woman who revealed to him who he actually is—God’s Word for all peoples reaching out to everyone.  His mission is universal.

Sister Christine Vladimiroff has served as prioress of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie since 1998. She is a past president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), which represents more than 73,000 U.S. Catholic sisters. A voice for change in the Church and in society, Sister Christine's articles have appeared in National Catholic Reporter and SALT Publishing. She was CEO and president of Second Harvest from 1987 until 1998 and continues to be one of the nation's leading authorities on the issues of hunger and poverty.