"Foreigners, foreigners, foreigners!" In today’s three readings we hear, in various situations, of foreigners—you know—those people who are "from away," as Mainers would say—and who now want to be with "us." Why should we accept them into our community? Why don’t they build their own parish?

Today’s readings are meant to remind us that with the Lord Jesus Christ we are all called to be One. God sees us as His adopted daughters and son, not distinguished by
station in life, color of skin or any other variable. Let me quote Jesus Christ Himself in prayer: "I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me." (John 20-21) Our Triune God desires all of His creation to be one—and it is the prayer of the Church that we shall work together so that all may believe in the Word of the One, True God.

In this weekend’s Gospel, Matthew tells the story of the Canaanite woman and demonstrates—to those who are creating tensions between the Jewish people and the Gentiles in his community—that it is God who desires us to be of One God and of one family. And that while there may be differences even in a community of believers as in Mat-thew’s own community—and even in today’s Catholic parish comprised of different ethnic groups—it is still the Will of God that we come together and praise Him as a united people. The Canaanite woman, a Gentile, is thought by Matthew’s community to have "no right" to ask the Lord for His blessing upon her daughter. But the Lord, when He sees her faith, grants her request and heals her daughter.

I love the way our Sacred Scriptures, written thousands of years ago, are so spot on for today’s world and its needs. We call God’s Word the Absolute Truth, for the Word of God is equally true today as it was when the Lord spoke it Himself. Something that is true is not caused to be more or less true by the circumstances of the culture. It is Truth period.

Whether we are speaking of politics, race, religion or anything else, the desire of our God is that we all may be One is alive today as it was when Jesus offered the above prayer. In our own Archdiocese today, as we begin the fulfillment of a pastoral plan to ensure a vibrant and growing faith community for future generations, we care called to have a "Oneness" among our faith communities—and this is to be evidenced in many ways:

—In parishes were multiple ethnic populations reside—from Anglos and Hispanics to Vietnamese and Irish to Polish and Italians—we must learn and work to live and worship together. We must see the face of Christ in all peoples and learn to share our love for God in the celebration of our liturgies, in the practice of our ministries, and in the traditions of the community. We cannot cling to our differences creating "no man lands" of separation but rather must reach for our similarities and use them to unite our communities under the one umbrella of Catholic Christians and be united together;

—In parishes were multiple ethnic populations reside—from Anglos and Hispanics to Vietnamese and Irish to Polish and Italians—we must learn and work to live and worship together. We must see the face of Christ in all peoples and learn to share our love for God in the celebration of our liturgies, in the practice of our ministries, and in the traditions of the community. We cannot cling to our differences creating "no man lands" of separation but rather must reach for our similarities and use them to unite our communities under the one umbrella of Catholic Christians and be united together;

—In parishes where two similar Catholic communities are brought together via a merger, we must unite the two-in-one community and make it truly one, similar to the theological understanding of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony where the "two become one," collecting and merging all of the  various gifts and talents, hopes and dreams. By way of example, we must incorporate one parish’s feed-the-hungry program with another’s street Sandwich ministry; we must learn from each other’s practices and traditions—whether it be in an outreach ministry or in ushering or any other program—and then dove-tail the two or three or four and build a hybrid ministry that is all-inclusive; or,

—Where one prospering parish is healthy and alive and growing, we need to look with our resources (ideas, programs, best practices and revenues when possible) to the parish that needs help—not providing a long-term or "ongoing handout" but rather offering ideas for a successful strategic plan aimed at self-sustaining growth, through
long-term programs, revitalized ministries and uplifting liturgies that will spiritually feed the population and make rock solid the future of faith in all communities. A healthier Archdiocese of Hartford is a stronger local church at the
parish level.

It seems that in this weekend’s Scripture we are called to build unity of the Church by engaging and involving everyone—not by highlighting differences and "other ways" but in building upon the similarities and growing the Church. In last weekend’s gospel we heard Jesus say to Peter, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" as Peter took his eyes of Jesus and let the winds around him buffet him and nurture fear causing him to sink. This week, the Canaanite woman steps out of her "boat" and even with the headwinds of distrust and prejudice about her, she kept her eyes of faith on the Lord, approached Him and shone her faith to Him—and Jesus says to her: "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. Couldn’t we all use a little healing right now?