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Pope Saint Paul VI (3 April 1969): “Although the text of the Roman Gradual—at least that which concerns the singing—has not been changed, the Entrance antiphons and Communions antiphons have been revised for Masses without singing.”

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Views from the Choir Loft

Homily: 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

Guest Author · August 17, 2014

HERE IS NO DENYING the fact that there is something very unique about how Jesus acted in today’s Gospel episode. It’s about the only time that Jesus seemed like he was going to deny someone’s fervent request. And then the rest of His remarks could almost be considered insulting. When you read different commentators you will find different explanations. Both you and I can possibly come up with an explanation for why Jesus said what He did. But when all is said and done, that is all we have: our own or someone else’s explanation.

Apparently the woman didn’t get angry or frustrated. She didn’t give up hope, but kept right in there. And in the end we can say that she won. In fact Jesus ends up by paying her a great compliment about her great faith. And more importantly she obtains what she originally had asked for, the cure of her daughter.

I will admit it is easy to say that this should be an example for us. I do believe that our prayer life, especially when we go to God with our needs and petitions can be a great test of our faith. The reason I say this is because it seems to happen so often that our prayers, yes our well intentioned prayers seem to go unanswered. I’m not referring to those prayers when we are praying for material things like money or jobs or even health. I’m referring to the times when we pray for the conversion of loved ones who have fallen away from the Church, who no longer practice their religion, who no longer believe. Why aren’t those prayers answered?

I’VE ENTITLED THE NEXT PART of my sermon “Don’t be so sure!” There are so many things about God that we don’t know or understand. One of these is what I will call “God’s timing.” Strictly speaking there is no time with God in the sense that we understand God. With God everything is an eternal “now.” We can’t understand that, so don’t even try. And God has His reasons for allowing things to happen when and where they are supposed to happen. And so when He doesn’t answer our prayers right now—like we would like to happen―He has His reasons. But remember Jesus told us Ask and you shall receive. I can assure you that He meant it. He never said ‘immediately’.

Jesus Himself gives us the reason why He answered this woman’s request: it was her great faith; her great confidence that Jesus would grant her request. I sometimes think that the more ‘educated’ that people become, the less their faith becomes. There is no denying the great technological advances of the last decade. Younger people can carry on conversations about I-pads, computers, etc., and I don’t know what they are talking about. Let something go wrong on my computer and I am completely helpless. Unfortunately too many in the modern world are losing their faith in God. How much faith and confidence do I have when I pray for the conversion of a loved one? Do I have as much faith as this woman who asked for the cure of her daughter? After all Jesus had told her that since she was not a Jew, he wasn’t really sent for her benefit.

In conclusion I will relate the following incident about my own mother since maybe some of you can relate it to your mothers if you are older, or your grandmothers. I had a brother who was married outside the Church and had stopped going to Church for about thirty years. An aunt of mine once asked my mother if she worried about him. Without hesitating my mother answered, “I don’t worry about him; I just pray for him.” What wisdom coming from someone who only went to the fifth or sixth grade! More importantly, what faith in prayer she had! How does your faith, how does my faith compare?


We hope you enjoyed this homily by Fr. Valentine Young, OFM.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Rev Fr Valentine Young OFM Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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President’s Corner

    “Music List” • 17th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (27 July 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and Mass Propers for this Sunday are conveniently stored at the the feasts website.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Communion • “Ask & You Shall Receive”
    All of the chants for 27 July 2025 have been added to the feasts website, as usual under a convenient “drop down” menu. The COMMUNION ANTIPHON (both text and melody) are exceedingly beautiful and ancient.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Jeff’s Mother Joins Our Fundraiser
    To assist our fundraiser, Mrs. Kathleen Ostrowski has drawn several beautiful sketches which she offers to all our readers free of charge. If you have a moment, I invite you download them at this link.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

Why do we never sing “De Spiritu Sancto” (St. Athenogenes) in our churches? There are a dozen translations in English verse. Where could anyone find a better evening hymn than this, coming right down from the catacombs? Our hymnbooks know nothing of such a treasure as this, and give us pages of poor sentiment in doggerel lines by some tenth-rate modern versifier.

— Rev’d Adrian Fortescue (d. 1923)

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