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Gospel Reflection for Thursday, February 13, 2025
The Tendency to Exclude Others
The tendency to exclude others—those who are different—seems to have always been present in the human heart. Differences often come to be seen as a threat to our way of life. The one who speaks differently, who has different customs, who follows another religion, who belongs to another race or color, who… and we could go on listing all the many differences that exist among people.
Borders often mark those territories where we feel safe. Beyond them lies the unknown. They, the others, are blamed for our problems—unemployment, crime, economic crises, the failures of our country. To be honest, politicians often fuel these fears to cover up their own shortcomings and even to unite the people. They understand that there’s nothing better than having a common enemy.
But the Gospel is for everyone—without exception, without borders. It cannot be any other way because God’s love is either universal, or it is not love at all.
Today’s Gospel shows how even Jesus needed a moment to step beyond His own borders—beyond His Jewish world. The woman who came to Him was a pagan, from another land, another people. She was not Jewish. But suffering, pain, and illness are the same on both sides of any border. And Jesus could not remain indifferent to that pain, even if she spoke a different language or came from another place. And He did not remain indifferent.
Today, when we live in a time where borders and differences are being emphasized more than ever, Christians should be examples of open hands, of the ability to welcome those who are different and to share what we have with them.
While others criminalize and exclude those who are different—especially immigrants—we should make our churches and communities places of true brotherly welcome, without thinking about differences in religion, ideology, race, or anything else. Only in this way can we truly bear witness to God’s love—a love that is always for everyone, that excludes no one, that embraces all.