Member Log InEntitlement. It is the social illness of our times. Rooted firmly in the contraceptive mentality of a society that has grown up viewing children as “possessions,” entitlement reflects the absence of humility.
The more children are perceived as possessions of convenience, as opposed to gifts from God, the more children learn in a backhanded way that, “I am, therefore I deserve.” Entitlement is pervasive today. A culture with little to no understanding of life as a gift from God and less understanding about the importance to humanity of the virtues of charity and sacrifice finds itself smack in the middle of a new plague: the inability to manage its own self-centeredness. Society infested with rampant entitlement is doomed to extinction.
We could learn from the Canaanite woman in Matthew’s Gospel, Chapter 15. Being Canaanite, she was an outsider, loathed by the Jews. Yet she approached Jesus with a plea on her daughter’s behalf.
“Heal her,” she begged.
Jesus’ disciples simply wanted Him to be rid of her. They found her presence an annoyance. At her persistence, Jesus told the woman that it was not right to take the food of sons and daughters and give it to dogs, a cryptic remark, to say the least. Scripture scholars interpret Jesus' comment to the Canaanite woman as an invitation for her to declare the depth of her faith to everyone within earshot.
And she did just that.
Imagine the response such a remark would get from many in today’s world! Everything from manifest indignation to threats to burn houses to physical assault. In fact, today isn't much different from Jesus' time: He was killed for his teachings. Today, to think that someone might possess something to which one is not entitled just because one lives and breathes is an outrage!
But the Canaanite woman, with deep humility (and certainly void of any sense of entitlement!) replied to the Lord that even dogs eat the scraps from their master’s tables. Wow! Can you imagine?
Note that she wasn’t even begging on her own behalf, but on behalf of her daughter who was afflicted with a demon. She knew to whom she was talking, and she certainly knew her place before Him. We would do well to contemplate this exchange for a moment or two. Her example is simply breathtaking; it invites love and compassion. It causes me to want to say out loud, “You go, girl!” I want to cheer for her because of her humility.
She knows that she doesn’t deserve that for which she is asking!
Yet, she asks anyway because what she knows is Love, to whom she speaks.
Jesus capitulated, “Because of your great faith, woman, your request is granted.” (Matthew 15:28)
I don’t possess the humility of the Canaanite woman. I pray that God may grant it.
Vocations are born in families. Children’s lives are grace for their parents. Children’s lives are blessings of Our Father and pathways to humility. It is not the sacrifice that parents make to obtain material things for their children that matters.
What really matters is the sacrifice parents make of themselves before their Creator in remaining open to new life and all that it takes to love it, cherish it, nurture it, discipline it, and help that life to know God.
Contraception renders impossible the ability to make such a sacrifice. Contraception breeds selfishness and self-centeredness. It fosters a sense of entitlement. This end result is inescapable, no matter how big the compensatory effort or how forceful the rationalization.
Get your Bible. Look at Matthew 15:21-28. Ponder the Canaanite woman and her humility.
We can support vocations by praying for openness to life in marriage. Pray for an end to the scourge of contraception. Pray for personal conversion in the response to the vocational call to holiness.
Lord, help me to be like the Canaanite woman You blessed in the district of Tyre and Sidon. Grant me humility, Lord, and purge me of any sense of entitlement. Amen!
