August 16
A Woman's Faith
Gospel:
Matthew 15:21-28
Today's Gospel: Matthew 15:21-28 (A Woman’s Faith)
Then Jesus went from that place and withdrew to
the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district
came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is
tormented by a demon.” But he did not say a word in answer to her. His
disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after
us.” He said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel.” But the woman came and did him homage, saying, “Lord, help me.” He
said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw
it to the dogs.” She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that
fall from the table of their masters.” Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O
woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her
daughter was healed from that hour.
Reflection:
Notice the silence first. When the Canaanite woman
first cries out, Jesus says nothing back to her at all. If you've ever prayed so
hard for something and heard only silence, you're standing exactly where she
stood.
She didn't leave. She didn't decide whether the silence meant no. She kept
coming, past the silence, past the disciples telling Jesus to send her away,
past even a hard-sounding answer about children and dogs, until she got what
looked like a closed door to open completely: great is thy faith.
Today's first reading from Isaiah promises that God's house will be called a
house of prayer for all peoples, not just for the ones who technically belong
by blood. This woman, an outsider in every way the disciples cared about, is
Isaiah's promise walking around in flesh two thousand years early. Persistence,
not pedigree, is what won Jesus over.
Our Lady is the reason any of us, insider or outsider, ever had a claim on
God's mercy at all; she said yes to carrying the One who would break down that
wall for good. And she knows what it is to wait through silence herself; she
pondered things in her heart for years before she ever understood them.
Where have you stopped praying because the silence felt like an answer?
Rosary Man
Jim 🌹
Freely
given. Freely shared.
