Reflection for August 7 Wednesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time: Matthew 15:21-28

Gospel: Matthew 15:21-28

At that time, Jesus 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 Jesus did not say a word in answer to her. Jesus’ 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 Jesus 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 the woman’s daughter was healed from that hour.

+ + + + + + +

Reflection:

How do you define your faith in Jesus? It’s when you don’t give up on what you want from Jesus. You continuously badger Him with your prayers until He answers it.  

The Canaanite woman had this kind of faith, she never gave up on her prayer request for Jesus to heal her daughter tormented by a demon. There were many obstacles stacked against her, foremost of this was her being not a Jew but it did not matter to her. She persisted and she even argued with Jesus until she passed Jesus’ examination of her faith. After which her daughter was healed by Jesus. 

This gospel relates with our own journey of faith with Jesus also. Anyone of us could be that Canaanite woman who badgered Jesus no end until she got the healing that she wants for her daughter.

 However, unlike the woman from Canaan who persisted until the very end we may not have the will to badger Jesus. We may have quit already and said to ourselves, “I give up on my prayer for Jesus because He seems to be deaf.” What we do not know is the delay is just part of the testing of our faith. 

Every trial that we go through is our own test of faith. For example, the harshness of life that many of us are presently going through this is just a test of our faith and will to survive. Let us therefore not give up and let us continue to pray to the Lord for He will soon hear our prayers. - Marino J. Dasmarinas