Gospel Reading : Matthew 15:21-28
And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon.
And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and cried, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely possessed by a demon.”
But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying after us.”
He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.”
And he answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”
She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.”
And her daughter was healed instantly.
What do the Fathers say?
St John CHRYSOSTOM. But if any should ask, how it is that He bade His disciples go not into the way of the Gentiles, and yet now Himself walks this way; we will answer, first, that that precept which He had given His disciples was not obligatory on Him; secondly, that He went not to preach, as Mark even says, that He purposely concealed Himself.
The Evangelist says that she was a Canaanite, to show the power of Christ’s presence. For this nation, which had been driven out so that they might not corrupt the Jews, now showed themselves wiser than the Jews, leaving their own borders that they might go to Christ. And when she came to Him, she asked only for mercy.
Note the wisdom of this woman, she went not to men who promised fair, she sought not useless bandages, but leaving all devilish charms, she came to the Lord. She asked not James, she did not pray John, or apply to Peter, but putting herself under the protection of penitence, she ran alone to the Lord. But, behold, a new trouble. She makes her petition, raising her voice into a shout, and God, the lover of mankind, answers not a word.
But when the woman saw that the Apostles had no power, she became bold with commendable boldness; for before she had not dared to come before His sight; but, as it is said, She is crying after us. But when it seemed that she must now retire without being relieved, she came nearer, But she came and worshipped him.
This was the reason why Christ was so reticent, because He knew what she would say, and would not have her great excellence hid; Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.”
And this word of Christ is like that word which said, Let there be a firmament (Gen. 1:6.) and it was made; and the same here, And her daughter was made whole from that hour. Observe how she obtains what the Apostles could not obtain for her; so great a thing is the earnestness of prayer. He would rather that we should pray for our own offences ourselves, than that others should pray for us.
St RABANUS. Great indeed was her faith; for the Gentiles, neither trained in the Law, nor educated by the words of the Prophets, straightway on the preaching of the Apostles obeyed with the hearing of the ear, and therefore deserved to obtain salvation.
Sources:
Bible readings from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Second Catholic Edition, copyright © 2006 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Quotes of the Fathers from :
Thomas Aquinas’ Catena Aurea Translated by St John Henry Newman
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