The Gospel today speaks of a woman whose daughter was possessed by a devil. Jesus seems to have put her to the test by his initial negative response. But still she continued and demonstrated her trust in him. Whatever the strict, social boundaries, the woman trusted that Jesus could help her daughter.
There is much in our lives that we can entrust to Jesus: issues that we ourselves cannot deal with but that Christ can. We only need place that trust in him, returning to him in prayer, and he will respond. Our anxieties and fears, our self hatred, our deepest fears: these things are – at least for us – too hot to touch. To a degree, they are like a daughter possessed: we cannot figure out a healthy way forward. Only Jesus can provide that.
Unlike us, Jesus can cope with our fears and our self hatred, he can touch these things to transform them into light. He alone.
Do we give him those elements of our life that we cannot face? Do we fully trust that he will repair us, transform us, convert us?
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you
And with your spirit.
A reading from the Gospel according to Matthew 15:21-28
Glory to you, O Lord
Jesus left Genenesaret and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Then out came a Canaanite woman from that district and started shouting,
‘Sir, Son of David, take pity on me. My daughter is tormented by a devil.‘
But he answered her not a word. And his disciples went and pleaded with him.
‘Give her what she wants,’ they said ‘because she is shouting after us.’
He said in reply, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel’.
But the woman had come up and was kneeling at his feet. ‘Lord,’ she said ‘help me.’
He replied, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house-dogs’.
She retorted, ‘Ah yes, sir; but even house-dogs can eat the scraps that fall from their master’s table’.
Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, you have great faith. Let your wish be granted.’
And from that moment her daughter was well again.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.