20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

 Is. 56:1, 6-7; Rom. 11:13-15, 29-32; Mt. 15:21-28

There is a beautiful story associated with George Müller, the nineteenth-century Christian known for caring for thousands of orphaned children in England. One morning, the children came to the dining room, but there was no food on the tables. The kitchen had no bread, and there was no money to buy any. Yet Müller asked the children to sit down. He prayed, thanking God for the food they were about to receive. The children waited. A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door. A baker stood there. He said that he had been unable to sleep and felt strongly that he should bake bread for the children. He had brought several loaves. Soon afterwards, another knock came. A milkman had broken down near the orphanage and did not want the milk to go to waste, so he offered it to the children. Whether every detail of the story has been preserved exactly as it happened or not, the story has remained because it captures something very important about faith: faith does not always see the answer, but faith continues to trust the One who holds the answer.

That is exactly what we encounter in the Canaanite woman in today's Gospel. She comes to Jesus carrying the greatest burden a mother can carry: her daughter is suffering terribly. She does not come with a long theological argument. She does not come with influence, money or social status. She simply comes crying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David.” Her prayer is short, but her faith is deep. And what makes her faith remarkable is not that Jesus immediately answers her. In fact, almost everything seems to go wrong. Jesus is silent. The disciples are irritated. Jesus appears to put a boundary before her. Yet she does not walk away. She continues to believe.

This is one of the great lessons of deep faith: deep faith is not faith that never encounters silence; it is faith that continues even when heaven seems silent.

A beautiful example from the life of the saints is St. Monica, the mother of St. Augustine. For many years, Monica watched her son move farther and farther away from the Christian faith. She prayed, wept, pleaded and followed him with her prayers, but for a long time there seemed to be no answer. Augustine even left for Rome without telling her, but Monica did not give up. She continued praying for him with unwavering confidence in God. Eventually, Augustine experienced a profound conversion, was baptized by St. Ambrose, and later became a bishop and one of the greatest teachers of the Church.

The Canaanite woman teaches us that God's silence is not necessarily God's absence. The Bible gives us many examples of people who had to trust God during a period of silence. Abraham was promised a son, but he had to wait for years. Hannah prayed for a child while carrying the pain of humiliation and disappointment. David was anointed as king, but before sitting on the throne he spent years running from Saul. Joseph received dreams about his future, but then found himself in a pit and later in prison. If Joseph had judged God's plan by the circumstances of the prison, he would have concluded that God had made a terrible mistake. 

The Canaanite woman also encounters another difficulty: the disciples themselves want her to go away. They say, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” Notice that the obstacle is not only silence from Jesus; there is also rejection from people around Jesus. Yet she does not allow the disciples' attitude to determine her relationship with Christ.

And perhaps one of the most beautiful things about prayer is that God does not require us to use sophisticated vocabulary. We do not need to impress God with our grammar. Sometimes the most powerful prayer is not a beautiful prayer but an honest prayer.

“Lord, help me.”

Bartimaeus, the blind man, also cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” The crowd tried to silence him. But he shouted even more loudly. The crowd said, in effect, “Be quiet.” Bartimaeus said, “I have been quiet long enough.” He knew that Jesus was passing by, and he was not going to miss the moment.

The persistent widow in Jesus' parable teaches the same lesson. She kept coming to the unjust judge until he finally acted. Jesus tells that story precisely to teach his disciples to pray and not lose heart. 

Mary, the mother of Jesus, gives us that kind of faith. At Cana she simply says, “They have no wine.” She brings the need to Jesus and leaves the matter in his hands. At the foot of the cross, she remains when almost everyone else has disappeared. Her faith was not based on everything going according to plan. Her faith remained even when the plan was painful.

Abraham also demonstrates this faith. Hebrews tells us that Abraham trusted God even when what God promised seemed impossible. Faith does not mean that we understand everything. Faith means that we know enough about God to trust him with what we do not understand.

And perhaps this is the deepest lesson of the Canaanite woman. Jesus finally says, “Woman, great is your faith!” Notice that Jesus does not praise her education. He does not praise her social position. He does not praise her wealth. He praises her faith.

And what was great about her faith?

She came to Jesus.  She remained with Jesus. She trusted Jesus. She humbled herself before Jesus. She refused to give up. And she believed that even a little grace from Jesus was enough. Her daughter was healed instantly.

Today, we need exactly this kind of faith. And all our problems will find a solution.

Satish