As amazing as it will be, we have nothing to do with the movement of the planets, the moon, the bright blinding light of the sun, the changes of seasons and the passage of time, are all beyond our reach. So that eclipse, from all that is told, will be a wonder of nature. The air, the sky, the sun and moon will all for our pleasure and spectacle put on quite a show. God’s natural beauty will be strange and at the same time remind us how small we are. What did we do to deserve that? Nothing. It’s all there for us to enjoy – a grand show in the sky; a gift of God’s wondrous creation.
In the same way, our faith reminds us that that we had nothing to do with God’s choice to intervene in human history 2,000 years ago and enter this world as a human being to be born in space and time of a human mother. He told us he would come. The prophets of Israel spoke of this and even earlier there are allusions to it in Biblical text. In Jesus we recognize God’s free choice to rescue us from sin and death. What did we do to deserve that? Nothing. In fact, we deserve much less. It’s all gift and grace. God took pity on us and rather than destroy – he saved us out of love.
So, in essence our religion is one based on God’s love and generosity towards us. We call that grace and we did nothing to deserve or earn it. No matter how virtuous we might become or how seriously we take our faith, we will never equal what God has done for us – out of love and grace.
That being said, our Gospel is indeed a beautiful support of this truth. Jesus travels north to what is now modern day Lebanon, the region of ancient Tyre and Sidon, crossing for some unknown reason, into Gentile territory and that land of the Canaanites, original enemies of the Jewish people. It is not surprising from that cultural viewpoint that these non-Jews and former enemies were treated with hostility by the Jewish people and referred to as “dogs.” Matthew just relates that “Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.” His first disciples were with him.
Along the way, a persistent Canaanite woman cried out after Jesus with a respectful but desperate plea: “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” It sounds so similar to other requests for healings that he encountered in his ministry in Israel among his fellow Jews. So, of course our Lord will respond – or not.
He responded with silence. Out of character it seems. But she had clearly reached a level of bothersome – “Jesus disciples . . . asked him, ‘Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.’”
As the disciples bought in to the prejudice against these gentiles, they insist Jesus does the same and simply dismiss her. Then, it seems at least at first that he does. He reminds her: “It is not right to take the food of the children (Jews) and throw it to the dogs.” A startling response as Jesus acknowledges that his mission is first to “the lost sheep of Israel.”
Yet, she is not diminished and continues to play on the cultural “dog comment” and displays great trust in the person of Jesus and what she believes he can do. Our Lord looks then beyond the barrier built by this early form of racism and responds to her great faith: “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” Here we see once again that while Jesus first mission was to his own people, God used them as a means to reach out beyond that one race of people to extend the mercy of God to all humanity. Considering everything, this woman did not deserve what she received and Jesus could have just kept on walking by without question from others. Yet, in Christ we see that God is blind to race and false divisions we have developed.
Here, we are reminded forcefully that the power of compassion and mercy is greater than a limited prejudice. That in the mind of God all are equal and all will share in his unmerited grace. All this desperate woman did was cry out with trust in Jesus not only for who she recognized him to be but more she believed in him as the “Son of David” – the Messiah, the hope for humanity. Her faith was expressed in the same way that Peter, Mary, the sister of Lazarus, the blind man who was healed and others who experienced God’s mercy through faith in his Son.
All of this certainly is timely for us as our Country once again is faced with the ugly dark spirit of racism. Organized groups based on hate are deeply disturbing and the only action they envision is violence and division which certainly reminds us that the Evil one is alive and well. History has offered us dark reminders of this evil in the Nazis, Communists, KKK, and all present day active hate groups stirring up the unity and peace among people. Abraham Lincoln once expressed the belief that the Civil War was God’s punishment on this Nation for the evils of slavery. He may indeed have been right.
There is nothing more contrary to the spirit of the Christian Gospel and our own sense of human nature than the sin of racism. To believe that certain groups or races of people are inferior to others is a direct denial of the Biblical story of creation, our lived experience of human interaction everywhere, and something that denies the very ministry of Jesus who expressed the heart of God that all come together as one human family, children of the same creator God.
So, we are offered grace – all of us. Yet, so often we either take it all for granted or may, perhaps unconsciously, feel that I deserve it and you do not. After all I’ve been like the “good son” in the story of the prodigal son (Lk 15: 11 – 32) doing all my Father expected of me.
Yet, we see there, as in the story of this graced woman in the Gospel this Sunday that God wishes all to receive his call to conversion and our call to faith in his person which brings renewal and a new way of life. We can only speculate how this woman was changed by having her persistent prayer fulfilled and by doing so experienced the abundant mercy of God extended to all who seek it through faith in Christ Jesus.
There is a special line in the third Eucharistic Prayer which states: “Listen graciously to the prayers of this family . . . in your compassion, O Merciful Father, gather to yourself all your children scattered throughout the world.”
Our hope during each Mass is that all become one in a mutual bond of fellowship. We have a long way to go on that but we must make it happen according to our abilities.
Let us put aside the ugly head of prejudice and false categories that we may place people in to. It is not the mind of God and can never be ours as well.
Lord Jesus Christ,
who reached across the ethnic boundaries
between Samaritan, Roman, and Jew,
who offered a fresh sight to the blind
and freedom to captives,
help us to break down the barriers in our community.
Enable us to see the reality of racism and bigotry,
and free us to challenge and uproot it
from ourselves, our society, and our world.
Amen
(Fr. John Bucki, SJ Education for Justice)
Regnum Christi
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Matthew 15:21-28
Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting 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.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
Introductory Prayer: I believe in you, my God. You called me into existence from nothingness and carefully watch over me. You have even numbered the hairs of my head. I trust in your infinite goodness, and I abandon into your loving hands my fears, my hopes, my needs, my desires, everything. I love you, Lord, and I wish to love you with all my mind, heart, soul and strength.
Petition: Lord, grant that these moments of conversation will build my trust in you.
1. Bold Prayer: We are often timid and bashful in asking others for what we need when we assume that we will be “putting them out” with our request. We put ourselves in their place and think, “I don’t want to be a bother to them.” But Christ wants us to be bold in prayer! What does it “cost” God to grant us his grace? More than what he has already freely given us — his Son? To think that we are “bothering” God when we ask him for things is to pray to a distant and unfamiliar God. Did not Christ guarantee us that if we asked the Father (“Abba”, “Daddy”) for anything in his name, it would be granted? The Canaanite woman’s loud pleas were not bothering Christ in the least. How different Christ’s reactions are to ours, which are so often like those of his disciples!
2. Prayer Unanswered? It is difficult to humble ourselves and admit that we need help, that we can’t completely take care of ourselves. Our pride and human respect often keep us from asking for what we need. The Canaanite woman didn’t seem to mind: she presented herself before Christ and others as a beggar. Now the Gospel text records, “But he did not answer her at all.” One might think Christ responded to her act of humility with a rather cold, even degrading reception. Was Christ being insensitive? Of course not! He knew how strong this woman’s faith was, and he put it to the test precisely so that others throughout the centuries could marvel at her simple faith. There are often many hidden reasons why Christ doesn’t readily answer our prayers. Let us return to Christ humbly, with faith and hope, when we feel slighted or ignored by him.
3. Efficacious Prayer: An efficacious prayer is a humble prayer. We are super-sensitive when we are hurt. This Canaanite woman was already very hurt by the condition of her daughter and the scolding of the disciples. Had she not had such simple faith and hope, Christ’s words to her could have been enough to send her “over the top.” When we are hurt, we easily jump to conclusions and become offended. Once our pride is injured, we are often blind to the good someone wishes us or performs for us. How many souls have spent long years away from Christ because they have clung to past hurts and been blinded to God’s often mysterious pedagogy?
Conversation with Christ: Dear Jesus, too often I have given up on prayer without really trying, convinced that you don’t listen to me. I am sorry for judging you. Help me persevere in asking you for the good things I need. Help me overcome any shame or human respect, so that I can increase my faith, hope and love for you.
Resolution: I will meditate on an “unanswered” prayer in my life, trying to understand how Christ could have answered it in an unexpected, yet superior way.
Scripture Speaks: The Canaanite Woman’s Faith
Gayle Somers
Today, as Jesus travels away from Jerusalem toward the region of the Gentiles, He meets a Canaanite woman who desperately needs His help. Why did He give her the cold shoulder?
Gospel (Read Mt 15:21-28)
To best understand this Gospel episode, we need to know that it follows a description of the great opposition Jesus faced from the Pharisees in Jerusalem. Even though He was performing amazing miracles of healing (read Mt 14:36), the Pharisees could only find fault with Him (read Mt 15:2). Jesus got frustrated with them, calling them “blind guides” (Mt 15:14). He decided to leave the city and head north, up to the region of Tyre and Sidon. These were cities in Phoenicia, territory that was primarily Gentile, not Jewish. It almost seems as if He wanted to get as far away from the hard-hearted Pharisees as He could.
As He traveled through the area, a Canaanite woman sought Him out. The Canaanites, fiercely pagan people, had a long history of conflict with Israel. This woman, however, wasn’t concerned about those differences. She must have been at least somewhat acquainted with Jesus. See that she refers to Him as “Lord” and “Son of David.” She could only have learned these names by having some contact with Jews—perhaps there were some who lived in her town who had traveled to nearby Galilee and come back with stories about Him. It is even possible that she had, herself, gone to see what the buzz was all about. Perhaps she had stood on the fringes of the crowds that surrounded Him wherever He went, watching and listening. However it happened, when this Canaanite found herself in a terrible personal crisis (her daughter was demon-possessed), she knew she had to run out to see Jesus as His entourage passed by.
When she finally meets Jesus face-to-face, she cries out for pity, or mercy. Probably even before she got this first word out, Jesus knew what He was dealing with in this woman. Her complete lack of inhibition, her willingness to overcome the religious barrier between them, and the look of determination that must have been on her face surely spoke volumes. Isn’t this exactly the kind of person Jesus was always looking for?
What happened next makes us uncomfortable, doesn’t it? Jesus “did not answer her a word.” Complete silence. We have to wonder if Jesus looked into her eyes but said nothing. Was there something in His bearing that gave the woman hope? She then badgered the disciples, thinking Jesus would listen to them. They pleaded with Him to do as the woman asked so she could be sent away. She had become an annoyance to them. Jesus replies that His mission is “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Simply put, He tells them He must focus on Jews, not Gentiles. Again, was there something in the tone of His voice that encouraged her? She overheard this explanation, but instead of getting angry and leaving in a huff, she kneels down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me.”
Surely now Jesus will grant this woman’s request. She has moved from loud, insistent begging to a quiet posture of humility at His feet. How can He resist her? We aren’t prepared for His answer: “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” This seems harsh to us. We must understand that Jesus is using proverbial language to describe this situation. “The children” are, of course, the Jews, members of God’s covenant family. Jews referred to pagans as “dogs,” because the contrast between their well-developed ethical system and the rough, idolatrous, and immoral pagan cultures surrounding Israel was sharp. People outside God’s covenant, therefore, were to the Jews as dogs are to people. Here, Jesus isn’t calling the woman a “dog.” He is using a domestic scene to explain why He must spend His earthly life searching out the lost sheep of that covenant. This was simply a matter of priorities: in family life, the children must be fed before the pet dog. That is just common sense.
Notice that the woman does not resist what Jesus says to her. She knows what the Jews think of the Canaanites. She also knows that she has no reason to expect or demand anything of Him. She doesn’t contradict Jesus with “yes, but…”. She simply takes what He says to her and sees an opening. In humility, she’s willing to think of herself as undeserving as a dog would be compared to the children of a family. However, she points out to Jesus that even in the domestic scene He has described, “crumbs” fall from the children’s table, and the “dogs” are happy to lap them up.
Now, Jesus can bear it no longer! What He must have suspected about the woman from their first exchange becomes crystal clear. This Canaanite woman, this pagan outsider, has exhibited the kind of faith that even the Jerusalem elites failed to muster. Her humble tenacity puts us in mind of Jesus on the Cross, when He also endured the silence of God and His seeming indifference (“My God, why have You abandoned Me?”). He endured to the end in faith, not despairing of His Father’s goodness, no matter how it looked (“Into Your hands I commend My Spirit”). In this, both Jesus and the Canaanite woman are living examples of what the name, Israel, means: “he who strives with God” (see Gn 32:28). True believers are not put off by what can look like God’s adversarial detachment. True believers hang on for dear life, knowing the goodness of the One upon whom they have cast all their hope.
“O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” Listen to Jesus’ own delight in what He has experienced with this woman. She has taught the disciples a profound lesson of faith. In addition, this encounter between Jesus and an eager, responsive Gentile foreshadows the mission Jesus would give the apostles at His Ascension: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19). Jewish resistance to Jesus, noted earlier, would persist and increase, culminating in the Crucifixion. When the apostles began their preaching mission, Jewish opposition would become so strong that eventually the Gospel went out to the Gentiles instead. This Canaanite woman shows us that their hearts would be ready to receive it.
Possible response: Lord Jesus, I see how You delight in faith that simply never gives up. Please help me remember that striving in faith is part of life with You.
First Reading (Read Isa 56:1, 6-7)
Isaiah, a prophet in Judah hundreds of years before Jesus, foresaw a day very much like the one described in the Gospel: “And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, ministering to Him, loving the name of the LORD, and becoming His servants…I will bring to My holy mountain and make joyful in My house of prayer.” It was always God’s plan for His people to evangelize the pagans. Israel was His elect nation of priests, the ones chosen to mediate between God and all the earth. For most of Israel’s history, however, “evangelization” gave way to pagan idolatry. When Jesus appeared, the plan for Israel could finally be fulfilled. “Foreigners” would flock to Him in faith and obedience. The Canaanite woman was one of the first fruits of this happy harvest for God.
Possible response: Heavenly Father, thank You for the love You have for all people everywhere.
Psalm (Read Ps 67:2-3, 5-6, 8)
The psalmist also foresees a day when God’s “saving power among all the nations” will be announced and adored. He envisions all the earth sending up, with one voice, songs of praise for Israel’s God: “May all the peoples praise You, God!” Jesus knew well that this was God’s plan, even though He seemed detached from the Canaanite woman in her need. He simply allowed time for the power of this woman’s faith to be revealed, especially to the disciples, who would, one day, be the ones to announce the Good News of God’s love to “all the nations.” In the end, Jesus was glad to make His “face shine” upon the pagan woman who so trusted in His goodness. Her story makes us cry with the psalmist: “O God, let all the nations praise you!”
Possible response: The psalm is, itself, a response to all the lectionary readings. Read it again prayerfully as your own.
Second Reading (Read Rom 11:13-15, 29-32)
St. Paul gives us an explanation of the dynamic at work in the rejection of Jesus by the Jews and the reception of the Gospel by the Gentiles. He was, as we know, appointed by Jesus to be an “apostle to the Gentiles,” a ministry he found satisfying, because he could, as he writes, “make my race jealous and thus save some of them.” What did he mean? St. Paul always began his missionary preaching in the Jewish synagogues of towns he visited on his missionary journeys. Usually, he was driven out by Jewish opposition. He would then go preach to the Gentiles, where he made many converts. His hope was that someday, his kinsmen would see in the Gentile converts a true relationship with Israel’s God and thus be able to recognize Jesus as Messiah through them. This, of course, would require humility and God’s mercy, because by their rejection of Jesus, they did not deserve the goodness of God. Remember that the Canaanite woman also recognized her unworthiness before Jesus and made her first request of Him one for “pity,” or mercy. St. Paul says that just as the Gentiles had to cry out for God’s mercy (and received it), so one day will the Jews. As the story of salvation has unfolded, we see that God has allowed human pride to play out its own script. The Gentiles rejected the true God (Who bore witness to Himself both in nature and the human conscience; see Romans 1), and thus became disobedient. The Jews, proud of their inheritance as the Chosen People, rejected a Messiah like Jesus, and thus became disobedient. St. Paul urges hope, however: “God delivered all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.” Praise the Lord!
Possible response: Lord, help me remember that my best prayers begin with a request for Your mercy.
21. Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.
22. And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried to him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, you Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
23. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away, for she cries after us.
24. But he answered and said, I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
25. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
26. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.
27. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.
28. Then Jesus answered and said to her, O woman, great is your faith: be it to you even as you will. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
JEROME; Leaving the Scribes and Pharisees and those cavilers, He passes into the parts of Tyre and Sidon, that He may heal the Tyrians and Sidonians; And Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.
REMIG; Tyre and Sidon were Gentile towns, for Tyre was the metropolis of the Chananaeans, and Sidon the boundary of the Chananaeans towards the north.
CHRYS; It should be observed, that when He delivered the Jews from the observance of meats, He then also opened the door to the Gentiles, as Peter was first bidden in the vision to break this law, and was afterwards sent to Cornelius. 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, whence Mark even says, that He purposely concealed Himself.
REMIG; He went that He might heal them of Tyre and Sidon; or that He might deliver this woman's daughter from the demon, and so through her faith might condemn the wickedness of the Scribes and Pharisees. Of this woman it proceeds And, behold, a woman, a Chananite, came out from those parts.
CHRYS; The Evangelist says that she was a Chananaean, to show the power of Christ's presence. For this nation, which had been driven out 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, as it follows, She cried to Him, saying, Have mercy on me, Lord, you Son of David.
GLOSS; The great faith of this Chananaean woman is herein showed. She believes Him to be God, in that she calls Him Lord; and man, in that she calls Him Son of David. She claims nothing of her own desert, but craves only God's mercy. And she says not, Have mercy on my daughter, but Have mercy on me; because the affliction of the daughter is the affliction of the mother. And the more to excite His compassion, she declares to Him the whole of her grief, My daughter is grievously vexed by a demon; thus unfolding to the Physician the wound and the extent and nature of the disease; its extent, when she says is grievously vexed; its nature, by a demon.
CHRYS; Note the wisdom of this woman, in 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.
JEROME; Not from pharisaic pride, or the superciliousness of the Scribes, but that He might not seem to contravene His own decision, Go not into the way of the Gentiles. For He was unwilling to give occasion to their cavils, and reserved the complete salvation of the Gentiles for the season of His passion and resurrection.
GLOSS; And by this delay in answering, He shows us the patience and perseverance of this woman. And He answered not for this reason also, that the disciples might petition for her; showing herein that the prayers of the Saints are necessary in order to obtain any thing; as it follows, And his disciples came to him, saying, Send her away, for she cries after us.
JEROME; The disciples, as yet ignorant of the mysteries of God or moved by compassion, beg for this Chananean woman; or perhaps seeking to be rid of her importunity.
AUG; A question of discrepancy is raised upon this, that Mark says the Lord was in the house when the woman came praying for her daughter. Indeed Matthew might; have been understood to have omitted mention of the house and yet to have been relating the same event; but when he says, that the disciples suggested to the Lord, Send her away, for she cries after us, he seems to indicate clearly that the woman raised her voice in supplication, in following the Lord who was walking. We must understand then, that as Mark writes, she entered in where Jesus was, that is, as he had noticed above, in the house; then, that as Matthew writes, He answered her not a word, and during this silence of both sides, Jesus left the house; and then the rest follows without any discordance.
CHRYS; I judge that the disciples were sorry for the woman's affliction, yet dared not say, Grant her this mercy, but only Send her away as we, when we would persuade any one, oftentimes say the very contrary to what we wish. He answered and said, I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
JEROME; He says that He is not sent to the Gentiles but that He is sent first to Israel, so that when they would not receive the Gospel, the passing over to the Gentiles might have just cause.
REMIG; In this way also He was sent specially to the Jews, because He taught them by His bodily presence.
JEROME; And He adds of the house of Israel, with this design, that we might rightly interpret by this place that other parable concerning the stray sheep.
CHRYS; 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 cries after us. But when it seemed that she must now retire without being relieved, she came nearer, But she came and worshipped him.
JEROME; Note how perseveringly this Chananaean woman calls Him first Son of David, then Lord, and lastly came and worshipped him, as God.
CHRYS; And therefore she said not Ask, or Pray God for me, but Lord, help me. But the more the woman urged her petition, the more He strengthened His denial; for He calls the Jews now not sheep but sons, and the Gentiles dogs; He answered and said to her, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and give it to dogs.
GLOSS; The Jews were born sons, and brought up by the Law in the worship of one God. The bread is the Gospel, its miracles and other things which pertain to our salvation. It is not then meet that these should be taken from the children and given to the Gentiles, who are dogs, till the Jews refuse them.
JEROME; The Gentiles are called dogs because of their idolatry; who, given to the eating of blood, and dead bodies, turn to madness.
CHRYS; Observe this woman's prudence; she does not dare to contradict Him, nor is she vexed with the commendation of the Jews, and the evil word applied to herself; But she said, Yea, Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters' table. He said, It is not good; she answers, 'Yet even so, Lord;' He calls the Jews children, she calls them masters; He called her a dog, she accepts the office of a dog; as if she had said, I cannot leave the table of my Lord.
JEROME; Wonderful are shown the faith, patience, and humility of this woman; faith, that she believed that her daughter could be healed; patience, that so many times overlooked, she yet perseveres in her prayers; humility, that she compares herself not to the dogs, but to the whelps. I know, she says, that I do not deserve the children's bread, and that I cannot have whole meat, nor sit at the table with the master of the house, but I am content with that which is left for the whelps, that through humble fragments I may come to the amplitude of the perfect bread.
CHRYS; This was the cause why Christ was so backward, that He knew what she would say, and would not have her so great excellence hid; whence it follows, Then Jesus answered and said to her, O woman, great is your faith, be it to you according to your will. Observe how the woman herself had contributed not a little to her daughter's healing; and therefore Christ said not to her, 'Let your daughter be healed', but, Be it to you according to your will; that you may perceive that she had spoken in sincerity, and that her words were not words of flattery, but of abundant faith. And this word of Christ is like that word which said, Let there be a firmament and it was made; so 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 offenses ourselves, than that others should pray for us.
REMIG; In these words is given us a pattern of catechizing and baptizing children; for the woman says not 'Heal my daughter,' or 'Help her,' but, Have mercy upon me, and help me. Thus there has come down in the Church the practice that the faithful are sponsors to God for their young children, before they have attained such age and reason that they can themselves make any pledge to God. So that as by this woman's faith her daughter was healed, so by the faith of Catholics of mature age their sins might be forgiven to infants. Allegorically; This woman figures the Holy Church gathered out of the Gentiles. The Lord leaves the Scribes and Pharisees, and comes into the parts of Tyre and Sidon; this figures His leaving the Jews and going over to the Gentiles. This woman came out of her own country, because the Holy Church departed from former errors and sins.
JEROME; And the daughter of this Chananean I suppose to be the souls of believers who were sorely vexed by a demon, not knowing their Creator, and bowing down to stones.
REMIG; Those of whom the Lord speaks as children are the Patriarchs and Prophets of that time. By the table is signified the Holy Scripture, by the fragments the best precepts, or inward mysteries on which Holy Church feeds; by the crumbs the carnal precepts which the Jews keep. The fragments are said to be eaten under the table, because the Church submits itself humbly to fulfilling the Divine commands.
RABAN; But the whelps eat not the crust only, but the crumbs of the children's bread, because the despised among the Gentiles on turning to the faith, seek out in Scripture not the outside of the letter, but the spiritual sense, by which they may be able to profit in good acts.
JEROME; Wonderful change of things! Once Israel the son, and we the dogs; the change in faith has led to a change in the order of our names. Concerning them is said, Many dogs have come about me; while to us is said, as to this woman, your faith has made you whole.
RABAN; 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.
GLOSS; And if the Lord delays the salvation of a soul at the first tears of the supplicating Church, we ought not to despair, or to cease from our prayers, but rather continue them earnestly.
AUG; And that to heal the Centurion's servant, and the daughter of this Chananean woman, He does not go to their houses, signifies that the Gentiles, among whom He Himself went not, should be saved by His word. That these are healed on the prayer of their parents, we must understand of the Church, which is at once mother and children; the whole body of those who make up the Church is the mother, and each individual of that body is a son of that mother.
HILARY; Or, This mother represents the proselytes, in that she leaves her own country, and forsakes the Gentiles for the name of another nation; she prays for her daughter, that is, the body of the Gentiles possessed with unclean spirits; and having learned the Lord by the Law, calls Him the Son of David.
RABAN; Also whosoever has his conscience polluted with the defilement of any sin, has a daughter sorely vexed by a demon. Also whosoever has defiled any good that he has done by the plague of sin, has a daughter tossed by the furies of an unclean spirit, and has need to fly to prayers and tears, and to seek the intercessions and aids of the saints.
Catena Aurea Matthew 15
