St. Matthew Catholic Church

“Woman, Great is your faith.” This is one of the most powerful moments in the Gospels for me, besides of course the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus. It is powerful, because Jesus takes pity on a woman, that the Jewish people time and time have rejected because of her race. Jesus’ message, to this point as presented by the Gospel of Matthew, had been to seek the lost sheep of Israel, to tend to those that had fallen away from the Tradition, but not so much to seek the Gentiles and the Roman pagans. It is through her persistence, and faith, that Christ finally accepts what she is asking Him to do. Christ, the Son of God who was sent to heal the world, to mend the divisions and the rifts that we as humans have allowed to come about; Christ, who stands up to each and every challenge that He is faced with, with dignity and courage, was taken aback by this woman who was so desperate that she would turn to anyone, even one that taught against her beliefs for aide. Jesus knew the task given Him by the Father, and in the Gospel of Matthew, that was to preach and teach the Jewish people. It isn’t until the end of the Gospel of Matthew that Jesus changes His stance and tells the Disciples to go to every nation baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And so we are stuck with this woman of faith. This woman who was as persistent as Abraham was with God in the book of Genesis. Who also pled with God for the salvation of others. She has courage like very few of us in this world. She fell at Jesus’ feet, not to ask for something for herself, not for selfish needs and desires, but for the health and goodwill of her daughter. And so it is that we too are called to pray for our sick brothers and sisters. We have many opportunities in our day to day life to do so, but do we take seriously the power that prayer and persistence have? Do we have faith that our prayers will be heard and answered? Or do we just pray because we were told at one time in our lives that it was a good habit to acquire?

Fr. Danny Grover