(Optional Memorial for Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), Virgin, Martyr)
Alternate Readings for the Memorial of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross may be taken from the Common of Martyrs or the Common of Virgins.
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| “The Woman of Canaan at the Feet of Christ” by Jean-Germain Drouais, 1784 |
Commentary:
Reading 1: Numbers 13:1-2, 25–14:1, 26a-29a, 34-35
Commentary on Nm 13:1-2, 25–14:1, 26a-29a, 34-35
Once again, in God’s encounter with the children of Israel, Moses does the will of God. Those entrusted with seeing the land that was given to them come back disheartened because it appears to them to be impossible to take the land the Lord has promised. In response to their lack of faith, God condemns them to remain in the desert for forty years (a generation) until those who opposed his will perish. They will never see the promise fulfilled.
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 106:6-7ab, 13-14, 21-22, 23
R. (4a) Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
Commentary on Ps 106:6-7ab, 13-14, 21-22, 23
Psalm 106 is a song of lament. In this passage, we hear the remorse of the people who challenged the will of God. In spite of their great sin, Moses intercedes for them and the Lord relents.
CCC: Ps 106:23 2577
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Gospel: Matthew 15: 21-28
Commentary on Mt 15:21-28
There was a long history of tension between the Canaanites and the Hebrews that was at a high point when Jesus encountered the woman. She clearly knew what she was doing as she addressed him as “Lord, Son of David,” identifying him by that name as a Hebrew.
In this selection Jesus has withdrawn from Palestine to escape the persecution of the Pharisees and scribes and to spend time training his disciples. The region they come to is predominantly gentile and sets the scene for his encounter with a Canaanite woman (in St. Mark’s Gospel it is the Syrophoenician woman (Mark 7:24-30).
Jesus, while the words attributed to him are harsh, did not, as most of his own contemporaries would have, begin throwing stones at her to drive her away. His disciples were begging him to do that. Jesus recognized the great gulf between them, but opened his healing touch to the woman’s child when her faith in him was demonstrated.
The exchange between Jesus and the woman is intended to describe the universal nature of the messianic mission. Within the dialogue we see Jesus initially refuse to accede to the woman’s request (even though she recognized his authority “…the woman came and did him homage, saying, 'Lord, help me'”).
This same pattern of refusal and then acquiescence is found in St. John’s Gospel (John 2:4, John 4:48). The metaphor being exchanged in this banter refers to the “children” being the Hebrews, and the “dogs” a reference to the Gentiles (frequently referred to as such by Hebrews of the day). While this seems out of character for the Lord, our translation leaves out some conversational nuances that soften the dialogue. The word translated as “dogs” in this translation could be more accurately expressed as “pups.” It is also significant that the children and pups are eating at the same table, again expressing the universal nature of the mission of the Messiah.
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Reflection:
Once again, we are pushed by scripture to examine our own faith. In the first reading from the book of Numbers we hear how the Children of Israel see something through human eyes and doubt the word of God, which contradicts what they feel. God had promised them a land “flowing with milk and honey.” When he commanded Moses to send leaders from each of the twelve tribes to scout the area, they came back saying that indeed the land flowed with milk and honey, but it was already occupied and heavily fortified. Their human efforts would not be sufficient to make a place for themselves in that land. They forgot God, became disenchanted, and because they did not believe what God had told them, they suffered a great punishment.
In a twist of irony, the Gospel story speaks of a member of one of the groups ultimately overcome by the Children of Israel after their forty years of wandering in the desert, a Canaanite woman, enemy of the Hebrews from her birth. Yet she saw God’s Son and believed in him. She must have known that having faith in such a person was futile. Not only was this Son of David an enemy of her people, but her daughter’s condition was incurable by the medical arts of the day.
Rather than sink into abject surrender to the situation, with a mother’s love, she called to Jesus. Perhaps she was expecting to be stoned by his followers (she must have seen the disciples entreating Jesus to do so). Again and again she called to him.
It was clear Jesus, the man, was having a bit of a battle with Jesus the Son of God. “I was sent for the children of Israel,” he tells her, but she persists. “It is not right that I take food from the children and throw it to the dogs,” the man (one like the Son of Man) says. Still the woman persists, her faith becoming clear to the Lord. And where the Children of Israel doubted the Lord and were punished, this woman’s faith in the Lord calls down healing upon her daughter.
Are we so persistent in our faith? Or are we like those ancient Hebrews who see with human eyes the impossibility of a situation, and forget that with God all things are possible. Do we entreat God as the Canaanite woman did, certain of his ability to help us? Or do we walk away dejectedly and accept a fate of the faithless? A difficult lesson is given today.
Pax
[1] The picture is “The Woman of Canaan at the Feet of Christ” by Jean-Germain Drouais, 1784
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