Matthew 15:21-28 In Lent
IN the reading from the holy gospel which has just been read, dearly-beloved
brothers, we have heard about the great faith, patience, constancy and
humility of a woman. [Jer. In Matth. 16, 25 (CC 77: 133, 1569/73)] What
those of devout mind find most to admire about her is the fact, that although as
a gentile she was completely separated from the teachings
of the divine thoughts, she was nevertheless not deprived of the virtues
which those thoughts proclaim.
She had a great perfection of faith, since, imploring the Savior’s benevolence,
she said, ‘Show me mercy, O Lord, son of David’. She named
the Lord ‘son of David,’ so it is evident that she believed that he was
true human being and true God. Though she was asking on behalf of
her daughter, she did not bring her along, and she did not entreat the
Lord to come to [her daughter], so it is clear that she trusted that he
could give her health by his word, his bodily presence not being required.
And also, after many tears, finally she prostrated herself and adored him,
saying, ‘Lord, help me’. This teaches us that she had no uncertainty
concerning his divine majesty, since she said that his power was to be
adored as God’s.
She had no small measure of the virtue of patience. Although the
Lord did not answer a word to her first request, she did not cease entreating
him, but with a fuller earnestness she implored the help of his benevolence
as she had begun. The reason the Lord kept her waiting for an answer
was not that he, the pitying physician of the pitiful, disdained her petitions.
Of him it was written most truthfully: The Lord has heard the desire
of the poor. [Ps 10:17 (9:38)] He kept her waiting for an answer
in order to demonstrate to us the perseverance of this woman that we can
always imitate. The more she seemed to be disdained by the Lord,
the more ardently she persisted in the entreaties she had begun.
He kept her waiting for an answer in order to declare that the minds of
his disciples should also be merciful. As human beings they were
ashamed of the clamor of the woman as she pursued them publicly; but he
himself knew the character of his mercy, since he disposed all things
in measure and number and weight. [Ws 11:21] He kept her waiting
for an answer lest an occasion be given to the Jews for finding fault with
him for giving preference in teaching or healing to the gentiles over them,
[Jer., In Matth. 15, 23-24 (CC 77: 133, 1553/66)] so that they might justly
refuse to adopt faith in him.
And this is what he said: ‘I have not been sent except to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel’. He alone, by himself, was teaching
the Jews; through his disciples he called the gentiles also to the grace
of faith. Concerning them he said elsewhere, ‘And other sheep
I have which are not of this fold, and them also I must bring, and they
will hear my voice, and there will be one fold and one shepherd’. [Jn
10:16] This is why when in his own person he was going to heal the body
of a gentile girl, he did not carry this out before her mother’s incomparable
faith had been proven to everyone.
This mother also had the characteristics of constancy and humility surpassing
all others. When the Lord compared her to dogs, she did not desist
from the earnestness of her entreaty, and did not draw back her mind from
hoping for the favor of [his] benevolence. Having willingly embraced
the indignity she had received, she not only did not deny that she was
like dogs, but even continued with a comparison of herself to young dogs.
With this prudent argument she confirmed the Lord’s statement, but nevertheless
she did not rest from the audacity of her request. She confirmed
the Lord’s statement in which he said to her, ‘It is not good to take
the children’s bread and to give it to dogs’, as she answered, ‘Yes,
Lord’—that is: ‘Truthfully, it is as you allege, that it is not good
to take the salvation divinely intended for the people of Israel and to
give it to gentiles’. But when she said, ‘For even the young dogs
eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table,’ she very prudently
demonstrated what great humility and what constancy she bore within her
inmost heart. Being unworthy to be refreshed by the meal of the Lord’s
entire teaching, which the Jews had for their use, she nevertheless supposed
that however small the grace imparted to her by the Lord might be, it could
be sufficient for her salvation.
Hence from the benevolent Savior, who kept her waiting for a time, not
out of lofty disdain for her entreaty, but by provident dispensation, she
rightly deserved to hear: ‘O woman, your faith is great. Let it
be done to you as you wish’. Indeed, she had great enough faith,
since she knew neither the ancient miracles, commands and promises of the
prophets, nor the more recent ones of the Lord himself. In addition,
as often as she was disregarded by the Lord, she persevered in her entreaties,
and she did not cease knocking by asking him, though she knew only by popular
opinion that he was the Savior. On account of this she secured the
great object for which she implored when, as the Lord said, ‘Let it
be done to you as you wish,’ her daughter was healed from that hour.
This woman, by nature a gentile, but constant and believing in her heart,
rightly signifies the faith and devotion of the Church gathered from the
nations, which holy preachers expelled from Judaea inspired with the word
and the mysteries of heavenly grace. Now let us take a look at the
preceding reading from the holy gospel. We will find that scribes
and Pharisees, coming from Jerusalem, assailed the Lord and his disciples,
making a great outcry because of their lack of faith, and [Jesus] soon
left them, having rebuked them with the invective they deserved.
[Mt 15:1-14]
And going on from there he entered into the regions of Tyre and Sidon.
[Mt 15:21] Clearly it is prefigured here that after his passion and
resurrection the Lord, in his preachers, was going to leave behind the
faithless hearts of the Jews and move on to the regions of foreign nations.
Tyre and Sidon, which were gentile cities, indicate the strongholds of
gentile teaching and life, in which the foolish trust. Hence it is
good that the woman, who in her belief entreated the Lord, is reported
to have come out from those territories, for unless the Church had left
the vain dwelling-places of her preceding way of life, she would never
have come to Christ; unless she had denounced the dogmas of her old error,
she would never have known to adopt the new grace of faith.
The daughter beset by a devil, for whom [the woman] entreated, is any
soul in the Church that is delivered up to the deceptions of malign spirits
rather than to her Maker’s commands. The Church, as a solicitous
mother, must intercede for this [soul] so that since [the Church] is not
capable of [converting] such a one by warning, entreating and rebuking
her outwardly, [Christ] may convert her by inspiring her interiorly, and,
when she has been turned from the darkness of error, he may rouse her to
the acknowledgement of the true light. But if the Lord keeps the
Church waiting for an answer as she asks in tears - that is, if he
keeps those who wander waiting before giving them the deliverance of mind
for which she has entreated - it is not that she should desist from asking,
seeking and knocking, nor that there should come over her a despair
of having her request granted. Instead she should persevere with
great earnestness; she should resort to the Savior crying out obstinately,
and among her petitions she should seek to obtain the support of his saints
until they too offer supplications to the Lord from heaven that the Church
might be heard. And thus it will happen that, if she does not turn
aside her mind from its proposed intention, she will by no means be deprived
of the fruit of her request. One who intervenes, either for the sake
of his own weakness or for the sake of others, will obtain the desired
effect.
Also, if one of us has a conscience polluted by the stain of avarice,
conceit, vainglory, indignation, irascibility, or envy and the other vices,
he has a daughter badly troubled by a demon. He should hasten to
the Lord, making supplication for her healing because undoubtedly she is
being dominated by thoughts born of the devil’s heart and maddened by [his]
craft. Moreover, [one with such a conscience] should frequently beg,
with continual lamentations and petitions, that she be cleansed by her
benevolent Maker. If one has perhaps polluted the good one has done
with the plague of false swearing, robbery, blasphemy, detraction, brawling,
and also of uncleanness of the body and other things of this sort, he has
a daughter disturbed by the frenzy of an unclean spirit. The conduct
which he had brought forth by laboring well he has now lost by stupidly
serving the devil’s deceptions. And so as soon as such a one has
recognized his crime, he must flee to petitions and tears; he must seek
the frequent intercessions and help of the saints, so that asking for the
salvation of his soul, they may say to the Lord, ‘We entreat you, Lord
[who are] compassionate and merciful, patient and full of compassion,
[A conflation of Ps 86:15 (85:17) and Ex 34:6.] pardon her because
she is crying after us. Pardon [her] crimes and give [her] grace,
because, prostrate with inmost feeling, she seeks our support’.
Being submissive with due humility, [such a person] must not judge himself
to be worthy of the company of the sheep of Israel (that is, souls that
are pure), but instead he must be of the opinion that he should be compared
to a dog and that he is unworthy of heavenly favors. Nevertheless,
let him not in despair rest from the earnestness of his entreaty, but with
his mind free of doubt let him trust in the goodness of the supreme Benefactor,
for the one who could make a confessor from a robber, [Lk 23:40-42] an apostle
from a persecutor, [Ac 9:1-30] an evangelist from a publican, [Mt 9:9-13] and
who could make sons for Abraham from stones, [Mt 3:9] could turn even the most
shameless dog into an Israelite sheep. He may even bestow upon him, as a
reward for chastity attained, the pasture of eternal life—that is, he may deign
to make righteous a sinner who has turned from his evil way, and as a reward for
his good action he may lead him to the heavenly kingdom. Seeing how great is the ardor of our faith,
and how tenacious is the perseverance of our praying, the Lord will show
mercy. And may he also grant to us what we wish may come to be, namely
that with the tumults of our depraved thoughts expelled and the bonds of
our sins loosed, both the pure serenity of our mind and the perfection
of [our] good works may be restored.
Meanwhile, we must note that this tenacity in praying can only deserve
to bear fruit if what we ask for with our mouth we also meditate on in
our mind, and if the crying of our lips is not cut apart in another direction
from the focus of our thoughts. For there are some who, upon entering
a church, stretch out their psalm-singing or their prayer with many words,
but because their heart is directed elsewhere, they do not even reflect
upon what they are saying. They pray, to be sure, with their mouths,
but they deprive their mind, which is wandering outside, of all the fruit
of their prayer. They suppose that their prayer is heard by God,
when not even those who pour it forth hear it— [there is] no one who cannot
perceive that it has been done at the instigation of the ancient enemy.
He is aware of the benefit of praying, and he envies human beings the gift
of having their requests granted, so he sends upon those who are praying
many kinds of frivolous thoughts, and sometimes too phantasms of things
that shameful and harmful. By these he can interfere with prayer
in such a way that occasionally, when we are prostrated in prayer, we may
endure great surges of thoughts which run every which way, [thoughts] such
as we have not known ourselves to endure even when we were lying flat on
our backs in bed.
Hence, dearly-beloved brothers, we must take care to triumph over the
acknowledged malice of the devil, clearing our mind, as far as we can,
of every sort of cloud which the enemy rejoices in sprinkling about, and
begging for the continuing protection of the benevolent Defender, who is
able to grant to those entreating him, no matter how unworthy they are,
both the grace of praying in a pure way, and that of having their requests
granted completely. The purity of our prayer will help us a great
deal [var.: 'it will help the purity of our prayer a great deal'] if in
every place and time we restrain ourselves from forbidden acts, if we always
check our hearing along with our speaking with regard to idle conversation,
if we habituate ourselves to walking in the law of the Lord and scrutinizing
his testimonies with all our heart. [Ps 119:1-2 (118:1-2)] Whatever
things we are accustomed to do, speak, or hear most often, these same things
will necessarily return to our mind most often as though to their accustomed
and proper place. And just as pigs are accustomed to frequent marshy
wallowing places, and doves to frequent clear flowing streams, so too impure
thoughts disturb an unclean mind, and spiritual thoughts sanctify a chaste
one. If, after the example of the Caananite woman, we continue resolutely
in our praying, and remain of fixed purpose, certainly the grace of our
Maker will be with us to correct everything in us which is wrong, to sanctify
everything unclean, and to make serene everything which is turbulent.
He is faithful and just, so that he will forgive us our sins and cleanse
us from every iniquity, if with the attentive voice of our mind we cry
out to him who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, God for all ages and ages. Amen.
