Wednesday, August 05, 2020 - 18th week of Ordinary Time - Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 15, 21-28 - A great prophet has risen among us,
and God has visited his people.

Jesus is in the region of Tyre and Sidon, i.e. in a country that is still pagan. What happened there? A woman implores him to heal her daughter possessed by a demon. Notice that Jesus did not answer immediately. It is as if He does not care about the distress of others. The proof of this is His answer when the woman kept begging Him: "I have been sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" and "It is not right to take the bread of the children and throw it to the little dogs". But when He truly saw that the mother's faith was deeply rooted, He accomplished the healing of her child. What lessons can we learn from this?

Firstly, Jesus did not exclude or discriminate when He said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel", this is not God's nature, but He shows that there is a priority. Here is what this implies: God can change the urgency in the face of sincere faith. "It is not right to take the bread of the children and throw it to the little dogs" indicates that Jesus did not exclude or despise anyone, but said that there was a difference between the Jew and the non-Jew.

Secondly, we will learn from this mother's behavior. Even though she received outrageous and painful words, she was always there. People of great faith are not afraid to face adversity and are able to persevere. What this woman is doing is a lesson for us: her request was not considered at first, but she persevered. And finally, her prayer was heard. Sometimes we pray, we ask God and we give up if there is no immediate answer. This is not the attitude of a person of faith.

Finally, there is a teaching to be transmitted: the mother prays and it is her sick daughter who is healed. This shows us that our prayers can be addressed to God for the good of others. Patients can no longer pray because of their pain, so we have a responsibility to pray for them. In this outbreak of coronavirus, our nation is asking for our prayers for these patients, our prayers are of great comfort to them and can bring them healing.