Prayer of the Day

Daily Prayer

August 5th, 2015

Our Gospel today gives us an example of great faith.  It is interesting to note that in Matthew’s Gospel,  the greatest models of faith are people who are not Jewish at all – the wise man,  the Roman centurion and this Canaanite woman.  Today’s Gospel can seem rather puzzling.  A Canaanite woman approaches Jesus and asks him to heal her daughter who is possessed.  She has heard of Jesus’ reputation as a healer.  Jesus appears indifferent to the woman because she is not a Jew.  But the woman refuses to give up,  and she continues to appeal to him,  and in the end he grants her request.

Even when the Canaanite woman was discouraged by Jesus and by the disciples,  she persisted in trusting that Jesus would be willing to help her.   This witness of courageous perseverance and utter determination is an example for all of us.  We can too easily become despondent  and lose faith if our prayers are not answered immediately.  We must ask the Holy Spirit to increase our faith.  As Blessed John Henry Newman once said;  “I may love by halves,  I may obey by halves;  I cannot believe by halves;  either I have faith or I have it not.”