The Canaanite Woman
My Dear Parishioners,
The Canaanite woman featured in this week’s Gospel is usually praised for her persistence. It is true, she did not give up, and that perseverance is to her credit. I would say, however, what was most important about her and about her prayer was her humility.
Some points on the Gospel:
The Canaanite woman was from an area north of Israel and an area that was very much pagan territory. She was a Gentile by birth and would have been raised as a pagan. She would have grown up worshiping pagan gods and making prayers and sacrifices to false idols.
Because of this, faithful Jews often referred to pagans by a very derogatory term that can be translated as “dogs.” The term that they used is better translated as “untamed dogs” or as “mad dogs.” “Untamed” because they did not live by the Law or the Prophets. “Mad” because they persisted in their paganism. In fact, many faithful Jews thought that by just being in the presence of a Gentile, that they themselves became ritually unclean. Thus, we can say that they viewed Gentiles to be on the same level as a leper. Ouch!
Our Blessed Savior does refer to her as a “dog.” Yet, He uses a different term for dog then used by the Jews of His time. The term that Our Blessed Savior used is better understood as a “puppy” or as a “pet dog.” He does not see her as lost, but He sees her as a child in search of something better. He sees her as a potential child of God and co-heir of the Kingdom. Moreover, the very fact that Our Blessed Savior had ventured into pagan territory shows that he was already breaking through the divisions that separated Jew and Gentile.
In affirming that He should not give bread to the dogs, Our Blessed Savior was affirming that there was a priority in His Mission. The first priority was to fulfill the Scriptures by re-establishing Israel. He would re-establish Israel in the establishment of the New Israel, His Catholic Church. It would then be through the Church that He would touch the whole world:
The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted. Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:16-20).
The Canaanite woman’s persistence was actually an act of humility. She had nowhere else to turn. No human power, no doctor nor pagan priest nor pagan priestess had been able to help her. That was because she was in a battle with a supernatural power that actually exists—an evil supernatural power. She was in a battle with the devil for the life and soul of her child. Up to this point, she had lost the battle. She was desperate. In her desperation, she had come to accept that only a true God could fight and defeat the devil and free her child.
As Pope Benedict XVI commented: she had no wish to take anything from anyone; in her simplicity and humility a little was enough for her, crumbs sufficed, no more than a look, a kind word from the Son of God. And Jesus was struck with admiration for an answer of such great faith and said to her:
“Be it done for you as you desire” (v. 28).
The power of her prayer was in her act of humility. Yes, the act came out of desperation, yet it was an authentic act of humility. If it was not authentic, Our Blessed Savior would have known it and would never have granted the miracle.
As St. Augustine comments on this passage:
This woman of Canaan, who has just now been brought before us in the lesson of the Gospel, shows us an example of humility, and the way of Godliness; shows us how to rise from humility unto exaltation…..
See, Brethren, how the value of humility is set before us! The Lord had called her a dog; and she did not say, “I am not,” but she said, “I am.” And because she acknowledged herself to be a dog, immediately the Lord said, “Woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou hast asked.”
Thou hast acknowledged thyself to be a dog, I now acknowledge thee to be of humankind.
“O woman, great is thy faith;” thou hast asked, and sought, and knocked; receive, find, be it opened unto thee.
See, Brethren, how in this woman who was a Canaanite, that is, who came from among the Gentiles, and was a type, that is a figure, of the Church, the grace of humility has been eminently set before us…..
The Modern Catholic Dictionary defines humility as:
The moral virtue that keeps a person from reaching beyond himself. It is the virtue that restrains the unruly desire for personal greatness and leads people to an orderly love of themselves based on a true appreciation of their position with respect to God and their neighbors. Religious humility recognizes one’s total dependence on God; moral humility recognizes one’s creaturely equality with others. Yet humility is not only opposed to pride; it is also opposed to immoderate self-abjection, which would fail to recognize God’s gifts and use them according to his will. (Etym. Latin humilitas, abasement, humility, from humus, ground.).
It was humility that gave true power to the prayer of the Canaanite woman. We are so blessed this weekend to approach the Table of the Lord and not receive scraps but the very Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Our Blessed Savior.
Through the intercession of all of God’s Holy Angels and Saints, may we be a parish family that is always open to the helps of Heaven by always being meek, and humble of heart.
St. Joseph, Patron of the Church and our Patron, pray for us!
Fr. Michael J. Pawelko, Pastor