Matthew 15:21-28
Tested through trials
 by Rev. Steven G. Oetjen
Reprinted with permission of "The Arlington Catholic Herald"

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Matthew wrote to show that Christ was the
Messiah and fulfilled the Jewish prophecies.

Then Jesus went from that place and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.  And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, "Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!  My daughter is tormented by a demon."  But he did not say a word in answer to her.  His disciples came and asked him, "Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us."  He said in reply, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."  But the woman came and did him homage, saying, "Lord, help me."  He said in reply, "It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs."  She said, "Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters."  Then Jesus said to her in reply, "O woman, great is your faith!  Let it be done for you as you wish."  And her daughter was healed from that hour.

"When the dark night of trials arrives, or when we must cross through desert regions, all that counts is the desire burning in the heart like a fire, if one has bothered to keep it lit," says Father Roberto Laurita, a diocesan priest from northern Italy.  What is this desire burning like fire that he speaks of?  A desire for what?  Whatever it is, it sounds pretty important, because it is the thing that gets us through the darkest of times.  It is not just emotion or enthusiasm, because those can fade quickly when things get tough.  What sort of burning desire can sustain us through the worst of trials?

Today's Gospel, though it can be somewhat off-putting at first glance, can help us to see what sort of "desire burning in the heart" Father Laurita is talking about.  First of all, we see the "dark night" or the "desert" that the Canaanite woman is going through.  He daughter is being tormented by a demon.  How painful for a mother to see her child suffering and not to be able to do anything to stop it.  But on top of that, when she comes to Christ, her pleas are in first met with silence.

Through the midst of these trials, something is burning in her heart, which keeps her going.  She presses on and doesn't give up on her request.  What we see in her is faith burning like a fire.  Our Lord says as much at the end of the passage: "O woman, great is your faith!"  She would not have come to Jesus in the first place if she did not have faith that he could do something about her situation, and she certainly would not have persisted in asking for help.  Without faith, she would not have adored Jesus as she did.  It is her faith in Jesus that gave her hope as well.  She hoped that Jesus would respond, even though she know that she was unworthy.  Jesus, in fact, was her only hope.

Not only does the woman begin with faith, but her faith also grows stronger through being tested.  Whether it is a "dark night" or a "desert we must cross through, the Lord only permits trials because we need them to grow.  A complacent faith grows stagnant ad dies, while a faith that perseveres through difficulties grows stronger.  John Bergsma makes the helpful observation that Jesus sees into the hearts of all whom he encounters, and so he always tailors his response to each individual, knowing exactly what each one needs.  Bergsma explains that Jesus "sees that she has faith - he puts her faith to the test to elicit more faith.  Untested faith is no faith at all."

We might see Jesus' initial responses to the woman as off-putting, but the woman herself doesn't see things that way.  The faith in her heart is being fanned into flame.  As she persists in her requests and humbly does Jesus homage, her faith grows and grows.  There is certainly no complacent, stagnant faith in her.  She shows us the exact opposite of the attitude of entitlement that so often comes from complacency.  "Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters," she says.  She knows that she has no right to the gratuitous gift of God, but with great faith and humility, she begs for it.  This is the "desire burning in the heart like a fire" that Father Laurita speaks of.  It is the persistent, unrelenting desire for God that only a living faith can give.

"When the dark night of trials arrives, or when we must cross desert regions, all that counts is the desire burning in the heart like a fire, if one has bothered to keep it lit."  The next question for us is how we keep the fire lit.  The answer is prayer, and again, this is what we see in the Canaanite woman.  Her adoration of Jesus and her persistent requests of him show us what sincere prayer looks like.  We must "bother" to take the time each day to come to God in prayer if we wish to keep the fire of faith lit.