Jesus went to the district of Tyre. He entered a house and wanted no one to know about it, but he could not escape notice. Soon a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him. She came and fell at his feet.The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, “Let the children be fed first. For it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She replied and said to him,“Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.”Then he said to her, “For saying this, you may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter.” When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.
REFLECTION
she begged him
In the book, The Gift of Faith by Tadeusz Dajczer, there was a quote not attributed to a specific person. “Someone said, '“You learn to pray best in moments when you cannot pray.” ‘ God’s overwhelming love always stuns me into silence. The parable of the prodigal son is my favorite of all, perhaps, because it is so close to home. The story of the pagan Greek woman begging Jesus to help her daughter is my other favorite, referencing to God’s overwhelming mercy and love.
We pray better when our hearts are troubled. The pagan mother was humble and helpless. Her hope was the bridge that moved her from faith to perfect selfless charity. She trusted that in her littleness and weakness God would listen and lift her up. In Romans 6:26-27, we read, “the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings. And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because it intercedes for the holy ones according to God’s will.”
Be bold and talk with God and with haste and zeal ask Him. Our hope turns our gaze towards God who knows everything and in Him and only Him will all things be possible.
Comments