Faith in God Involves Trust and Perseverance
There is a lesson, a very necessary one, for all of us related in this Sunday’s Gospel in the example of this woman’s faith in Christ's public life. It is the necessity of perseverance in our prayers of petition. Prayer is an essential part of our Christian life, and depicts our relationship with God. Types of prayer include adoration and thanksgiving, and prayers of petition - generally the more typical of our daily prayers. We have so many spiritual and temporal needs, needs which we cannot provide by ourselves. Christ himself has told us to ask him for these needs: "ask and you shall receive."
I witnessed the faith of a woman of faith from our parish recently, who, when receiving the Sacrament of the Sick and anointing, happily extended her hands for the Eucharist, the last food to pass her lips. She had faith in the promise of Christ and depended upon that promise, just as the woman of today’s Gospel. Both women persevered in faith. The reason I wish to share this with all is that a person with hours left to live has the inclination to shed false values and to esteem that what is of greater value including faith in God and hopefully sharing last moments and words with loved ones.
My father used to tell me that of persons in the end stages of life, he had yet to hear of a person asking for another hour of work, job title or public accolade preferring instead to be with loved ones, including God.We have faith in those we love. I propose that an enduring, persevering and hope-filled love is one of our greatest values. We are asked to invite Jesus into our lives and trust in that love for us.
The Canaanite woman exemplifies for us that deep-seated faith and trust in Christ's power and Christ's goodness. Even though Jesus seemed to ignore her and initially refuse her, she persevered with a faith and trust that did not waver. He granted her request.
We must imitate and learn from this pagan mother. Her love for her child made her ready to undergo every hardship or suffering for the restoration to health of her loved one. When we turn to Christ in our needs is our faith in him as sincere and unwavering as was this woman's? No doubt it often is, and yet we do not get the desired answer. As Christians we know that our particular request may not always be for our good, or for the final good of the person for whom we are praying. In that case, the good God will not grant what would be to our eternal disadvantage. If our prayer is sincere and persevering - we shall always get an answer, and one that is better than what we asked for.
It is only when we get to heaven - and getting to heaven is our purpose in life - that we shall see how our prayers, sincere and persevering, were answered by God and why. For now we must learn to trust in God.
Fr. Mike
