We have a puzzling Gospel reading because its tone doesn’t  seem to match the Jesus we know. This saying of Jesus about not giving food from the family table to dogs was probably a proverb of the time, along the lines of “charity begins at home.” Yet, this moment was recorded by Matthew and Mark for the Church to remember for all time. 

The woman was not Jewish. In fact, Matthew uses the old-fashioned word “Cannanite” to emphasize that point. This is a profound, powerful and prophetic teaching moment that gives the first hint of the magnificent, heroic, multi-generational, world-wide mission of the Church. Jesus is speaking to the woman but teaching the disciples and us.

The Lord did the same thing in the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves. The people were hungry and the Lord tells the disciples to feed them themselves. They said, “We can’t.” Then Jesus multiplies the bread in a miracle that feeds the people but teaches the disciples how they will meet the spiritual hungers of millions through the Eucharist. Then Jesus sent the disciples on the lake without Him. The storm came. They were afraid and He comes walking on the water. He calms the storm but teaches the disciples that He is with them in any distress.

Now, the Canaanite woman comes forward. The Jewish people, and the disciples of course, believed that they had an exclusive lock on God’s love and care and grace. In this brief conversation, Jesus gives this woman a chance to show the disciples her strong and persistent faith. Then he grants her request and the child is healed. In that gesture, the disciples get a preview of their mission not only to the Jewish people but to the world. Jesus was speaking to the woman but teaching the Apostles that their mission is beyond the borders of Palestine and showing them the great capacity for faith that exists among all peoples. 

The Church is universal in its reach. That is the truth uniting the readings today. The Lord says through Isaiah, “My house shall be a house of prayer for all peoples.”

As St. Paul writes to the Romans in the second reading about the plan of God, he is struggling with the dilemma of why the Jewish people at that time rejected Christ. He writes that they had the election, the prophets, the covenant and the promise. Then St. Paul realized God’s purpose behind the Jewish rejection of Jesus was to direct the Church to go to the Gentiles. Redemption was for everyone. Now, in this moment from today’s Gospel, Jesus shows the Apostles the faith that even Gentiles can have. It is a brief glimpse of the huge harvest that awaits them. 

That reminds us that we are a missionary Church not only to different parts of the world but also to the people around us. There is a deep yearning for God within every person and we can bring an answer to that yearning. It is true that we have to take people as they are, but we don’t have to leave them that way. Jesus never did. So often we feel that because we can’t evangelize everybody, therefore that justifies evangelizing nobody. Or because we can’t meet a person’s every need, we don’t have to meet any need. Because we can’t share all of Catholic truth with someone, therefore we share none of it. 

The mission of the Church is to be Catholic, that is, to be truly universal. The Church will never rest until the Gospel reaches every heart, every soul, every life, every family, every country. We are part of that mission. As Pope Pious XII said many years ago, by Baptism, we don’t simply belong to the Church, we are the Church. On a practical level, as lay people, you go to places where priests don’t go. You speak with people who will never speak with a priest. You encounter people who will never see a missionary. You are the only personal experience of a Catholic many will ever know. Do we take the significance of that fact seriously? Each of us is here not because we had a vision or a visit from an angel, but because some human being cared enough to share the faith with us. Are we willing to do the same? Do we ever share our faith or invite one person to Church and to prayer?

We have to take people as they are, but we don’t have to leave them that way. The Lord calls each of us not only to embrace the Gospel in our life but to give a piece of it to others by what we say and do. The more we share Christ with others, the deeper His life grows within us. As saint John Paul II once wrote: “Faith is strengthened when it is given to others!” (RM2). And the deeper Christ’s life grows within us, the more we want to share Him with others.

Let’s have the faith of the Canaanite to believe in Christ’s love for us. Let’s never give up even when it seems God is not hearing our needs. Let’s persevere in times of desolation in our spiritual life and let’s allow Christ to transform today’s world through us and with us. Amen