Devotional Thoughts for the Sunday of the Canaanite Lady.
Reading: From the Gospel according to St. Matthew 15 21-31
Dear and Respected Brethren,
By the grace of God we are entering the fourth week of the Great Lent of the year. In today’s reading we come across with the cry, prayer and faith of the Canaanite lady who sought the compassion towards her daughter who was vexed with a devil. The lady though a pagan by birth had identified our Lord as the son of David, who was supposed to be the savior of the entire mankind. Not only she knew the identity of our Lord, but also she had great and amazing faith in it. This Canaanite lady is a good teacher for us who often get overjoyed over the tradition;she teaches how we must interact with our Lord and Savior. First thing to be remembered is that we must cry when we might approach our Lord God. She cried sincerely and it enabled her to achieve what she wanted to have. When one might cry, our voice of the cry would be followed by tears from his or her eyes. Our Church fathers have given significant importance for the tears and it is often mentioned that the tears would be considered as more precious than the costly jewels and pearls available in the world. Hence all who might observe the Lent are supposed to offer his or her tears before God. Tears often remind us about our sins and guide us to seek forgiveness of our sins. Tears often purifies our eyes and enable us to have a perfect vision If our eyes are not clear, our visions also would be fake and gloomy The Canaanite lady had a deep and staunch faith. She believed that Lord Jesus was the Son of David (who had to reach to provide salvation.) Those who had waited for the Savior with hope and expectation also had believed that He would come from the tribe of King David. The prayer of the Canaanite woman was also so unique. She prayed for the mercy. She earnestly requested Lord Jesus to have mercy on her.
The Canaanite woman’s tears, faith and prayer are exemplary and they are guide lines for us who observe the great Lent to get our Lord’s mercy, compassion and blessings. Let us take her as a role model for observing the Lent and fasting. Let us also cry aloud to our Lord God to save us by forgiving our sins and evil lives so far. The Canaanite woman might have cried in high voice. She was confident that she was not eligible to come near Lord Jesus. Still she did not get back from her attempt.
The Canaanite woman has been accepted by God Almighty as instrumental to teach the world that the Savior is not only for a community or a small group of the humanity. Till then it was realized by all that a Savior would incarnate to save the Israelites. But God’s plan was not only to save the Israelites, but also to save the entire mankind, without any sort of limitations. There were no boundaries of faith, color, language or so for God to grand the freedom from Satan and evil powers. God rightly used the Canaanite woman to reveal the great truth of the salvation of God is beyond any sort of limitations. Our Lord Jesus said to the woman, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Verse 24) When our Lord said so, the Canaanite woman came forward and worshipped Him, with the prayer “Lord have mercy upon me.” (Verse 25) Worship is the exhibition of obedience, love, respect and conviction. In addition to the three lessons we learnt from the Canaanite woman earlier; let us decide that we would worship our Lord God without break in our future lives. In worship we have to surrender ourselves to His complete disposal. So the Holy Church insists us to do kumbideel (prostration) during our Lenten prayers. When our Lord said “It is not meet to take the children’s bread and to cast it dogs”, she did not take it as a personal insult. She did not make it a complaint, where as she identified herself to the word uttered by our Lord. Her faith and humbleness enabled her to attain the great certificate from our Lord “woman, your faith is great.” Let us try to hear such a compliment from our Lord God at the end of this Lenten season.
May God bless us all
Jose Kurian Puliyeril.