GOSPEL POWER l AUGUST 4, 2021

18th Week in Ordinary Time

21Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon.  22Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started  shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is  tormented by a demon.” 23But he did not answer her at all. And his  disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps  shouting after us.” 24He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep  of the house of Israel.” 25But she came and knelt before him, saying,  “Lord, help me.” 26He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s  food and throw it to the dogs.” 27She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the  dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28Then Jesus  answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as  you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly. Jesus became like us in all things, except sin. This is the  mystery of the Incarnation. The infancy narratives in  Luke’s Gospel describe the boy Jesus as advancing in wisdom  and age — he developed and grew in every aspect of his humanity. It  is in this light that we have to read the initial attitude of Jesus toward  the Canaanite woman in today’s Gospel. His awareness of the scope  of his mission develops only gradually in response to the impulse  of the Holy Spirit, to whom he is always open and attentive. Today’s  Gospel gives us a glimpse of how the Holy Spirit who, through the  instrumentality of a foreign woman, brings Jesus to a fuller awareness  of the scope of his mission. He is sent not only to the lost sheep of the  house of Israel, but to all. His mission is without confines. Lord Jesus, through the Holy Spirit’s gentle nudges, may we too become  conscious of our exclusivist tendencies and be able to check them. Amen.