A Word for the 17th Sunday After Pentecost, on the Power of Faith, Hope, and Patience in Prayer

Today, my brothers, there was read from the Gospel of Matthew the account of the Canaanite woman’s persistent petition to Jesus Christ on behalf of her demon-possessed daughter.

The holy Evangelist speaks of this thus: at that time «Jesus departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying: have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed. But He answered her not a word. And His disciples came and urged Him, saying: send her away, for she cries out after us. But He answered and said: I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then she came and worshiped Him, saying: Lord, help me! But He answered and said: it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs. And she said: yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. Then Jesus answered and said to her: O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire. And her daughter was healed from that very hour» (Mt 15:21-28). Here the Gospel ends.

How instructive for us, brothers and sisters, is this Canaanite woman, this mother! Love for her daughter, who suffered severely from the tormenting power of the demon, drove her to seek the salvation of the unfortunate girl from the divine, almighty Wonderworker, and she did not leave off from the Benefactor and Savior until she had received what she asked, even though her faith and boldness met with no small trials! She met, it seems, with a refusal once, twice, three times, yet she was not troubled; she did not despair; she did not say: no, I will ask and trouble Him no further; clearly I am not worthy—but kept nourishing a firm hope in the Wonderworker. At first the Knower of hearts answered her not a word to her petition—in order to rouse in her a still stronger faith and hope and a still more fervent prayer, for through obstacles faith and hope, together with prayer, in some souls gain more and more strength and vigor, and blaze up more brightly, whereas in the fainthearted and weak of soul they weaken or go out entirely. Indeed, the Canaanite woman did not weaken in faith, hope, and prayer, but began to plead and cry out still more strongly, following after the Lord and His disciples, so that they themselves began to intercede for her, that He would send her away. The Lord, as though unwilling to listen either to her or to His disciples, says that He was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel—that is, to the Jews, to whom promises, revelations, and prophecies had been given concerning His coming into the world and the salvation of people through Him. Despite this second refusal, she comes up to the Lord Himself, worships Him, and says: Lord, help me! Notice how great her faith, her hope, her boldness! Though a pagan, she confesses Him as Lord, Son of David, the almighty King of spirits, trusts in His boundless goodness, which embraces not only the Jews but the pagans too, and, like a servant to her Lord, or rather, like a daughter to her Father, boldly says: Lord, help me! When the Lord said: it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs—meaning by dogs the pagans who did not know the true God, to whose number this woman too belonged—she was not in the least offended by such a name, recognizing that she was worthy of such a reproachful title, and said: yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. Such faith, hope, humility, and patience were pleasing to the Savior; He praised her for her great faith and said: O woman, great is your faith; let it be to you as you desire. And her daughter was healed from that very hour. Yes, such a mother deserves applause! The Lord found a like faith in a certain Roman centurion, also a former idolater, who had a beloved servant at the point of death, healed by the Lord at the centurion’s petition and great faith—and in his praise the Lord said: «I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel» (Mt 8:10). After this I will say to all of you, brothers and sisters: learn to believe in this way, to hope in this way, and to ask the Lord, or the Mother of God, in this way, with such boldness and persistence as the Canaanite woman asked for her daughter, as the centurion asked for his servant—and you will receive according to your desire, if it is pleasing to God and profitable for you. «Ask», says the Lord, «and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you» (Mt 7:7). The Canaanite woman depicts our soul; her demon-possessed daughter depicts our passion-ridden flesh, tormented by various passions every day. In whatever distress the Canaanite woman and her daughter were, in such distress are we too, you and I. From my youth many passions have warred against me, but do You Yourself defend and save me, O my Savior! Why is it that these passions, these demons acting in our hearts, so brazenly, so often, gain mastery over people, torment, torture, and put to shame those possessed by them? Because these people have no strong faith, do not pray fervently and persistently, do not have a firm desire to be delivered from them. Oh, who might send us such a mother as the Canaanite woman, who would pray to the Lord for us with the same faith, hope, and love as that woman prayed for her daughter, so that, for the sake of her prayer, the Lord might have mercy on us and cast out our own passions, healing us of our own frenzies! For our flesh is fiercely tormented by demons. But, brothers, we have One far greater than the Canaanite woman—our unashamed and all-merciful Intercessor and Advocate, the all-good and most pure Mother of our God Himself, ever ready to intercede before her Son and God for our deliverance from the frenzy and fury of the passions, if only we would always turn to her with faith and hope, in repentance, from a sincere heart, with a prayer for help. Her intercession is all-powerful, faithful, and to be trusted, for she is the Mother of the Lord Himself, the Creator of creation, and her Son and God, as a debtor to His Mother, will fulfill every petition of hers on our behalf. Let us always take refuge in her, under her mighty protection. But let us also, for our own part, sharpen and increase our own faith in the Lord, our own hope and our own love for God and neighbor, and continually take refuge in repentance in the Lord Himself, as did that Canaanite woman; for the Lord has given all of us the right to turn boldly to Him too: ask, and it will be given to you; and further: «whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive» (Mt 21:22). So, brothers and sisters, great is the power of faith! The stronger our faith, the greater the saving power of God it draws down upon a person, and there is no sin, no grief or misfortune so great, from which faith could not save. It cleanses sins, delivers from the passions, drives away demons; it heals griefs, cures sicknesses, delivers from death; it raises the dead; it turns enemies into friends, sinners into righteous ones; it moves mountains; it works every kind of wonder. A certain citizen in a certain city, who lives by faith and wages a stubborn war against the passions like a soldier of Christ, told me in conversation that by daily and hourly prayer of repentance and faith he almost ceaselessly seizes from God the power that saves him from every sin and passion, that amid countless temptations and inward falls into sin he in the end always emerges as the victor over the passions and the one who drives away demonic fantasies and delusions, the destroyer of demonic wiles—in a word, that by the mercy of God and by the faith given to him by God, he is a constant miracle to himself. This is what the prayer of faith means, the prayer of repentance! So let us believe, so let us pray, and so let us overcome our own passions! Amen.