Sunday Reflections, 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A, 16 August 2026

The Canaanite Woman

Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry 

[Wikipedia]

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand)  

Readings (English Standard Version, Catholic Edition: England & Wales, Scotland, India)

In England & Wales and in Scotland the Solemnity of the Assumption is celebrated this Sunday. The link above is to the readings for the Assumption.

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) 

Gospel Matthew 15:21-28 (Jerusalem Bible)

Jesus left Gennesaret and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Then out came a Canaanite woman from that district and started shouting, ‘Sir, Son of David, take pity on me. My daughter is tormented by a devil.’ But he answered her not a word. And his disciples went and pleaded with him. ‘Give her what she wants,’ they said ‘because she is shouting after us.’ He said in reply, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.’ But the woman had come up and was kneeling at his feet. ‘Lord,’ she said ‘help me.’ He replied, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house-dogs.’ She retorted, ‘Ah yes, sir; but even house-dogs can eat the scraps that fall from their master’s table.’ Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, you have great faith. Let your wish be granted.’ And from that moment her daughter was well again.

Léachtaí i nGaeilge

Vegetable Seller

Joachim Beuckelaer [Web Gallery of Art]

My late mother, whose name was Mary, loved to bargain when buying clothes and when buying fruit and vegetables. She usually bought the latter at the store of a woman named Chrissie Caffrey, whose sister Maggie had a similar store across the road in Stoneybatter, then just a short street but now the name of the district in Dublin where I grew up. There were usually a few cats around Chrissie's store but the vegetables and fruit on sale were fresh. Sometimes as a child, listening to my mother, I would think that she was insulting Chrissie the way she spoke to her. But they both would end up happy, my mother having got a bargain - or thinking that she had - and Chrissie having got a sale.

What my mother and Chrissie did a couple of times a week was a form of banter with a serious purpose. My mother wasn't insulting Chrissie; she was simply looking for a good price. Chrissie didn't take any offence at my mother's words, gave as good as she got - and sold her produce.

One commentary I read on this gospel suggests that Jesus and the Canaanite woman were engaged in something similar to Chrissie and my mother, a form of banter, but with a serious purpose. The words of Jesus comparing the Canaanites, non-Jews, to dogs were insulting at their face value. But the woman didn't take offence, She wanted her daughter healed and that's all that mattered to her. She probably hadn't been among those who heard Jesus' Sermon on the Mount when he said, among many other things, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you (Mt 7:7). But clearly she had heard something about Jesus, of his love for the poor, for the sick, for the tormented. Because she persisted, giving as good as she got: Ah yes, sir; but even house-dogs can eat the scraps that fall from their master’s table. She then heard the astounding words of Jesus, Woman, you have great faith. Let your wish be granted.

It wasn't the first time Jesus responded to a non-Jew and remarked on that person's faith. Before we receive Holy Communion we pray the words of the Roman centurion who had come to Jesus with a similar plea to that of the Canaanite woman, not on behalf of his daughter but of his servant: 'Lord, I am not worthy . . .'

For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened (Mt 7:8).

Christ and the Canaanite Woman

Juan de Flandes [Web Gallery of Art]

There is something very down-to-earth about the meeting of Jesus and the Canaanite woman. The Assumption (celebrated on the 15th in most countries) too is a down-to-earth celebration. Pope Benedict reminds us: The Solemnity of the Assumption, so dear to popular tradition, serves as a useful occasion for all believers to meditate on the true sense and value of human existence in view of eternity.

Dear brothers and sisters, Heaven is our final dwelling place; from there, Mary encourages us by her example to welcome God's will, so as not to allow ourselves to be seduced by the deceptive attraction to what is transitory and fleeting, and not to give in to the temptations of selfishness and evil which extinguish the joy of life in the heart.

In the Nicene Creed, which we pray at Mass on Sundays and Solemnities, we say, and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. The equivalent in the Apostles' Creed is, I believe in . . . the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. 

Part of the humanity of Jesus, God who became Man in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and of Mary herself is their Jewishness. They remain Jewish for all eternity.

Theme from Schindler's List

Composed by John Williams

Simone Lamsma (violin) - Davida Scheffers (cor anglais)

   

     Traditional Latin Mass

Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost

The Complete Mass in Latin and English is here. (Adjust the date at the top of that page to 08-16-2026 if necessary).

Epistle: 2 Corinthians 3:4-9. Gospel: Luke 10:23-37.

The Good Samaritan

Théodule-Augustin Ribot [Web Gallery of Art]

But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion, and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine (Luke 10:33-34; Gospel)).