YEAR B: HOMILY FOR WEDNESDAY OF THE 18TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME (1)

YEAR B: HOMILY FOR WEDNESDAY OF THE 18TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

HOMILY THEME: GREAT FAITH

BY: Fr. Benny Tuazon

HOMILY:

(Mt. 15:21-28) Wednesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time

In today’s Gospel Jesus encountered a Caananite woman who begged Jesus to free her daughter from the demon. Jesus, knowing she was not an Israelite, the chosen people, told her she was not entitled yet (“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” But the woman’s desire will not be dampened by Jesus’s rebuke. Her faith in Jesus gave her the courage to tell Jesus, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” Notwithstanding her being a Gentile, she dared Jesus to transcend God’s plan for the sake of a faithful in need. These are traces of the supremacy of the spirit over the law.

A great faith, we can say, is Jesus’s weakness. Jesus saw the determination of the Canaanite woman. His response was not a rejection of her request but a faithfulness to God’s plan. The woman pleaded with her faith. When Jesus saw her great faith, He could not but give in to her request. Her daughter was healed. We cannot underestimate the powers and potentials of faith. No wonder Jesus tells us to recognize that gift in us. We need to cultivate it for it to grow and bear fruit in us. Through faith, God’s bountiful grace comes to us.