HOMILY XIX. ON THE SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT.
MATT. XV, LUC. XIX, MARCO. VII. At that time Jesus went out and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman came from those borders, and cried out, saying to him: Have mercy on me, Lord, son of David: my daughter is badly vexed by a demon, etc.
In the reading of the holy Gospel, which has now been read to us, dearest brothers, we have heard of the great faith, patience, constancy, and humility of the woman. Whose devotion of mind is all the more admirable, whereby although she indeed, as a Gentile, was utterly secluded from the teachings of divine words, yet she is not deprived of the virtues which the same words proclaim. For she had a great perfection of faith, who, imploring the mercy of the Savior, said:
Have mercy on me, Lord, son of David. For when she calls Him Lord, son of David, it is clearly evident that she believes He is truly man and truly God. When she prays for her daughter, she does not bring her with her, nor does she ask the Lord to come to her, it is very clear that she trusts that He can give salvation by His word, without requiring His physical presence. But in this, that she finally adores Him prostrate after many tears, saying: Lord, help me, she shows herself in no way uncertain about His divine majesty, the power of which she learned to be worshipped as of God. She has no small virtue of patience, who does not cease from her prayers when the Lord does not respond to her first petition, but with greater urgency implores the help of His piety that she had begun. The Lord delays responding to her, not because the merciful doctor despises the prayers of the wretched, of whom it is very truly written: The Lord has heard the desire of the poor (Psalm IX), but to show us the endurance of the woman, always to be imitated, who the more she seemed to be scorned by the Lord, the more fervently she persisted in her prayers. He delays responding, to provoke the merciful hearts of His own disciples (who, as men, were embarrassed by the public cries of the woman following them) to pray together with her. For He Himself knew the measure of His mercy, who has arranged all things in measure, and number, and weight. He delayed responding, lest an occasion be given to the Jews for slander, that He preferred the Gentiles in teaching or healing; therefore they might justly refuse to accept His faith. And this is what He means when He says:
I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Because by himself alone he taught the Jews, who through his disciples also called the Gentiles to the grace of faith, of whom he says elsewhere: And I have other sheep that are not of this fold, and I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd (John X). Hence it is that he was about to heal a single Gentile girl in person, but he did not do this before the unparalleled faith of the mother was proven to all. This same mother also has a remarkable distinction of steadfastness and humility, who, though compared to dogs by the Lord, did not desist from her persistence in prayer, nor did she withdraw her mind from hoping for the gift of mercy, but having willingly embraced the insult she received, she not only did not deny herself similar to dogs, but even equated herself to the little dogs, and by a prudent argument confirms the Lord's statement, and does not desist from the persistence of her request which she had begun. For she confirms the Lord's statement, to whom he says:
It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs, she replied: Yes, Lord. That is, truly as you say, it is so: because it is not good to take the salvation destined from heaven for the people of Israel and give it to the Gentiles; but when she adds:
For even the little dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table. She most wisely demonstrates how much humility, how much inner steadfastness of heart she bears, who is indeed unworthy to be refreshed by the whole teachings of the Lord, which the Jews used as a feast, but she thought that any small grace imparted to her by the Lord could profit her for salvation. Hence rightly by the pious Savior, who did not dismiss her prayers with proud disdain, but wisely deferred them for a time, she deserved to hear:
O woman, great is your faith; let it be done for you as you desire. For she indeed had great faith, who, knowing neither the ancient prophecies nor the recent miracles of the Lord himself, commands or promises, yet perseveres in her prayers despite being repeatedly ignored by the Lord: and whom she had learned to be the Savior only from public rumor, she does not cease to implore by pleading. Therefore, she also achieves the great effect of her petition, for the Lord says, "Let it be done for you as you wish," and her daughter is healed from that hour. Moreover, with good reason, this woman, though a Gentile by nature but steadfast and credulous in heart, signifies the faith and devotion of the Church gathered from the Gentiles, which the holy preachers expelled from Judea imbued with the word and mysteries of divine grace. For if we reread the earlier passage of the holy Gospel, we will find that the scribes and Pharisees coming from Jerusalem violently attacked the Lord and his disciples with their infidel tumult, whom he soon left after reproaching them with well-deserved invective. And having left there, he withdrew to the regions of Tyre and Sidon. Here, it is clearly prefigured that after his passion and resurrection, the Lord would leave behind the faithless hearts of the Jews in his preachers and withdraw to the regions of the Gentiles. Tyre and Sidon, which were cities of the Gentiles, signify the monuments of Gentile doctrine and life, in which fools trust. Hence, it is fitting that the woman who faithfully implores the Lord is said to have come from those regions, for unless she had abandoned the empty dwellings of old behavior, she would never have joined the Church of Christ; unless she had anathematized the dogmas of ancient error, she could in no way receive the new grace of faith. Thus, the blessed Paul, having advanced in Judaism, afterward, when called, progressed further in the Church of God than his contemporaries. The demon-possessed daughter, for whom she petitions, represents any soul in the Church, more enslaved by the deceptions of evil spirits than obedient to the precepts of its Creator: for whom it is necessary that the mother Church diligently intercede with the Lord, that what she herself cannot correct externally by advising, beseeching, and reproaching, he may correct internally by inspiring, and turning it from the darkness of errors to the recognition of true light. Indeed, even if at the first tears of the beseeching Church, the Lord delays to respond, that is, to grant the requested health of mind to the erring ones, yet one must not desist from asking, seeking, and knocking, nor should despair be undertaken in obtaining; but rather, one should persevere with such insistence, frequenting the Savior with such obstinate clamor, and seeking the intercessions of his saints with such entreaties, until they too plead with the Lord from heaven for the Church to be heard. Thus, it happens that if the mind does not change from its fixed purpose, it will not be deprived of the fruit of its petition; but whether one intervenes for his own frailty or for others, he will attain the desired effect. For if any of us has a conscience polluted by the filth of avarice, pride, vain glory, indignation, wrath, or envy, or the uncleanness of other vices, indeed he has a daughter badly harassed by a demon, for whose healing he must run suppliantly to the Lord: because the thought begotten from the heart endures madness by the devil's art, whose correction must be beseeched from the merciful Creator with frequent, indeed continual laments and prayers. If anyone has defiled the good he has done with the pestilence of perjury, theft, blasphemy, detraction, quarrel, or even bodily impurity, or other suchlike, he has a daughter tormented by the furies of an unclean spirit, because the action that he had rightly performed by laboring well, he has now foolishly ruined by serving the deceits of the devil.
Therefore, it is necessary that, when one recognizes their guilt, they should immediately flee to prayers and tears, frequently seeking the help of the intercessions of saints, who, praying to the Lord for [the soul's] salvation, might say: "We pray, Lord, compassionate and merciful, patient and of great mercy (Psalm 85), forgive it, for it cries after us: forgive the guilt, and grant grace, [they seek] our innermost support with intimate affection." It is necessary, with due submissive humility, that they no longer judge themselves worthy of the company of Israelite sheep, that is, of pure souls, but rather should consider themselves comparable to and unworthy of heavenly gifts. Yet nevertheless, in hope, they should not desist from the persistence of praying, but with an undoubting mind, have confidence in the goodness of the highest giver: for the one who could make a confessor out of a thief, an apostle out of a persecutor, an evangelist out of a publican, and sons of Abraham out of stones, can also convert the most shameless dog into an Israelite sheep: to whom He graciously grants the pasture of eternal life along with the gift of chastity, that is, He deems worthy to make the sinner turned away from his evil path righteous, whom He, by the merit of good action, leads to the heavenly kingdom. And seeing such fervor of our faith, such persistent perseverance in praying, the Lord will finally have mercy, and grant us what we desire: namely, that with the disturbances of vicious thoughts expelled, the chains of sins abandoned, and pure serenity of mind and perfection of good deeds may be restored to us. In the meantime, it should be noted that this persistence in praying deserves to be fruitful only if what we pray for with our mouth, we also meditate in our mind, and neither the clamor of our lips is split from the focus of our thoughts. For there are those who, entering the church, recite many words of psalmody or prayer, but with their heart attentive elsewhere, they neither recall what they say: praying indeed with their mouth, but wandering outside in their mind, they deprive themselves of all fruit of the prayer: thinking their prayer is heard by God when they themselves, who utter it, do not hear it, a fact which no one can fail to observe is done by the instigation of the ancient enemy. For knowing the utility of praying and envying humans the grace of obtaining it, he throws many kinds of light and sometimes even vile and harmful fantasies at humans, with which he impedes prayer, so much so that sometimes we endure such great waves of wandering thoughts while prostrated in prayer, as we would not know how to endure lying on our backs in bed. Hence, dearly beloved brothers, it is necessary to overcome the recognized malice of the devil; and that we guard our minds as much as we can from those clouds which the enemy delights to scatter, and solicit the perpetual aid of the pious Defender, who is powerful to grant the grace of pure and perfect praying even to unworthy sinners [or, petitioners]. The purity of prayer greatly helps, however, if we abstain from illicit acts in every place and time; if we always discipline both our hearing and language from idle talk; if we habituate ourselves to walk in the law of God, and to search His testimonies with all our heart. For whatever things we are accustomed to do, speak or hear often, it is necessary that the same frequently recur to the mind as if to their usual and proper seat; and as pigs frequent muddy wallows and doves clear springs, so impure thoughts disturb an unclean mind, while pure ones enrich a chaste mind with sanctifying spirit. Certainly if we persist in praying and remain steadfast like the Canaanite woman, the grace of our Creator will be present, which will correct all our errors, sanctify the unclean, and calm the turbulent within us. For He is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, if we cry out to Him with the constant voice of our mind, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.