“And Jesus went from thence, and retired into the coast of Tyre and Sidon. And behold a woman of Canaan who came out of those coasts, crying out, said to him: ‘Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David: my daughter is grievously troubled by a devil.’ Who answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying: ‘Send her away, for she crieth after us:’ And he answering, said: ‘I was not sent but to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel.’ But she came and adored him, saying: ‘Lord, help me.’ Who answering, said: ‘It is not good to take the bread of the children, and to cast it to the dogs.’ But she said: ‘Yea, Lord: for the whelps also eat of the crumbs that fall from the table of their masters.’ Then Jesus answering, said to her: ‘O woman, great is thy faith: be it done to thee as thou wilt:’ and her daughter was cured from that hour.”
Jesus, in His omniscience, knows that this woman seeks Him. He goes into the Gentile towns of Tyre and Sidon, not to open the door to the Gentiles, for this would be done later: “God then also to the Gentiles given repentance unto life” (Acts 11:18), as He hides Himself as He passes through: “And rising from thence he went into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon: and entering into a house, he would that no man should know it, and he could not be hid” (Mark 7:24). She sought Him, but all the more did He seek her: “Come over to me, all ye that desire me, and be filled with my fruits” (Ecclesiasticus 24:26), for Jesus Himself encouraged His people to seek, that they may find Him: “Seek, and you shall find” (Matthew 7:7). She goes to Jesus, understanding Him to be both God, by calling Him Lord, and man, calling Him the Son of David, and displays her motherly compassion, for the pain of the beloved is the pain of the lover, in a particular way in a mother’s love for her children. She comes, not knowing the full depths of His love and compassion for her and her daughter, and looks to excite this compassion by presenting the ailment her daughter is enduring. To be vexed by a devil can be literal, as demonic activity is best quelled by the strength of numbers: “A threefold cord is not easily broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:12), or it can be figurative, which is when someone is trapped in sin, yielding to their temptations. Now, Jesus does not answer, as He sometimes does not answer prayers, because He wants to draw out something better from you: “Give therefore your hearts and your souls, to seek the Lord your God: and arise, and build a sanctuary to the Lord God” (1 Paralipomenon 22:19), which is the sanctuary of the heart, adorning it with loveliness that it may be a fit place for Him to dwell: “And the greater house he ceiled with deal boards, and overlaid them with plates of fine gold throughout: and he graved in them palm trees, and like little chains interlaced with one another. He paved also the floor of the temple with most precious marble, of great beauty” (2 Paralipomenon 3:5-6). Now, combining the accounts of Saints Matthew and Mark, the picture can be painted that Jesus arose and left the house in which He was staying, the woman crying out after Him: “I cried to the Lord with my voice: with my voice I made supplication to the Lord” (Psalm 141:2). The disciples, having great pity on the woman, did not understand what the Lord was doing, and so did not intercede for her, but asked her to be sent away, that the pitiful sight may be no more. He replies that He was sent for the lost sheep of Israel, to gather His chosen people to Himself, that they may overflow with love and then take this love to the foreign nations: “The fountain of gardens: the well of living waters, which run with a strong stream from Libanus” (Canticle 4:15). She then runs past the disciples to Jesus, worshipping Him, to which He responds that the children of Israel are sons, “Thus saith the Lord: ‘Israel is my son, my firstborn’” (Exodus 4:22), as they were brought up in His commandments and worship, whereas the Gentiles lived like beasts, submitting themselves and the beauty of their human nature to idols: “For being mortal himself, he formeth a dead thing with his wicked hands” (Wisdom 15:17) and receive all the mayhem and ugliness that comes with such a thing: “So that now they neither keep life, nor marriage undefiled, but one killeth another through envy, or grieveth him by adultery: and all things are mingled together, blood, murder, theft and dissimulation, corruption and unfaithfulness, tumults and perjury, disquieting of the good, forgetfulness of God, defiling of souls, changing of nature, disorder in marriage, and the irregularity of adultery and uncleanness” (Wisdom 14:23-26). In living like dogs, Jesus says it is not good to keep the Gospel, the message of true love, to those who would devour it like a dog and not enjoy its magnificence. Rather than contending with any of this, the woman prudently and nimbly adjusts to what Jesus says, accepting even the office of a dog if it means not leaving the Master’s table: “I am become as a beast before thee: and I am always with thee” (Psalm 72:23). In this, her love takes three expressions: The first is faith, because she believed her daughter could be healed, holding to the power of love; the second is patience, because she persisted even through being overlooked, because love desires the beloved even when turned away; and humility to bear anything from the beloved, for hard words can fall like drops of water into a furnace when the heart is enough inflamed. This excellence is why Jesus was so difficult to reach, because He wanted it to be displayed: “A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid” (Matthew 5:14). Jesus, then, looking at the woman’s grand faith, speaks it into being: “And God said: ‘Be light made.’ And light was made” (Genesis 1:3). There can also be a spiritual meaning, that the bread is the depths of Sacred Scripture, which is a wonderful feast for the mind and heart: “And the Lord of hosts shall make unto all the people in this mountain, a feast of fat things, a feast of wine, of fat things full of marrow, of wine purified from the lees” (Isaias 25:6), with the one wanting their loved ones to come to know the truth being satisfied with only a crumb of truth to fall into the heart of the one loved, for they know that “The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. Which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it is grown up, it is greater than all herbs, and becometh a tree” (Matthew 13:31-32). The resistance of Jesus then can be seen as Him waiting for the perfect time and to draw you to a more beautiful place spiritually, then He will rejoice in your faith and give you the reward of converted souls after much prayer. St. Teresa of Avila, in her Foundations, advises that when you see someone falling away, to make yourself into something on which a religious order can built or rebuilt, and God will take care of the rest. Become a great saint, Theophila: “To the church of God that is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints” (1 Corinthians 1:2), through burning love and much prayer: “By all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the spirit; and in the same watching with all instance and supplication for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:18), begging Jesus for the world to know His love, and thus you take up the office of Moses: “And when Moses lifted up his hands, Israel overcame” (Exodus 17:11).