My Thoughts on the Bible Readings of Today

How many of us give others what they want just to shut them up? In today's gospel reading that is exactly what the disciples asked Jesus to do. They asked Him to give the Canaanite woman what she wanted so she would go away. This is not right. We should help others because of love, not because we feel guilty for not helping more or so they would stop pestering us. After all, God is love, and we want to be like Him, right? So we should love like He does- unconditionally and totally. But since we should love our neighbors as ourselves, we should do acts of love and charity that we are comfortable with until we are spiritually mature enough to be comfortable to give everything to and for God and others. This does not however happen without God's help- so ask for it!

Another matter of interest in today's gospel is the fact that the Canaanite lady braved ridicule, rejection and loss of face to get what she wanted. The disciples' embarrassment did not turn her away. Jesus' seeming rejection did not turn her away. And what caused this desire to succeed? Love. The love of a parent for her child. And also faith. Faith that Jesus has the ability and the desire to grant her request. This is how we should pray. We should ask for things out of love- love for God, love for others, and love for self (not 'I want a Mercedes' kind of love but 'I want to my life to be more fulfilled' kind of love). And we should have faith that God would know how and when to grant our prayers. And if our prayers are of the wrong sort or asking for the wrong things then we should have faith that God will let us know and help us ask for 'better' things.