Reflection for Sunday 16th August, 2026

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In Times of Darkness (Matt 11:21-28)

In today’s Gospel a troubled mother pleads with Jesus to cure her tormented daughter. It is so unlike Jesus that he answered her not a word. But he knew what he was doing. He was drawing out deeper depths of her faith. Her persistence developed a deeper faith. She is a model of faith in three qualities: persistence, humility and a sense of humour.

Persistence

She is in desperation for the sake of her daughter but her persistence is remarkable. She will not take “no” for an answer. She is like the woman of the parable who wears down a reluctant judge with the only weapon she had, her persistence. Jesus addresses her as “woman.” Is this a womanly strength? Is it forced on women as the only way to break through the hard-hearted logic of a world organised by men? 

“I have loved you with an everlasting love, so I am constant in my love for you.”

This very week I heard that if you want something done, ask a woman. But if you want to talk about it, ask a man! Her motherly love will not be diverted. Love is greater than logic. Although she is persistent yet her faith is also very humble. She kneels before Jesus. Her prayer is simplicity itself: “Lord, help me.”

Playfulness

This humble faith has room for humour. There is a sense of playfulness when Jesus says, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house-dogs.” Jews commonly referred to other nations as dogs. The voice of Jesus is not a racial slur, and one must hear the tone of humour in his voice. While one must be serious about God, one might be playful with God. The persistent mother catches the tone and enters the repartee. “Ah, yes, sir; but even the house-dogs can eat the scraps that fall from their master.”

When God is silent

The prophet Jeremiah has a beautiful saying about God’s love. “I have loved you with an everlasting love, so I am constant in my love for you.” But how does one survive when God is silent, just as Jesus initially did not answer a word to the Canaanite woman? She was a woman of great faith. Many of the mystical saints, people of great faith, experienced long periods of darkness and spiritual dryness. Saint Teresa of Calcutta lived for forty years without any consolations in prayer. She understood her darkness as sharing in the thirst experienced by Jesus on Calvary. Nobody, apart from a few people she trusted, suspected that she worked and prayed in darkness all those years.
One brave prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp scratched these lines on the wall of his cell. “I believe in the sun even when I do not see it shining. I believe in love even when I feel it not. I believe in God even when he is silent”.
In daylight we can see the objects all around us. But it is only in the darkness of night that our eyes stretch to the distant stars. In times of spiritual darkness God is stretching and deepening our faith.
The story has a happy ending. “Woman, you have a great faith. Let your wish be granted.” And from that moment her demented daughter was well again.