Guided reflection:

This is one of the cases where I needed to be there to watch what happened… it seems – by just words - that Jesus is rude to this desperate woman! Was Jesus’ tone cold and distant, or did he lean down and in tender words say that it is not fair to take children’s bread and throw to the dogs…. Was he speaking to her or to his disciples who wanted her to be gone from their sight? Was this a racial issue – that Jesus came for the Jews and she was not a Jew? Her answer to Jesus showed such great faith and hope… and Jesus answered her prayer… her daughter was healed. Bottom line – Jesus responds to our faith. To whom do you relate in this story – the disciples or the out of place woman?

Guided prayer:

“O God, I have prejudices… Oh, I like to think I don’t, but as a human being, I see others as less important, or unworthy, or from the wrong side of the tracks… the list goes on. Help me face the fact that I am the one who might be the unimportant one, the one from the wrong place. But also help me remember that you are the God of us all. Thank you for sending Jesus, who showed us that it is our faith – not our circumstances or our background– that is the key to answered prayers. Amen”