Editorial

A woman’s story teaches us to persevere on our journey of faith

We can learn a simple life lesson from the Canaanite woman asking Jesus to heal her daughter in last weekend’s Gospel (Mt 15:21-28).

Her story shows that perseverance is a characteristic that will serve us well on our journey of faith.

With today’s it’s-all-about-me attitude that some have adopted, it should come as no surprise that wanting something—and demanding it now!—has become a staple for far too many in today’s ever-increasingly secularistic world. Some would even say it’s become human nature to get anything and everything an individual wants—no questions asked. But it’s an unhealthy habit that we believe is very detrimental if people get everything they want at a moment’s notice.

Past generations were taught at a young age that patience was a virtue. Waiting for something was an important life lesson. (Remember the adage: “Good things come to those who wait?”) But has that life lesson fallen by the wayside—not only where our children are concerned, but also wherever we are on our earthly pilgrimage?

We’ve had universal shepherds past and present talk about the gift of perseverance. During an Angelus address last fall, Pope Francis told his audience perseverance means being disciplined and persistent in understanding what the Lord wants for us, and to not lose focus on what that is. It means asking ourselves, he continued, about how well we persevere in striving to live by faith, justice and charity in our daily lives.

On more than one occasion, St. John Paul II mentioned the perseverance of saints and how it helped them overcome challenges they faced. The majority of saints—from the Blessed Mother to St. Peter, from St. Joan of Arc to St. Maximilian Kolbe and so many others—persevered with the aid of God’s grace through what life presented them, knowing because of their faith they were not facing those difficulties alone. Is there a better example of perseverance in prayer than St. Monica, who prayed for years for the conversion of her son St. Augustine?

John Paul II himself offered a wonderful example of perseverance. Despite an assassination attempt and serious health issues that filled his pontificate during his later years, he lived out his vocation as our shepherd to its fullest until God called him home.

Like St. John Paul II and all the saints who have gone before us, the Canaanite woman in the Gospel showed great faith. And despite Jesus’ initial rebuttal—“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Mt 15:24)—there is humility and truth in her response: “Lord, help me” (Mt 15:25), she pleads, and later, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters” (Mt 15:27).

Jesus’ response, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish,” (Mt 15:28) should offer us all hope as it leads to the woman’s prayer for her daughter’s healing being answered.

A search through Scripture will reveal verses that implore us to persevere in prayer on our journey of faith, including in St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans: “Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer” (Rom 12:12).

Like the Canaanite woman, our faith teaches us we must pray constantly and never grow tired of prayer during difficult times.

As Pope Francis said during an Angelus address last November: “If we persevere—Jesus reminds us—we have nothing to fear, even in the sad and ugly events of life, not even in the evil we see around us, because we remain grounded in the good. … May Our Lady, servant of the Lord, persevering in prayer fortify our perseverance.”

—Mike Krokos