Pope Francis: Canaanite woman shows importance of faith, trust
August 21, 2017
Reflecting on the Gospel of the day (Mt. 15:21-28), Pope Francis said in his August 20 Angelus address that the Canaanite woman’s “insistence on invoking Christ’s intervention is a stimulus for us not to be discouraged, not to despair when we are oppressed by life’s harsh trials.”
“The Lord doesn’t turn away in face of our needs and, if at times He seems insensible to requests for help, it’s to test and strengthen our faith,” the Pope said to pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square.
The Pope added:
This evangelical episode helps us to understand that we are all in need of growing in faith and of strengthening our trust in Jesus. He can help us to rediscover the way, when we have lost the compass of our way; when the way no longer seems flat but rough and arduous; when it’s hard to be faithful to our commitments. It is important to nourish our faith every day, with attentive listening to the Word of God, with the celebration of the Sacraments, with personal prayer as “cry” to Him—“Lord, help me!”—and with concrete attitudes of charity to our neighbor.
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