August 5, 2026
Wednesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 409
Reading 1
At that time, says the LORD,
I will be the God of all the tribes of Israel,
and they shall be my people.
Thus says the LORD:
The people that escaped the sword
have found favor in the desert.
As Israel comes forward to be given his rest,
the LORD appears to him from afar:
With age-old love I have loved you;
so I have kept my mercy toward you.
Again I will restore you, and you shall be rebuilt,
O virgin Israel;
Carrying your festive tambourines,
you shall go forth dancing with the merrymakers.
Again you shall plant vineyards
on the mountains of Samaria;
those who plant them shall enjoy the fruits.
Yes, a day will come when the watchmen
will call out on Mount Ephraim:
“Rise up, let us go to Zion,
to the LORD, our God.”
For thus says the LORD:
Shout with joy for Jacob,
exult at the head of the nations;
proclaim your praise and say:
The LORD has delivered his people,
the remnant of Israel.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (see 10d) The Lord will guard us as a shepherd
guards his flock.
Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,
proclaim it on distant isles, and say:
He who scattered Israel, now gathers them together,
he guards them as a shepherd his flock.
R. The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.
The LORD shall ransom Jacob,
he shall redeem him from the hand of his conqueror.
Shouting, they shall mount the heights of Zion,
they shall come streaming to the LORD’s blessings.
R. The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.
Then the virgins shall make merry and dance,
and young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning into joy.
I will console and gladden them after their sorrows.
R. The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
A great prophet has arisen in our midst
and God has visited his people.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
At that time Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out,
“Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!
My daughter is tormented by a demon.”
But he did not say a word in answer to her.
His disciples came and asked him,
“Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.”
He said in reply,
“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
But the woman came and did him homage, saying, “Lord, help me.”
He said in reply,
“It is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs.”
She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps
that fall from the table of their masters.”
Then Jesus said to her in reply,
“O woman, great is your faith!
Let it be done for you as you wish.”
And her daughter was healed from that hour.
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080526.cfm
Commentary on
Jeremiah 31:1-7
Today we have another upbeat reading from the prophet with a
(not really deserved) reputation for doom and gloom. Jeremiah today continues
his message of hope for the restoration of the two kingdoms, north and south,
once again to be formed as one nation under God.
We are now at the beginning of chapter 31. Continuing the
theme of restoration begun in the previous chapter, Jeremiah records the words
of the Lord to:
- all
the people of God, v 1 (prose);
- the
restored northern kingdom of Israel, vv 2-22 (poetry);
- the
restored southern kingdom of Judah, vv 23-26 (prose);
- Israel
and Judah together, vv 27-40 (prose prologue, vv 27-34; poetic body, vv
35-37; prose epilogue, vv 38-40. Each section begins with the words, “The
days are surely coming…”).
Today’s reading contains just the first seven verses of the
chapter, which speaks of the good news of the return from exile of Israel, the
Northern Kingdom. It begins with the repetition of the covenant promise:
…I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and
they shall be my people.
God had never been unfaithful to this covenant, but the
people had, again and again.
There is now pardon in the desert for those “people who
survived the sword”. They are the just remnant which will return home from
years of captivity and exile in the alien land of Babylon.
The desert or wilderness is sometimes seen by the prophets
(e.g. Hosea) as a place of conversion. Israel’s original journey through the
desert was seen as a time of childlike fidelity to God. Here, there is now seen
a second Exodus, this time from the Arabian Desert, which will bring Israel
back once again from exile and slavery into its own land.
The people who survived the sword
found grace in the wilderness;
when Israel sought for rest…
Israel originally was Jacob’s other name, but here it refers
to the Northern Kingdom. It is also called by Jeremiah: Samaria, Ephraim, Jacob
and Rachel.
The Lord now expresses his affection for his people:
I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.
This gentle and tender language is in strong contrast to
some of the severe chastisements we have seen in previous readings from the
prophets, including Jeremiah himself. But this love was there even in their
times of suffering when they felt they were abandoned. Later, we read in the
Book of Revelation:
I reprove and discipline those whom I love. (Rev
3:19)
Now God promises to restore Israel, the Northern Kingdom, as
it was. There will be music with festive tambourines and dancing, signs of
religious joy. Tambourines were played especially after military victories, and
this contrasts strongly with their sad plight in Babylon:
By the rivers of Babylon—
there we sat down, and there we wept
when we remembered Zion.
On the willows there
we hung up our harps…
How could we sing the Lord’s song
in a foreign land? (Ps 137:1-2,4)
They will plant vineyards once more in Samaria. It had been
conquered in 722-721 BC, but one day would be resettled by God’s people and:
…the planters shall plant
and shall enjoy the fruit…
Since the law laid down that the fruit of a tree could not
be eaten until the fifth year after planting it, a return to long-term peaceful
residence is envisioned, a situation of political and social stability.
For there shall be a day when sentinels will call
in the hill country of Ephraim:
“Come, let us go up to Zion,
to the Lord our God.”
Go up, that is, to the Temple in Jerusalem. It was the role
of sentinels (or watchmen) to be stationed on high points to observe the phases
of the moon which would decide the celebration of the big festivals. (Today,
Muslims also have watchmen to observe the rising of the new moon indicating the
end of the fasting month of Ramadan.)
In the days of King Jeroboam I, the people of Ephraim, that
is, the northern kingdom, were required to worship at shrines within the
kingdom. But now the prophet sees them going, as they used to do, to the Temple
in Jerusalem (Zion) which was in the southern kingdom—one sanctuary for a
united people.
“Go up” was a technical phrase to go on pilgrimage to
Jerusalem. The city was built on a hill. We see the phrase used in the New
Testament also.
The reading ends with a series of acclamations of joy and
triumph. Israel is the greatest of the nations, not because of its size or
power, but because of its special relationship with God. The people will cry:
Save, O Lord, your people,
the remnant of Israel.
The Hebrew word ‘save’ (hosanna) is what the people
of Jerusalem cried out to welcome Jesus on Palm Sunday (see Matt 21:9).
Once again we hear the same words of hope by a people who
had every reason not to hope. But their hope was justified, as ours will be
too. Let us pray for the restoration of modern Israel in a way that guarantees
justice and peace for its people and all their neighbours.
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Commentary on
Matthew 15:21-28
Jesus is seen on one of his few visits outside Jewish territory.
The cities of Tyre and Sidon are on the Mediterranean coast in what is today
Lebanon. While he is there he is approached by a Canaanite (i.e. a non-Jewish)
woman whose child is “tormented by a demon”. Whether it was an actual
possession or some natural physical or mental ailment does not really matter.
Already the woman’s faith and trust in Jesus is indicated by the way she
addresses him, “Lord, Son of David!” coupled with her plea for his compassion.
At first, Jesus ignores her completely. The disciples
intervene and ask Jesus to give her what she wants because she is making such a
nuisance of herself. Jesus replies that his mission is only to the “house of
Israel”, to which this woman clearly does not belong.
In the meantime the woman continues her pleading, “Lord,
help me.” She is following, in fact, advice that the Gospel gives—keep on
asking. Jesus replies in words that sound very harsh, if not racist:
It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it
to the dogs.
‘Dogs’, together with ‘swine’, was a common colloquial
expression among Jews for Gentiles. We see this also earlier in Matthew’s
Gospel:
Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your
pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul
you. (Matt 7:6)
The dog was regarded as an unclean and promiscuous animal.
Because it was such a common expression, it is probably not as harsh as it
sounds to us and, if spoken with a measure of humour (implied by Jesus’ use of
the diminutive word, ‘doggies’), would not have given offence at all. As they
say, everything is in the tone of voice. Jesus was not a racist—that is clear
from other situations where he dealt with non-Jews and with other commonly
despised groups.
For her part, the woman certainly is not in the least fazed.
She comes right back, saying:
Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall
from their masters’ table.
That was enough for Jesus. She had proved her genuineness:
Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you
wish.
Her daughter was cured on the spot. It is a hint of what is
to come. Membership as one of God’s people will be measured, not by birth or
circumcision, but by a living faith in Jesus as Lord.
A story like this is an occasion for us to look at our own
attitudes to people of other races, ethnic groups and nationalities, not to
mention the socially disadvantaged or physically or mentally disabled—in other
words, any people who are ‘different’. How inclusive are we in word and action?
And does our parish community go out of its way to provide a welcome for the
‘outsider’? These are very real questions in societies which are becoming more
and more multicultural.
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Wednesday,
August 5, 2026
Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Father of everlasting goodness, our origin and guide,
be close to us and hear the
prayers of all who praise you. Forgive our sins and restore us to life. Keep us
safe in your love.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Gospel Reading - Matthew 15: 21-28
Jesus left that place and
withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And suddenly out came a Canaanite
woman from that district and started shouting, 'Lord, Son of David, take pity
on me. My daughter is tormented by a devil.' But he said not a word in answer
to her.
And his disciples went and
pleaded with him, saying, 'Give her what she wants, because she keeps shouting
after us.' He said in reply, 'I was sent only to the lost sheep of the House of
Israel.'
But the woman had come up and was bowing low before him.
'Lord,' she said,
'help me.' He replied, 'It is not
fair to take the children's food and throw it to little dogs.'
She retorted, 'Ah yes, Lord; but
even little dogs eat the scraps that fall from their masters' table.'
Then Jesus answered her, 'Woman, you have great faith. Let
your desire be granted.' And from that moment her daughter was well again.
Reflection
•
Context. The bread of the children and the great
faith of a Canaanite woman is the theme presented in the liturgical passage
taken from chapter 15 of Matthew who proposes to the reader of his Gospel a
further deepening of faith in Christ. The episode is preceded by an initiative
of the Pharisees and Scribes who go down to Jerusalem and cause a dispute to
take place with Jesus, but which did not last long, because he, together with
his disciples withdrew to go to the region of Tyre and Sidon. While he is on
the way, a woman from the pagan places comes to him. This woman is presented by
Matthew by the name of a “Canaanite woman” who in the light of the Old
Testament, she is presented with great harshness. In the Book of Deuteronomy
the inhabitants of Canaan were considered people full of sins, evil and
idolatrous people.
•
The dynamic of the account. While Jesus carries
out his activity in Galilee and is on the way toward Tyre and Sidon, a woman
came up to him and began to bother him with a petition for help for her sick
daughter. The woman addresses Jesus using the title “Son of David”; a title which
sounds strange pronounced by a pagan and that could be justified because of the
extreme situation in which the woman lives. It could be thought that this woman
already believes in some way, in the person of Jesus as final Saviour, but this
is excluded because it is only in v. 28 that her act of faith is recognized,
precisely by Jesus. In the dialogue with the woman Jesus seems to show that
distance and diffidence which reigned between the people of Israel and the
pagans. On one side Jesus confirms to the woman the priority for Israel to have
access to salvation, and before the insistent prayer of her interlocutor Jesus
seems to withdraw, to be at a distance; an incomprehensible attitude for the
reader, but in the intention of Jesus it expresses an act of pedagogical value.
To the first invocation “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David” (v. 22) Jesus
does not respond. To the second intervention this time on the part of the
disciples who invite him to listen to the prayer of the woman, he only
expresses rejection that stresses that secular distance between the chosen
people and the pagan people (vv. 23b-24) But at the insistence of the prayer of
the woman who bows before Jesus, a harsh and mysterious response follows: “It
is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to little dogs” (v. 26).
The woman goes beyond the harsh response of the words of Jesus and gets a small
sign of hope: the woman recognizes that the plan of God being carried out by
Jesus initially concerns the chosen people and Jesus asks the woman to
recognize that priority; the woman takes advantage of that priority to present
a strong reason to obtain the miracle: “Ah yes, Lord, but even little dogs eat
the scraps that fall from their masters’ table” (v. 27). The woman has exceeded
the test of faith: “Woman, you have great faith” (v. 28); in fact, to the
humble insistence of her faith corresponds a gesture of salvation.
This episode addresses an invitation to every reader of the
Gospel to have that interior attitude of “openness” toward everyone, believers
or not, that is to say, availability and acceptance without distinction toward
all men.
Personal Questions
•
The disturbing word of God invites you to break
open your closeness and all your small plans. Are you capable to accept all the
brothers and sisters who come to you?
•
Are you aware of your poverty to be capable like
the Canaanite woman to entrust yourself to the word of salvation of Jesus.
Concluding Prayer
Lord, do not thrust me away from your presence, do not
take away from me your spirit of holiness. Give me back the joy of your
salvation, sustain in me a generous spirit. (Ps 51: 11-12)
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