A Needed Crumb – Reflection on Matthew 15:21-28
Have you been interrupted by someone who needs help, especially when tired? Maybe it was time for lunch or dinner, and you were hungry and thirsty. Yet, deep inside, you knew you had to put aside your own needs because someone needed raising up. Their healing with a morsel of spiritual food was perhaps just a portion of what you had. Like Jesus, when you give a needed crumb, grace embraces the “other.” Also, like Jesus, who had unlimited resources, we should take the time to pray in the in-between times. What we receive in prayer, sustenance in the form of food, and bodily rest allows the grace that fills us and removes our weariness to be given away as Jesus did.
The Canaanites Daughter by James Tissot (full resolution painting)
More details are available on the Brooklyn Museum website.
Additional Ordinary Time Reflections
Matthew 15:21-28 – Scripture*
The Canaanite Woman’s Faith
21 Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” 23 But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26 He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
Additional Thoughts
Thank you for meditating on this Gospel and reading this Lectio Divina on Matthew 15:21-28 Reflection – Give a Needed Crumb.
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Prayer for young families:
Lord, let the young families of our communities experience your joy, peace, comfort, and love despite the world’s distractions.
Attributions
This site has written permission to use the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) Bible for the passage of Matthew 15.
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Primary Lectio Divina word or phrase: A needed crumb
Page and discussion group on these Lectio Divina daily Gospel Readings.
Discussion group on St. John of the Cross.