A Homily for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday, August 16, 2026
Isaiah 56:1, 6-7; Psalm 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8; Romans 11:13-15, 29-32; Matthew 15:21-28
There is something wonderfully comforting about having a place at the table. A table says something simple: “You belong here.” You have a place. You are part of the family. That image of the table runs through the readings today, especially in the surprising Gospel we just heard.
A Canaanite woman approaches Jesus because her daughter is suffering terribly. She cries out for mercy, but at first Jesus says nothing. The disciples want her sent away. Jesus tells her that his mission is directed first toward the lost sheep of Israel. When she continues to plead, Jesus responds with words that can sound almost shocking to our ears. Yet the woman does not walk away. She remains at the feet of Jesus. She continues to believe. She continues to ask.
When Jesus tells her that it is not right to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs, she responds with extraordinary humility and faith. She does not demand anything from Jesus. She simply trusts that even the smallest share of his mercy is enough. And Jesus says, “O woman, great is your faith!” Her daughter is healed. But why would Jesus appear to ignore this woman, challenge her, and make her persist before granting her request?
Perhaps one important lesson is that faith is not the same thing as getting what we want immediately. We all know what it is like to pray for something and not receive the answer we hoped for. We pray for healing, and the illness remains. We pray for a relationship to be repaired, and the hurt continues. We pray for a family member who has wandered from God, and nothing seems to change. Sometimes we pray and it seems as though heaven is silent.
The Canaanite woman teaches us what to do when that happens: keep praying. She does not interpret Jesus’ silence as rejection. She does not conclude that God does not care. She remains there, trusting and persisting.
She also accepts something that can be difficult for us: God is God and we are not. She does not tell Jesus how he must answer her prayer. She places her need before him and trusts in his mercy. We often want prayer to be a transaction. We bring God our request and expect God to provide the result. But prayer is not about getting God to do what we want. Prayer is about placing ourselves in God’s hands and trusting him even when we do not understand what he is doing. The Canaanite woman came to Jesus because she wanted something for her daughter. She left that encounter with something even greater: a faith that Jesus himself called great.
Now look at the first reading from Isaiah. God promises to welcome foreigners who join themselves to the Lord. He says, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” All peoples. The Canaanite woman is living evidence of that promise. She is an outsider, someone who would not ordinarily have been considered part of the covenant people of Israel. Yet she comes to Jesus in faith, and Jesus welcomes her. The Psalm takes the message even further: “O God, let all the nations praise you!” St. Paul reminds us that God’s mercy is not limited. God has allowed all to experience their need for mercy, so that he might have mercy upon all.
In other words, the table is bigger than we think. It has room for the person who has wandered away and is finally coming home. It has room for the person whose faith is struggling and for people who are different from us. It has room for the person we have difficulty forgiving. And it has room for us, too.
The Canaanite woman reminds us not only to have faith in Jesus, but also to examine whether we are willing to make room for others at the table. Sometimes we can become like the disciples. “Send her away,” they say. She is bothering us. She is different. She does not belong here. But Jesus keeps expanding the circle. The Church is not a private club for people who have everything figured out. We come here because we need God’s mercy. And if we have received that mercy, we are called to become instruments of that same mercy for others.
So what does this mean for us today?
First, when God seems silent, don’t stop praying. The Canaanite woman teaches us perseverance. We may not understand God’s timing, but we can trust God’s love.
Second, remember that God’s answer may be different from the answer we expected. Prayer is not about bending God’s will to ours. It is about placing our lives in his hands and trusting that he sees what we cannot see.
And finally, make room at the table. Ask yourself whether there is someone you have quietly decided does not belong. Someone who has hurt you, sees life differently, or may need to encounter the mercy of God through you.
The Canaanite woman came asking for crumbs from the table. Jesus showed her that she was not merely someone waiting for scraps. She was a beloved child of God, a woman whose faith would become an example for generations of Christians.
And now we come to this table. At this table, Christ does not give us scraps. He gives us himself. He gives us the Bread of Life. He invites us into communion with him and with one another. Every time we receive the Eucharist, we are reminded that the table belongs to God, not to us.
The table is bigger than we think. There is room here for every one of us. There is room for the strong in faith and the person whose faith is barely hanging on, for the joyful and the grieving.
Today, as the gifts are brought forward, let us bring our needs, our worries, our unanswered prayers, and our loved ones to Jesus. Let us trust that even when we cannot see what God is doing, he has not stopped loving us. And then, having received his mercy, let us leave this table ready to make our table a little bigger for someone else.
God bless you.