Fr. José Juan Sánchez Jácome / ACN.- It is indeed very difficult to speak of the silence of God. It feels like a real challenge to our faith because what would become of us if God remained silent; if He did not listen to us, where would we go? How would our life be? We believers suffer greatly when facing what many people say when they speak of the silence of God.
Precisely in these times of poverty, wars, murders, violence, and rampant corruption, there is much talk about the silence of God. Deep down, we are waiting for God to break into our lives, but while that response comes, many people often ask: Where is God? Why does He not manifest Himself in the face of His people’s suffering?
That is why it is very hard to speak of the silence of God. But it is even more painful to speak of God’s rejection. The Gospel leads us to this point so that, in addition to saying something about the silence of God, we may also recognize the apparent rejection of Our Lord Jesus Christ toward the prayer of the Canaanite woman (Mt 15:21-28).
It is hard to speak of the silence of God, but it is inconceivable to speak of God’s rejection, of God’s contempt, of God’s indifference to the plea of a mother who comes broken, begging Jesus and crying out her anguish and her need.
Rather than focusing on Jesus to speak of His harshness and to comment that we did not expect such behavior before an afflicted woman, the purpose of the holy Gospel is to lead us toward the woman’s behavior, to discover what faith must be like in the believer.
The Word of God presents this Canaanite woman to us so that we may learn to live by faith, so that all our actions may be marked by faith. It is not about backing down if one experiences the silence and the apparent rejection of God. This woman insists and moves forward; she does not feel offended nor takes personally the inexplicable response of Jesus because she knows that Jesus is not like that. We must not tire of asking and insisting because we know that God will never despise or reject us.
But there is something even more compelling that we discover in this woman’s faith. What must we do if at some point we feel that God is silent and we feel rejected by Him? There are moments in life when one must worship the silence of God, worship the apparent rejection of God. That is what a person of faith does—one who does not back down, who does not complain, who does not abandon God, but who worships the apparent silence and rejection of God. That is what the Canaanite woman did when she knelt before Jesus and answered Him as a person of faith.
When apparently God does not listen to us, instead of complaining, instead of changing religions, instead of backing down, we must worship God, worship His silence, worship the times that God has, because, as happens in this story, the answer comes. Not only does the answer come in the terms the woman desired—the healing of her daughter—but it comes as a response from Jesus Christ that is a lesson for all: “Woman, great is your faith.”
This is what faith must be: faith is not asking only once; it is not being content with God when He gives something and ignoring Him when He does not respond. Faith is always moving forward and worshiping even the silence of God, knowing that in such times there will be much to learn.
Looking at the Canaanite woman, we find here a teaching about prayer and worship. And looking at the disciples, we also find a teaching about intercession. In addition to praying and worshiping the silence of God, we must also intercede as the apostles did when they asked Jesus to attend to this woman. We are here to pray for others. The Christian also makes the stories of other people their own, just as we now know them.
How many stories of pain we know! How many tragic stories! How many stories break our hearts! And one does not remain indifferent, but we strive to intercede. In critical times like the ones we are going through, we say to Jesus: “Lord, remember this sick person, this family, this young person, these elderly people, these migrants, the abandoned, the brothers and sisters sunk in their poverty. See their need, look upon their affliction, attend to the pleas of so many people.”
We must faithfully follow this path that the holy Gospel points out to us when we experience the apparent silence of God: prayer, worship, and intercession. Let us take the Canaanite woman as a teacher in the life of faith, so that in our prayer we may learn to give the Lord His due.
Indeed, growing in the spiritual life means ceasing to be delicate and irritable, since we tend to be very sensitive and do not know how to wait for God’s response. Small things make us react, even in a disordered way.
Referring to this Gospel passage, Don Luigi Maria Epicoco reflects: “Many times we flee from difficult situations, but the determination to go to the end is a characteristic, a typically feminine genius; it is typical of a woman to understand that the most difficult moment is also the most decisive, during which one does not flee, but it is necessary to remain.
What is the most beautiful praise that the liturgy gives to the suffering Mary? Stabat mater dolorosa, iuxta crucem lacrimosa, dum pendebat Filius: the mother was there; to the humiliation of all who had fled, the mother, on the contrary, remained.
What, then, is witness? What is praying? What is life, even religious life, but remaining even when it is no longer convenient? At this moment, if the Church can remain standing, it is because there is someone who is there and does what the world no longer does: prays; does what the world no longer does: waits; does what the world no longer does: loves, worships, acknowledges.
It is beautiful to think of the great responsibility that the Lord entrusts to us: thanks to the persistence, the obstinacy of each one in remaining at His side, the world will receive healing. The Canaanite woman does not obtain a grace for herself but for her daughter.”
Our persistent prayer serves for the healing of those destroyed families, of those who sink into drugs, of desperate people, of those about to die, of those who are threatened. These are the children entrusted to us; like the Canaanite woman, we remain before the Lord, going through the various stages, to obtain their healing: prayer, worship, and intercession.
To pray for someone, to intercede for someone, is to adhere to their story, to their situation, making it your own. Every time we pray, we must be the voice of those who, for one reason or another, cannot address God in the first person. We must intercede for others, just as the apostles interceded for the Canaanite woman.
The Church also recommends to us the intercession of the saints and, especially, of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As Cardinal Newman lovingly points out: “Mary is our Mother. Interest her in your spiritual success. Ask her earnestly, for she can do more for you than anyone else. Remind her in your prayer of the sorrows she suffered when a sharp sword pierced her soul. Remind her of her own perseverance, which was in her a gift from the same God to whom you ask for yours. The Lord will not deny it to you, He will not deny it to her, if you have recourse to her intercession.”