Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Intercessions: Voice and Action
Our mouths reveal our motives! I saw this on a poster this week, and it fits with the Gospel reading for this Sunday. The Canaanite woman persists in asking Jesus for something not for herself, but for her daughter. She gives voice to her daughter’s torment. Even after Jesus’ disciples, his bodyguards at times, insist that Jesus tell her to go away, even after Jesus doesn’t answer her at first, and even after she might have heard the reference to a dog as quite insensitive, she persists in asking. And Jesus responds to her: “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter is healed.
The Canaanite woman uses her voice to advocate for someone she knows is suffering. Her cries seem to be unheard. People tell her that she is a menace and should go away. Every obstacle seems to be put in her path. She, however, is persistent in asking, in moving her feet, and in using her voice.
This woman of faith, as Jesus names her, gives us a model—a pattern of persistence in prayer. Catholics call this intercessory prayer. We pray for our own needs and we pray for others, especially those among us who are suffering “torment.” What prayers of intercession are you praying for these days? How do we act when our prayers go seemingly unanswered? What do we do when what we pray for is the opposite of what others pray for? Or when others consider us a nuisance for remembering the poor, the suffering, and the persecuted among us? What attitudes do we have about those who move their feet and their mouths in protest, in lament at injustice? Even if we don’t feel the injustice, are we willing to accompany those who do? Even when we are called names for doing so?
Let’s listen carefully this weekend to the Prayers of the Faithful voiced at Mass. Are we sincere in our petition? What other prayers will we add to them?
Our mouths do reveal our motives! And another post reminded me: “Don’t ask God to guide your footsteps if you aren’t willing to move your feet.” I have for years now been responding to prayers of petition with “Lord, hear our prayer and move us to act.” And in the process, may we all be healed—we who pray and those we pray for.