A Mother’s Prayer | Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Recently, Pope Leo asked priests and seminarians to study anew the Vatican II decree on the priesthood called Presbyterorum ordinis. There, we are told, “priests must treat all with exceptional kindness in imitation of the Lord.” The interaction between Jesus and the Canaanite woman in today’s gospel may not seem at first like a masterclass in “exceptional kindness.” Why does Christ delay in His response to the Canaanite woman?

First, let’s not imagine ourselves more compassionate or caring than Christ! He knows what He is about. He knows the heart of every person. The gospel challenges us to go deeper and learn from Him.

In today’s gospel, Christ brings out the best in this woman and holds her up as a model of faith: “woman, great is your faith!” The intervening banter brings out the depth of her faith, the strength of her longing, and the Lord’s desire to heal. Even before we know our need, Jesus is forming our hearts to receive His help and His presence.

Today’s gospel has a mother of great faith interceding with Jesus for her child. In these days of August, we celebrate the Assumption of Mary Most Holy, concluding a week later with the Queenship of Mary. She now reigns at the right hand of her glorious Son, and, as Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman asserts, is all-powerful with God and our greatest intercessor with Him.

During the summer, I was reminded of this in a very simple way. A job needed to be done, a job delayed for years. But people are busy and there are more urgent jobs. One day, I happened to speak with the mother of those in charge of the company in question. By next morning at 9:00am, the job was completed. Such is the influence of the mother! We see that influence in the Canaanite mother. Most of all, we see it in the Mother of God.

Go to the Mother of God. Ask her intercession. This is not a sneaky way of getting behind the Son or of twisting God’s arm. It’s not a way of getting something He does not wish to give because it’s not for our good. For Mary, things have worth only if they are in the will of God, the will she made her own.

It is the Lord who established Mary’s powerful intercession, a unique aspect of the cooperation and assistance given and received among the members of His Body. It’s part of the beauty of His Church. It gives Jesus joy that people seek the help of the Mother He gave us as our own (Jn 19:27); the one He clothed with the sun, moon, and stars (Rev 12:1); the one “all generations call blessed” (Lk 1:48).

Sometimes, when all else fails and the only alternative seems desperation, I pray the Rosary quietly, perhaps even somewhat distractedly at first. Eventually peace comes through the hands of the Mother of God. Often, a situation changes. Often, what seems impossible happens. Often, hearts are softened and relationships restored. Always, new strength and confidence are given, together with a stronger trust and a firm determination to do what must be done—for Jesus through Mary.

None of this should surprise us since, in praying Mary’s Rosary, we draw down the graces of those mysteries of Christ. We are opened anew to the blessings of the gospel: the Incarnation, the finding in the Temple, the Wedding of Cana, the Transfiguration, Holy Thursday, Gethsemane, the resurrection, ascension and lordship of Jesus, and the coming of the Holy Spirit. We receive the graces of the ongoing intercession of Mary so clear in her Assumption and Coronation, these feasts that are like a little “Easter in August.” We see what we shall be. Our hope is made new.

Ask Mary to “look graciously on you with her illustrious Son,” writes Saint Cajetan. Better still, he adds, “ask her to give you her Son.” “Gladly will she give Him to you, and very gladly will He come to visit you, so that you will be able to pass through this dark wood in safety.” She is the one who perfectly shows us the “Blessed Fruit of (her) womb, Jesus”—something we ask every time we pray the Salve (Hail, Holy Queen). No wonder that in so many images Mary is holding out her Son to us that we may receive Him with her openness and love.

Don’t be afraid, then, to go to Jesus in hard times. The Canaanite mother shows us how. Jesus was always going to heed the Canaanite mother’s prayer. He will always attend to the intercession of His own mother for us. Think Cana! Pray her Rosary, meditating on Christ’s mysteries. Ask Mary to give you her Son.