God is always ready to give His people another chance. When His people turned their backs on Him, He allowed them to suffer the consequences. But in today’s first reading from Jeremiah 31, the Lord says, “With age-old love I have loved you; so I have kept my mercy toward you. Again I will restore you, and you shall be rebuilt.” God is always ready to restore us, too.
In the Gospel reading from Matthew 15, a woman comes and asks Jesus to heal her daughter. The woman was a Canaanite, not a daughter of Israel. Jesus in essence tells her that He will not do it; He was sent to the children of Israel. He denies her request not once but twice. Yet the woman persists. Jesus says to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.”
In the instant gratification culture in which we live, we tend to want what we want RIGHT NOW! This is often true even in our prayer lives. And when God doesn’t answer our prayers RIGHT NOW, we give up. God must not love me. He must not care. He must not be listening. Psshh! The woman in today’s story is a great example of persistence in prayer. And Jesus rewards her for that. As He will do for us.
Father, give us the grace to be persistent in prayer. Teach us to never give up hope, and to constantly ask for your mercy. Amen.
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