When the Going Gets Tough

Wednesday of the 18^th Week in Ordinary Time

Jeremiah 31:1-7; Matthew 15:21-28

Today’s readings are a reminder that throughout salvation history, there have been times when the going has gotten tough. Consider the Israelites to whom Jeremiah was sent: Their world crumbling around them, dark times were getting darker. Didn’t God see this? Couldn’t He hear their prayers? Where was He? And the Canaanite woman in the gospel: Helplessly watching her child suffer, in desperation she sought out Christ, only to be turned away by the disciples and then even by Christ himself. Things don’t get much tougher than that.

The question is, when times get tough, how do we respond? We’d like to think we wouldn’t give up hope, but that’s a tall order. Even when Jeremiah assured the people that God hadn’t forgotten them, better times were coming, and He would restore them, the frustration of waiting was too much for many, who gave up and fell away. Nevertheless, the prophet closes hopefully, speaking of a remnant, a faithful few, who would persevere. For her part, the Canaanite woman is a model of perseverance, showing dramatically the extent to which true love is willing to go. What parent cannot sympathize? With her child suffering, no disciple, no apostle, no man, nothing and no one could keep her from Christ. Not only that, even when Christ himself challenged her by using her as an example in a parable, she refused to give up, even if that meant doing what no one else ever did in all the gospels: re-write the ending to one of his parables to make herself – and her daughter – the winner.

Remember the old saying: “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Well, that’s clearly what God wants, for He abundantly rewards it. As we hear in Jeremiah tomorrow, He will promise a new Covenant with His people, one written not on stone but in our hearts. And in the gospel, our Lord’s reply, O woman, great is your faith, and his healing of the woman’s daughter, shows that when he is approached in patient yet persistent prayer, his response is absolute delight.

So, today and every day, let God delight in us. Let us be that remnant – resilient, our eyes fixed on Him who will deliver us – and the faithful one who perseveres patiently in prayer, all for the sake of the same love Almighty God has for each one of us.

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