From: Mark 7:24-30

The Curing of the Syrophoenician Woman

[24] And from there he (Jesus) arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Si-
don. And he entered a house, and would not have any one know it; yet he could
not be hid. [25] But immediately a woman, whose little daughter was possessed
by an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell down at his feet. [26] Now
the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast
the demon out of her daughter. [27] And he said to her, “Let the children first be
fed, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” [28]
But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the
children’s crumbs.” [29] And he said to her, “For this saying you may go your
way; the demon has left your daughter.” [30] And she went home, and found the
child lying in bed, and the demon gone.

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Commentary:

24. The region of Tyre and Sidon is nowadays the southern part of Lebanon —
Phoenicia in ancient times. The distance from the lake of Gennesaret to the fron-
tier of Tyre and Sidon is not more than 50 kms (30 miles). Jesus withdrew from
Palestine to avoid persecution by the Jewish authorities and to give the Apostles
more intensive training.

27. Our Lord actually uses the diminutive—”little dogs” to refer to the Gentiles —
thereby softening a scornful expression which Jews used. On the episode of the
Canaanite woman cf. notes on parallel passages, Mt 15:21-28.

[The notes on Mt 15:21-28 states:

21-22. Tyre and Sidon were Phoenician cities on the Mediterranean coast, in pre-
sent-day Lebanon. They were never part of Galilee but they were near its north-
eastern border. In Jesus’ time they were outside the territory of Herod Antipas.
Jesus withdrew to this area to escape persecution from Herod and from the Je-
wish authorities and to concentrate on training His Apostles.

Most of the inhabitants of the district of Tyre and Sidon were pagans. St. Mat-
thew calls this woman a “Canaanite”; according to Genesis (10:15), this district
was one of the first to be settled by the Canaanites; St. Mark describes the wo-
man as a “Syrophoenician” (Mark 7:26). Both Gospels point out that she is a
pagan, which means that her faith in our Lord is more remarkable; the same
applies in the case of the centurion (Matthew 8:5-13).

The Canaanite woman’s prayer is quite perfect: she recognizes Jesus as the
Messiah (the Son of David)—which contrasts with the unbelief of the Jews; she
expresses her need in clear, simple words; she persists, undismayed by obsta-
cles; and she expresses her request in all humility: “Have mercy on me.” Our
prayer should have the same qualities of faith, trust, perseverance and humility.

24. What Jesus says here does not take from the universal reference of His tea-
ching (cf. Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16). Our Lord came to bring His Gos-
pel to the whole world, but He Himself addressed only the Jews; later on He will
charge His Apostles to preach the Gospel to pagans. St. Paul, in his missionary
journeys, also adopted the policy of preaching in the first instance to the Jews
(Acts 13:46).

25-28. This dialogue between Jesus and the woman is especially beautiful. By
appearing to be harsh He so strengthens the woman’s faith that she deserves
exceptional praise: “Great is your faith!” Our own conversation with Christ should
be like that: “Persevere in prayer. Persevere, even when your efforts seem barren.
Prayer is always fruitful” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”, 101).]

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Readings at Mass

First reading

1 Kings 11:4-13 ©

When Solomon grew old his wives swayed his heart to other gods; and his heart was not wholly with the Lord his God as his father David’s had been. Solomon became a follower of Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians, and of Milcom, the Ammonite abomination. He did what was displeasing to the Lord, and was not a wholehearted follower of the Lord, as his father David had been. Then it was that Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the god of Moab on the mountain to the east of Jerusalem, and to Milcom the god of the Ammonites. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who offered incense and sacrifice to their gods.

The Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart had turned from the Lord the God of Israel who had twice appeared to him and who had then forbidden him to follow other gods; but he did not carry out the Lord’s order. The Lord therefore said to Solomon, ‘Since you behave like this and do not keep my covenant or the laws I laid down for you, I will most surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants. For your father David’s sake, however, I will not do this during your lifetime, but will tear it out of your son’s hands. Even so, I will not tear the whole kingdom from him. For the sake of my servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen, I will leave your son one tribe.’

Psalm

Psalm 105:3-4,35-37,40 ©

O Lord, remember me out of the love you have for your people.

They are happy who do what is right,

who at all times do what is just.

O Lord, remember me

out of the love you have for your people.

O Lord, remember me out of the love you have for your people.

But instead they mingled with the nations

and learned to act as they did.

They worshipped the idols of the nations

and these became a snare to entrap them.

O Lord, remember me out of the love you have for your people.

They even offered their own sons

and their daughters in sacrifice to demons,

till his anger blazed against his people;

he was filled with horror at his chosen ones.

O Lord, remember me out of the love you have for your people.

Gospel Acclamation

Ps144:13

Alleluia, alleluia!

The Lord is faithful in all his words

and loving in all his deeds.

Alleluia!

Or	Jm1:21

Alleluia, alleluia!

Accept and submit to the word

which has been planted in you

and can save your souls.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Jesus left Gennesaret and set out for the territory of Tyre. There he went into a house and did not want anyone to know he was there, but he could not pass unrecognised. A woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him straightaway and came and fell at his feet. Now the woman was a pagan, by birth a Syrophoenician, and she begged him to cast the devil out of her daughter. And he said to her, ‘The children should be fed first, because it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house-dogs.’ But she spoke up: ‘Ah yes, sir,’ she replied ‘but the house-dogs under the table can eat the children’s scraps.’ And he said to her, ‘For saying this, you may go home happy: the devil has gone out of your daughter.’ So she went off to her home and found the child lying on the bed and the devil gone.