The Gospel for the 17th Sunday of Matthew is from Matthew 15: 21-28, the story of the Canaanite Women, who because of her great faith, her daughter who was demon-possessed was healed.
This gospel teaches us about the persistence of faith. We know that true faith in Christ is a gift of the Holy Spirit. But this Gospel Lesson teaches us that faith is also a matter of human resolve that each person can exercise.
Faith also unlocks the treasures of God’s wisdom and releases His power into our lives with often astonishing results. From our human perspective, faith is a decision of free will; it is a conscious choice, a deliberate commitment to all things that are “true, noble, right, pure, lovely and honorable”. (Phil. 4:8)
Let us persevere in our Faith as did the Canaanite Woman, for as St. Simeon the New Theologian said, “No one can stop us from believing, if we desire it. We can decide to believe and immediately we believe “.
