What happens when God seems silent? This Sunday’s Gospel reminds us that faith keeps calling out, keeps trusting, and keeps coming to the feet of Jesus.
For the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Fr. Patrick Hyde, O.P., joins Scott and Jeff to unpack a beautiful thread running through all three readings: God’s salvation is offered to everyone, and His mercy is inexhaustible.
In the Gospel (Matthew 15:21–28), a Canaanite woman begs Jesus to heal her daughter. At first, Jesus says nothing. The disciples would rather send her away. But she doesn’t stop asking.
Fr. Patrick points out something easy to miss: both Jesus and the woman are coming out from somewhere. Jesus goes toward Gentile territory, while the woman must come out of her pagan world to encounter Him. There’s a lesson there for us: Jesus comes to meet us, but following Him also requires us to leave behind the things that keep us from Him.
And when she finally reaches Him? She’s content simply to be at His feet.
Her persistence gives us a model for prayer when God seems quiet. We may pray for healing, struggle with sin, or carry a burden for someone we love and the answer may not arrive when or how we expect. Keep praying anyway. Keep coming back.
That message connects beautifully with St. Paul’s reminder that “the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29). Our response to God may change, Fr. Patrick explains, but God’s promise to us does not. There is no sin, failure, or amount of time away that puts His mercy beyond our reach.
And the deeper we go, the more we discover there’s no bottom to His love. As Fr. Patrick puts it, we can keep falling more and more madly in love with Jesus.
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