Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Health Vailankanni

"O woman, your faith is great. Let it be done to you as you wish" (Mt 15:28). Indeed, she had great enough faith, since she knew neither the ancient miracles, commands and promises of the prophets, nor the more recent ones of the Lord himself. In addition, as often as she was disregarded by the Lord, she persevered in her entreaties, and she did not cease knocking by asking him, though she knew only by popular opinion that he was the Savior. On account of this she secured the great object for which she implored… If one of us has a conscience polluted by the stain of avarice, conceit, vain-glory, ndignation, irascibility, or envy and the other vices, he has "a daughter badly troubled by a demon" like the Canaanite woman. He should hasten to the Lord, making supplication for her healing… Being submissive with due humility, [such a person] must not judge himself to be worthy of the company of the sheep of Israel (that is, souls that are pure), but instead he must be of the opinion that he is unworthy of heavenly favors. Nevertheless, let him not in despair rest from the earnestness of his entreaty, but with his mind free of doubt let him trust in the goodness of the supreme Benefactor, for the one who could make a confessor from a robber (Lk 23:39f.), an apostle from a persecutor (Acts 9:1-30, an evangelist from a publican (Mt 9:9-13), and who could make sons for Abraham out of stones, could turn even the most insignificant dog into an Israelite sheep.

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The faith of the Canaanite woman

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