“A Canaanite woman came and called out,
‘Have pity on me, Lord. My daughter is tormented by a demon.’
But He did not say a word in answer to her.”
(Matthew 15:22-23)
Dear Friends –
The idea that Jesus ignored this begging mother, and didn’t even reply to her request immediately, seems very rude and ungodly to us at first glance. To make matters worse, the disciples came up and asked Jesus to send her away for she had been bothering them as well. And what does Jesus do? Kindly give in, as we might think? No! He adds more insult
by pointing out to her that she was a foreigner, a Gentile, by stating: "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." The fact that she wasn’t a favored one didn’t stop this determined mother one iota… she pleads again, “Lord, help me.” Jesus continues rejecting her by replying: "It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs." Relentless in her pursuit of a cure for her child, she bravely confronts Jesus with one of the best retorts uttered to God anywhere in The Bible: "Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters." Jesus was overwhelmed by the tenacity of this persistent mother and replied: "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish. And her daughter was healed from that hour.”
This Canaanite woman relays the desperate panic any loving parent would feel over incurable illness in their child… nothing left to do but run to that rumored source of miracles, and hope, that even being unworthy and unrelated kin, this miracle worker might listen to begging. Hopeless nonbelievers
do this every day; they have reached a dead-end, absolutely no place left to go, and thus, tormented souls cry out to heaven, “Lord, help me.” Does Jesus have to answer them? That person is not Christian, hasn’t been doing the will of God, so they are certainly not kin to Jesus, and yet this accounting proves persistence pays off with Eternal God… plead for even the scraps from His bountiful table of graces if you are a nonbeliever. Then, with prayer answered, you will become a believer, a baptized Christian, and love Him for loving you.
Many Christian grandparents witness the unchristian lifestyle of their children and grandchildren and the estrangement breaks their hearts. They pray constantly that Almighty God will do something to bring them back to faith and save their souls from 
damnation, even if after their death, for they know they can still be reunited in heaven. Saint Monica prayed feverously for the conversion of her husband and son, Augustine, who led an extremely hedonistic lifestyle, even fathering a child out of wedlock. Eventually, God placed Saint Ambrose into Augustine’s life who introduced the wisdom and truth of God converting Augustine into one of the greatest theologians ever and a Saintly Doctor of The Church. Persistent prayerful pleading pays off… never give up on Almighty God… wait to hear Him tell you, Oh, great is your faith!
UNANSWERED PRAYER
Who prays to God for bad things? No one. Everything we ask of Him we are sure couldn’t possibly be against His will, so He will make it happen, we hope. But He doesn’t. The perfect job we want, the love of a particular individual, and the 
recovery from illness of a dear one are certainly legitimate requests to ask of God, but He acts like He didn’t hear a word we uttered, over and over again! The job goes to someone else, the love of our life picks another, and the friend dies… not at all the results we hoped for, and our faith in Him takes a blow. We cry out, “Why?” wanting answers, but still no reply… because God in His infinite wisdom knows it will take time for us to understand, so He lets us go through a grieving period until distraction brings us to a realization of why not, or why a different outcome was necessary. He could have given you the job wanted, but He knew there was another one much better for you six months down the road… and once you saw it coming towards you, you recognized Who arranged it all and why; so-called unanswered prayer, was rectified to the better.
Full disclosure, months or even years later, reveals that perfect love we wanted so desperately, turned into a raging bigot, and now aren’t we glad that God didn’t let us get involved with one so 
bizarre… all the while a perfect love did just happen for us, Thanks be to God. No one’s death may seem to come at the right time to us, but for God, who sees the future, it does, because He knows what is best for that person and their entire family. During this pandemic, I think of all the prayers God had to deny because He knew before us that the worldwide virus was coming which would affect specifically the desire of our heart… wishes granted too early could have been utterly destroyed causing worse heartbreak, and even making us madder at God for letting that happen! We do not have the omniscience of Almighty God, nor are we capable of knowing any of the varied influences that control our prayer request, and so we must learn to trust God for He definitely knows what’s best, and more importantly, He desires only the best for us.
Reaching goals in the natural world we know takes time. Getting a degree, saving-up the down payment on the dream house, or enduring the time necessary to climb the business ladder of success all require perseverance and patience, along with physical and emotional stamina… the virtues that only Almighty God 
can supply. Our Heavenly Father, who knows best where our natural talents can take us, places a lot of these goals in our hearts. However, to get to fulfillment, He also knows we need His constant support of strength from distraction and drudgery that can creep into any dream. We can pray for specifics we easily identify as lacking in our being during this quest, but there are also so many other influences affecting our journey, and we have absolutely no idea what God is handling in those behind the scenes occurrences. A scholarship or grant is surprisingly offered to us; a financial windfall from out of the blue comes our way adding to our down payment; and a sudden structural change at work has you skipping over several ladder rungs to success… the invisible has made visible His love for you. Savor that moment… bask in the loving warmth of God’s generous love… never forget that He listens and loves.
