Gospel (Mt 15,21-28) - At that time, Jesus retreated towards the area of Tire and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman who came from that region began to cry out: «Have mercy on me, Lord, son of David! My daughter is very tormented by a demon." But he didn't even say a word to her. Then his disciples approached him and begged him: "Hear her, because she is coming after us shouting!". He replied: "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But she approached him and she prostrated herself before him, saying: «Lord, help me!». And he replied: "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." "It's true, Lord," said the woman, "and yet the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table." Then Jesus replied to her: «Woman, great is your faith! Let it happen to you as you wish." And from that moment his daughter was healed.

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

Jesus, writes Matthew, "withdrew" from the Galilee region towards the parts of Tire and Sidon (present-day Lebanon), ancient Phoenician, maritime and mercantile cities, rich and prosperous. Jesus goes to this region probably to rest a little and perhaps stay with his disciples to teach them more calmly. But a "Canaanite" woman immediately appears. The evangelist wants to underline that they are outside the territory of Israel and that a woman appears before Jesus who was believed to belong to the enemies of the chosen people. The Canaanites were in fact the ancient inhabitants of these regions that the Jews had defeated and driven away. Perhaps it is no coincidence that the woman calls him "Son of David". Evidently Jesus' fame had transcended national borders. The woman wants this good man to heal her daughter "tormented by a demon". Jesus appears unsympathetic at first, but she insists. This pagan woman dares to resist Jesus; rather, she engages in a fight with him. One could say that her trust in that prophet is greater than the resistance of the prophet himself. And for this reason Jesus responds, in the end, with an unusual expression in the Gospels: this is "great faith", not "little faith". Jesus gives the same praise to the centurion, and they are both pagans. Once again the Gospel offers us the essentiality of trust in God, which frees us from the anguish of trusting only in ourselves and in men. This woman's faith convinces Jesus to carry out the healing. The evangelist writes: «Then Jesus replied to her: “Woman, great is your faith! May it be done to you as you wish." And from that moment her daughter was healed." Not even God can resist a faith like this.