Editorial Notice on the Homily on the Canaanite Woman Delivered by Chrysostom After His Return from Exile

(Beginning from the start of the provided Greek text, as Migne's Latin column continues the translation of the preceding segment):

...science, and the providence of the Emperors. For they are not so anxious about war as they are about the Church, nor so concerned for the city as they are for the Church. Let us therefore pray to God; let us beseech her, let us persevere in our prayers, and let us not, because the calamity has been dissolved, become more sluggish. Therefore, let us pray up to this very day that those sad things may be dissolved. Let us give thanks to God: as we were then valiant, so let us now be diligent. For all these things let us give thanks to God, to whom be glory and empire, with the Son and the Holy and life-giving Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

^A O you who stand at the altar, to whom the care of so great a people has been entrusted, when you ought to have suppressed these sad things, you have increased the storm, you have brandished the sword against yourself, you have consumed your children, if not in fact and experiment, at least in spirit. But God forbade it. Therefore, I marvel at you and praise you, because after the war, having reconciled peace, you take care that the perfect peace may remain. For it is necessary that the governor should be of one mind with the sailors: for if they disagree, the boat is sunk. Do you stabilize this peace through the grace of God; I will make you fellow-participants in security. Without you I will do nothing, nor without the most religious Augusta. For she also cares, she is anxious, and she does nothing else, so that that which has been planted may remain firm, so that the Church may live without waves. I have praised, therefore, your knowledge and the providence of the Emperors. For they are not so anxious about war as about the Church, not so about the city as about the Church. Let us pray, therefore, to God; let us beseech her, let us persevere in prayers, and let us not, because the calamity is dissolved, become more sluggish. Therefore, up to this day, let us pray that those sad things may be dissolved. Let us give thanks to God: as we were then valiant, so now let us be studious. But for all these things let us give thanks to God, to whom is the glory and the power with the Son and with the good and life-giving Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

NOTICE ON THE HOMILY ON THE CANAANITE WOMAN AFTER THE RETURN FROM EXILE HABITAT BY CHRYSOSTOM

There has been a dispute concerning the authenticity of this homily. Savile, a sagacious and learned man, held it as genuine: for he says this in his Notes p. 726: "We have corrected a copy of this oration, transcribed from the Palatine Library, from two Manuscripts in the Library of the Duke of Bavaria. It has many things in common with Homily 52 on Matthew (which is 53 according to Morell), and the Augustan Catalog does not recognize it. I think, however, that it is authentic, although written somewhat languidly, as are many of these Constantinopolitan ones of ours." Fronto Ducæus seems to think otherwise, who in his Notes on this homily p. 1034, volume VI, speaks thus: "Savile had the Greek text of this homily transcribed from the Palatine Codices, and corrected it from the Bavarian ones; he also thinks it is a genuine work of Chrysostom, although it is not recognized by the Augustan Catalog, and appears to be written somewhat languidly. Which indeed is wonderful, since Sixtus of Siena had earlier warned that it exists in Origen, Sermon 7 in diverse places, and among the homilies from various places in Matthew is the seventeenth, that is, in that farrago of Sermons which he judges to be rather of some monk who published explanations of the Gospels intermixed with various allegories. Furthermore, it has a different interpreter in Origen, and it is shorter than in the book from various places in Matthew: in both places, however, it begins with those words, *The evangelist marvels*, which you will find p. 298 D [edit. Morel.] of this edition: but those things which precede from the beginning of the homily, a certain ancient interpreter translated into Latin: and they are held as the fourteenth homily from various places in Matthew: *Many storms, the restlessness of the air...* and we have obtained another translation in Lotharingia, extracted from a MS Codex, which we have reviewed in conjunction with that same 17th homily, and we have amplified it with various readings and emendations from a collation with the Greek Codex of the most illustrious Cardinal Perron." Thus Fronto Ducæus, according to whose opinion without doubt this homily was published among the Spurious in the Morel. edition, Volume VI. But Tillemont protests against this opinion, and thinks it should be retained among the true and genuine ones, because no sufficiently suitable reason is brought forward for its rejection. ^B Certainly, as far as concerns the first part up to that point, numb. 3: *The evangelist marvels, behold a woman*, etc.

(this is the first page of the chain)

ON THE DISMISSAL OF THE CANANÆAN WOMAN

SPOKEN AFTER HIS RETURN FROM EXILE

^A 1. A great storm is raging, but it has not hindered the zeal of those who have assembled; many are the temptations, but they have not extinguished your longing. The Church ceases not to be attacked and yet to conquer, to be plotted against and yet to prevail. The more others plot, the more she grows; and while the waves are broken, the rock stands unmoved. By day there is teaching, by night vigils; the day vies with the night; here are assemblies, and there are assemblies. The night makes the marketplace a Church; and the zeal is more intense than fire. You have no need of exhortation, and you demonstrate your eagerness. Who would not be struck with amazement? Who would not marvel? Not only did those who were present not fall away, but even those who were not present have joined us. Such is the profit of temptations; for just as rain descending upon the earth stirs up the seeds, so even temptation, entering into the soul, stirs up its zeal. The word of God says: the Church is immovable; “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16.18). He who attacks it destroys himself, and shows the Church to be stronger; he who attacks it casts down his own strength, while for us he makes the trophy more brilliant. Job was good even before this; but after these things, he appeared even better. He was not as good when his body was unharmed, as he was good when he was crowned with the ichor of his wounds. Never fear temptation, if you have a prepared soul. Tribulation does not harm, but works patience (Rom. 5.3). For just as the furnace does not harm the gold, so neither does tribulation corrupt the noble person. What does the furnace do to the gold? It makes it pure. What does tribulation work for the one who bears it? It produces patience. It makes one more exalted, it prunes away sloth, it gathers the soul together, it makes the reasoning more sober. They brought on a temptation in order [for them] to drive away the sheep, and the opposite resulted; for it introduced the shepherd. In what state are our affairs? In approval. ^B In what state are theirs? In disgrace. Where are their affairs? They are not even visible. I walk through the marketplace, and I see no one. They were leaves, and when the wind blew they fell; they were chaff, and they were blown away, and the wheat appeared ripe; they were lead, and it melted, and the gold remained pure. Who is driving them away? No one; but they have their conscience as an enemy dwelling within them after their sin. They know what they have done. For even Cain desired to slaughter his brother; but when he desired to slaughter him, the desire flourished; but after he had committed the sin, groaning and trembling he wandered everywhere throughout the inhabited world. But these men, even if they did not slaughter in deed, yet they slaughtered in intention. The slaughter proceeded insofar as it concerned their wickedness; but life was granted because of the philanthropy of God. I say these things to spur on your zeal, so that you may never fear temptation. Are you a rock? Do not fear the waves; “For upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it,” he says. At times the wars are from without, at times from within; but no one sinks the ship.

2. But that we may not spend all our time on their crimes, delivering ourselves to the fear of conscience, and leaving the executioner to torture their mind and their reasoning concerning untimely desires, leaving them to be fugitives with no one driving them, leaving them to be dishonored with no one warring against them; let us set forth the customary table. For it is not just to spend the time on the crimes of the enemies, and to overlook the children wasting with hunger. Yesterday, therefore, Paul set the table for us, today Matthew; yesterday the tentmaker, today the tax collector; yesterday the blasphemer, today the plunderer; yesterday the persecutor, today the covetous man. But the blasphemer did not remain a blasphemer, but became an apostle; and the plunderer did not remain a plunderer, but became an evangelist. I mention both the former wickedness and the virtue that followed, so that you might learn how great the benefit of repentance is, so that you may never despair of your salvation. Our teachers shone from sin before this, but afterwards they shone from righteousness; tax collector and blasphemer, the first-fruits of wickedness. For what is a tax office? Lawful plunder, open violence, injustice having the law as its advocate; the tax collector is more grievous than robbers. What is a tax office? Violence [masked by] law.

ON THE DISMISSAL OF THE CANAANITE WOMAN

^A ...pleading the advocacy of the law, having the executioner as a physician. Do you understand what I have said? The laws are physicians, and then they become executioners; for they do not heal the ulcer, but exacerbate it. What is the tax office? Impudent sin, robbery stripped of its excuse, worse than highway robbery. A robber, when he steals, at least feels shame; but this man plunders with confidence. Yet, this publican suddenly became an evangelist. How and by what means? *Passing by*, he says, *Jesus saw Matthew sitting at the tax office, and said to him, Follow me* (Matt. 9:9). O the power of the word! The hook entered, and it made the captive a soldier, it converted mud into gold; the hook entered, *and immediately rising he followed him*. He was in the depth of iniquity and ascended to the summit of virtue. Therefore, let no one, beloved, despair of his own salvation. For wickedness is not an evil implanted by nature; we have been endowed with free will and liberty. Are you a publican? You can become an evangelist. Are you a blasphemer? You can be an apostle. Are you a robber? You can plunder paradise. Are you a magician? You can adore the Lord. There is no vice that cannot be dissolved by repentance. For this reason, Christ chose the summits of iniquity, so that in the end he might leave no pretext for escape. Do not say to me, "I have sinned, and what shall I do?" You have a physician more powerful than the disease, you have a physician who overcomes the nature of the sickness, you have a physician who heals by a mere nod, you have a physician who corrects by his will, who is able and willing to heal. When you were not, he brought you forth; now that you exist and are perverse, he will much more be able to correct you. Have you not heard how of old he took dust from the earth and fashioned man? How he converted earth into flesh? How he constructed nerves, how bones, how skin, how veins, how the nose, how the eyes, how the eyelids, how the eyebrow, how the tongue, how the chest, how the hands, how the feet, how all the rest? The earth was subject, one substance; and art entered, and produced a diverse workmanship. Can you explain the manner in which you were created? So neither can you tell the manner in which sins are taken away. For if fire falling upon thorns consumes them, much more does the divine will consume our transgressions, uproot them, and render the sinner like to him who has not sinned. Seek not the manner, do not investigate what has been done; but believe in the miracle. I have sinned many and great sins, you say. And who is immune from sin? But my sins are heavy, and surpass the sins of any men. This suffices for you for a sacrifice: *Do you state your iniquities first, that you may be justified* (Is. 43:26). Acknowledge that you have sinned, and this will be the beginning of your correction. Be sorrowful, shed tears. Did the harlot shed anything else? Nothing else but tears and repentance; she took repentance as her guide and approached the fountain.

^B ...come. *And Jesus went out from there and came into the regions of Tyre and Sidon, and behold a woman* (Matt. 15:21-22). The evangelist marvels: *Behold a woman*, that ancient armor of the devil, who drove me out of paradise, the mother of sin, the leader of the transgression; that very woman comes, that very nature: a new and astonishing spectacle: the Jews flee, and the woman follows. *And behold, a woman coming out of those borders begged him saying, Lord, son of David, have mercy on me*. The woman acts the evangelist, and confesses both his divinity and his incarnation; *Lord*, denotes his authority; *son of David*, refers to his incarnation. *Have mercy on me*. Behold the philosophical soul. *Have mercy on me*; I do not have a consciousness of good works, I do not have confidence in a righteous life; I take refuge in mercy, I take refuge in the common harbor of sinners, where there is no tribunal, where there is salvation without examination: thus a sinner and an unrighteous one dared to approach. Behold for me the philosophy of the woman; she does not ask James, she does not beseech John, she does not approach Peter, nor did she divide the choir of the apostles. I am not in need of a mediator, but taking repentance as an advocate, I go to the fountain itself. For this he descended, for this he assumed flesh, so that I might speak to him personally. Above, the Cherubim tremble before him, and below, a harlot speaks to him. *Have mercy on me*. A naked utterance, but it finds an immense sea of salvation. *Have mercy on me*; for this you came, for this you assumed flesh, for this you were made what I am. Above, tremor, and below, confidence. *Have mercy on me*; I am not in need of a mediator. *Have mercy on me*. What do you need? I seek mercy. What are you suffering? *My daughter is badly vexed by a demon* (Ibid.): nature is tortured, compassion is exercised. The advocate for her daughter has gone forth; she does not bring sickbed, but she brings faith; he is God, and sees all things. *My daughter is badly vexed by a demon*. A heavy grief, the sting of nature, tears the womb; there is a tempest in the bowels. What shall I do? I am perishing. Why do you not say, "Have mercy on my daughter," but, "Have mercy on me"? She does not have a sense of the disease, she does not know what she suffers, she does not feel the pain; the emptiness of pain, and even of sensation, is to her the veil of the calamity. *Have mercy on me*, the witness of daily evils; the theater of calamity is present at home. Where shall I go? Into the desert? But I do not dare to leave her alone. Shall I stay, Lord? But the enemy is within, a tempest in the harbor, a spectacle of calamity. By what name shall I call her? Dead? But she moves. Living? But she does not know what she does. I cannot find a name by which to call the disease. *Have mercy on me*. If my daughter were dead, I would not be suffering such things; I would have laid the body in the bowels of the earth, and with the passage of time I would have come to an oblivion of the evils, and would have healed the ulcer: but now I have a corpse as a constant spectacle, which keeps my wound perennial, and increases my pain. How can I look upon eyes turned askew, hands twisted, disheveled hair, foam let loose, the executioner placed inside and not appearing, flogging one who is not seen, while the lash itself is visible? I stand a witness of another's evils, I stand with nature as a goad; *Have mercy on me*. Sickness and fear are a heavy tempest; the sickness of nature, and the fear of the demon. I cannot approach, nor touch her. Affection impels me, fear drives me away; *Have mercy on me*.

CHAPTER 4

^D ...she did not call upon diviners, she did not admit bindings, she did not perform charms...

453 S. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM, ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE

but she did not hire women who were used to summoning demons and aggravating the ulcer; rather, she left the workshop of the devil and approached the Savior of our souls. *Have mercy on me; my daughter is evilly demon-possessed.* You know the affection, all you who are fathers; help me with your word, all you who are mothers. I cannot explain the storm which the poor woman endured. *Have mercy on me; my daughter is evilly demon-possessed.* Did you see the philosophy of the woman? Did you see her endurance? Her manliness? Her patience? *But He answered her not a word.* Strange things! She entreats, she begs, she bewails her misfortune, she increases the tragedy, she describes the suffering; and the Lover of mankind does not answer; the Word is silent, the fountain is closed, the physician withholds the medicines. What is this, so new? What is this, so paradoxical? To others you run, and this one running to you, you drive away? But consider the philosophy of the Physician. *But He answered her not a word.* Why? Because He was not examining the words, but was investigating the secrets of the mind. *But He answered her not a word.* But what of the disciples? ^D Since the woman did not obtain an answer, they approach Him and say: *Dismiss her, for she cries out after us.* But you hear the cry that is outside, whereas I hear the one that is within; great is the voice of the mouth, but greater is that of the mind. *Dismiss her, for she cries out after us.* Another evangelist says: *Before us.* These sayings are contrary, but not false; for she was doing both. At first she was crying out behind; when He did not answer, she came before Him, as a dog licking the feet of its master. *Dismiss her.* She stood a theater, she gathered a crowd: they were observing the human suffering, but the Master, the loving-kindness and the salvation of the woman. *Dismiss her, for she cries out after us.* What then does Christ say? *I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.* When He answered, the ulcer was worse; for He was a physician cutting, not so that He might divide, but so that He might join together.

6. Christ came into the world for all nations

6. Here pay attention to me with accuracy and stretch your mind for me. For I wish to investigate a deep question. *I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.* Was this the whole purpose? ^A For this reason did you become human, did you take on flesh, did you work such economies, so that you might save one corner, and that one perishing? Is the whole inhabited world desert—Scythians, Thracians, Indians, Moors, Cilicians, Cappadocians, Syrians, Phoenicians, all the land that the sun beholds? Did you come for the sake of the Jews alone, while you look down upon the nations in the desert? And do you overlook the burnt offering? Do you overlook the smoke? Do you overlook your Father being insulted, idols being worshipped, demons being served? And yet the prophets do not say these things; but what does your ancestor according to the flesh say? *Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession* (Ps. II, 8). And Isaiah, the beholder of the Seraphim: *And there shall be the root of Jesse, and he who arises to rule over the nations; in him shall the nations hope* (Is. XI, 10). And Jacob: *A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his thighs, until he comes to whom it is reserved; and he is expectation of the nations* (Gen. XLIX, 10). And Malachi: *For among you the bronze gates shall be closed, and that which is set before you shall not be changed, because from the rising of the sun even to its setting my name is glorified among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to the Lord, and a pure sacrifice* (Mal. I, 10, 11). And David again: ^B *All you nations, clap your hands, shout to God with a voice of exultation; for the Lord is most high, terrible, a great King over all the earth. God is ascended with a shout, the Lord with the voice of the trumpet* (Ps. XLVI, 2, 3, 5). And another: *Be glad, nations, with his people* (Deut. XXXII, 43). And did you yourself, when you came, not immediately call the magi, the citadel of the nations? The tyranny of the devil? The power of the demons? Did you not, having descended, make them prophets? You call the magi; the prophets speak about the nations. Having risen from Hades, you say to the disciples: *Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit* (Matt. XXVIII, 19); and when the wretched, miserable woman came, beseeching on behalf of her daughter, begging to solve a calamity, then you say: *I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel?* And when the centurion approached, you say: *I coming will heal him* (Matt. VIII, 7); when the thief, *Today you shall be with me in paradise* (Luc. XXIII, 43); when the paralytic, *Arise, take up your bed, and walk* (Matt. IX, 6); when Lazarus, *Lazarus, come forth* (Joan. XI, 43), and he came out after four days. You cleanse lepers, you raise the dead, you brace the paralytic, you heal the blind, you save thieves, you make a harlot more temperate than a virgin, and to this one you answer nothing? What is this new? What is this strange? What is this paradoxical?

7. Pay close attention, that you may learn the manliness of the woman and the wisdom and providence of the Master; that you may learn that hesitation has profit, that you may learn that a refusal provides wealth; so that if even you should pray and not receive, you may never desist. Apply your mind diligently. When the Jews were delivered from the Egyptian tyranny, and having escaped the hands of Pharaoh were going into the desert, and were about to enter the land of the Canaanites, of the idol-maniacs and impious men, worshipping stones, serving woods, demonstrating great impiety, God gave them this law, saying: *You shall not take from their sons as sons-in-law, nor give your daughter as a bride to them* (Exod. XXIII, 24). Do not give them gold, nor association at the table, nor any communion, nor anything else of such things, because the nations into which I bring you to inherit are lawless. Therefore the law was as if commanding them: Do not buy, do not sell, do not perform a marriage, nor contracts, but be, even if near in place, yet separated in way of life. Let nothing be common to you with them, no exchanges, no sales, no marketings, no intermarriages, no becoming in-laws, so that the necessity of kinship may not prepare you to slip into impiety, so that the giving and the taking may not make you their friend; but always be an enemy to them. Let there be nothing for you and the Canaanites; do not take their gold, nor

455 S. JOANNIS CHRYSOSTOMI ARCHIEP. CONSTANTINOP. [Migne's marginal notation: A] money, nor garment, nor daughter, nor son, nor any other thing of that sort; but dwell apart yourself. You have a tongue that separates you, and I have given you a law: wherefore the law is called a hedge. For just as a vineyard is surrounded by a hedge, so too are the Jews hedged about by the law, so that by transgressing it they might not mix with the Canaanites. For there were among them illicit dealings and the laws of a depraved nature: idols were worshipped, wood was adored, God was insulted, children were slaughtered, fathers were despised, mothers were contemned; everything was changed, everything was subverted; they lived after the manner of demons. And therefore they had no dealings with them, sold them nothing, but the law forbade marriages with them under great penalties, and compacts, and sales, and they had nothing in common with them. It was therefore restricted by the law that compacts should not be entered into with the Canaanites, nor gold given to them, nor anything else, lest friendship should become an occasion for impiety; the law hemmed them in like a hedge. A vineyard, he says, I have planted and surrounded with a hedge (Isai. 5.1, 2), that is, with a law consisting not of thorns, but of commandments, which might hem them in and keep them separate. The Canaanites, therefore, were abominable, execrable, impious, wicked, impure, unclean; and therefore the Jews, observing their law, did not even want to hear them. When, therefore, this woman was from the Canaanites (for "Behold a woman," he says, "came out from those borders" [Matth. 15.22]), because, I say, this woman was from the Canaanites, and approached Christ, he therefore said, "Who of you will convict me of sin?" (John 8.46). Have I transgressed the law? For since he was a man, he showed forth human duties.

^B Attend diligently. Because the woman was a Canaanite and from those borders, where there was madness, fury, and impiety, where the tyranny of the devil, the debauchery of demons, human nature trampled underfoot; where they had devolved to the brutish affections of brutes, and to the fury of demons, and because the law commanded: "Let there be nothing between you and the Canaanites, do not give to them, do not take from them, do not marry, do not take a son, do not enter into compacts or agreements; for that reason I have placed a hedge around you"; and Christ, coming, took up the armor of men, was circumcised in his own time, offered sacrifices, oblations, and all other things, when he was about to abrogate the law; lest they should object: "Because he could not fulfill the law, therefore he abrogated it": he first fulfills it, then abrogates it; lest you think he could not fulfill it, he performs everything according to custom. Therefore he cries with these words: "Which of you will convict me of sin?" (John 8.46). Since, therefore, it also belonged to the law that nothing should be in common with the Canaanites; lest the Jews should accuse him and say: "Therefore we do not believe you, because you are unrighteous, because you break the law: you went into the land of the Canaanites, and had consortium with them, although that is forbidden by law": therefore he spoke nothing immediately. Attend to how he fulfills the law, and does not immediately grant salvation, and restrains the Jews, and restores her. "But he," it says, "answered her not a word." Lest you seize an occasion for accusing: "Behold, I do not speak, I do not mix words: calamity is present, and ^C what I am accustomed to do, I do not show: behold a shipwreck, and I, the pilot, do not calm the tempest because of your perverse mind, lest there be any occasion for you to find fault." "Behold, the woman has drawn spectators around me, and I have not yet answered her; lest you say: 'You have betrayed yourself to the Canaanites, and have transgressed the law, and hence there is an occasion for us not to believe you'." Observe how he did not answer the woman, so that he might answer the Jews: the silence toward the woman was a voice that convicted the perverse mind of the Jews.

^D ...not [treating them] with authority, but tempering himself to their infirmity. For when he was purifying the leper, he said, "Go, offer the gift that Moses commanded" (Matth. 8.4). You have purified, and you send him to the law of Moses? Yes. Why this? Because of the Jews, lest they should accuse me of a violated law. Therefore when he purified the leper, he did it in an unusual way: hear how. "And behold a leper approaching besought him saying, 'Lord, if you will, you can make me clean'; and stretching forth his hand he touched him saying, 'I will, be thou made clean'" (Matth. 8.2, 3). According to the law it was not permitted to touch a leper. When, therefore, Naaman, a leader of the army, a leper, came to Elisha the prophet, the disciple says to him, "Behold, a leper, a prince of the militia, is outside" (4 Reg. 5). But he sends a disciple to say to him: "Go and wash in the river Jordan" (Ibid. v. 10); nor did he dare to go out himself, nor to see the leper, nor even to touch him. Because, therefore, Elisha purified the leper, lest the Jews should say that he purified in the same manner as Elisha, therefore Elisha indeed did not dare to touch; this one, however, touches and says, "I will, be thou made clean"; and stretching forth his hand he touched the leper. Why did he touch? To teach you that he is not a servant subject to the law, but the Lord commanding the law. How then did he keep the law? In that he said, "I will, be thou made clean," and did not immediately touch him. The word preceded, the disease was put to flight; then he touched the unclean, and said, "I will, be thou made clean." By what method? And he was immediately purified. The evangelist could not find a word expressing the speed of the cure; for that word, "immediately," even signifies the thing done more slowly. Immediately; how? As soon as the word went forth, the disease was put to flight, the leprosy was put to flight, the leper was immediately clean. Therefore he says: "Go, show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift which Moses commanded as a testimony to them." To whom? To the Jews, lest they say that I transgress the law. "I have healed," and I say: "Offer the gift, according to the law, so that in that day the leper may accuse them with these words: 'He commanded me to offer the gift according to the law'." And just as Christ did many things for the sake of the Jews, so that in all things he might render them inexcusable: so he did here. "Have mercy on me, because my daughter is evillyvexed by a demon." But he answered her not a word. "But his disciples approaching besought him, saying, 'Send her away, because she cries after us'" (Matth. 15.22, 23). What then did he? "I was not sent but to the sheep that are perishing of the house of Israel" (Ibid. v. 24). Lest the Jews should say: "You have sent us away, and gone to the foreigners, and therefore we did not believe you": "Behold," he says, "they approach from the nations, and I do not receive them: you, however, even..."

those among you who are known to me, I reject, and yet she persists. A people, whom I have not known, serves me," he says; "as soon as they heard, they obeyed me" (Ps. XVII, 45); and elsewhere: "I appeared to those who did not seek me, and was found by those who did not inquire for me." Send her away, for she cries out after us. Let us see, then, what Christ says: "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Were these words not discouraging? For he is saying, as it were, "Withdraw, because you have nothing in common with me; I did not come for your sake, but I came for the sake of the Jews. I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But she, having heard, said: "Yes, Lord, help me," and she worshipped, saying—but he did not answer her. ^A But look at the response: "It is not good to take the children's bread and cast it to the little dogs." O the care of the physician! In his refusal, he draws her to him. "It is not good to take the children's bread": whose? The Jews'; "and to cast it to the little dogs," that is, to you. For the Lord indeed said these things to the shame of the Jews; for though called children, they became dogs. Therefore Paul also says: "Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision; for we are the circumcision" (Phil. III, 2). The heathens were called dogs, and they became children. "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ is formed in you" (Gal. IV, 19). This praise is an accusation against the Jew. "It is not good to take the children's bread, and to cast it to the little dogs." What then of the woman? "Yes, Lord." O violence of the woman! O competitiveness of soul! The Physician says, *No*, and she herself says, *Yes*; the Master says, *Not so*, she herself says, *Yes*; not accusing him, nor being shameless, but awaiting salvation. "It is not good to take the children's bread, and to cast it to the little dogs." "Yes, Lord." ^B You call me a dog, and I call you Lord; you insult me, and I praise you. "Yes, Lord; for even the little dogs eat from the crumbs which fall from their masters' table" (Matt. XV, 27). O wisdom of the woman! From the example she found a fitting argument. You call me a dog, like a dog I am fed. I do not refuse the insult; I do not flee from the title; let me therefore take the nourishment of the dog; and she says a thing that happens in the course of custom. Stand by your own words: you called me a dog, give me a crumb; you became an advocate for my petition; in your refusal, show your consent. "Yes, Lord; for even the little dogs eat from the crumbs which fall from their masters' table." What then of him who refuses, who drives away, who repels, who says, "It is not good to take the children's bread, and to cast it to the little dogs"? Who says, "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel"? "O woman, great is your faith." Did you suddenly become praiseful? Are you proclaiming the woman? Were you not driving her away, were you not turning her away? "Take heart; for this reason I postponed it. For if I had released her from the beginning, you would not have learned her faith. If she had received it from the start, she would have departed quickly, and no one would have known her treasure. For this reason I postponed the giving, in order to show her faith to all." "O woman." God says, "O woman." Let those hear who pray ^C with coarseness. When I say to someone, "Entreat God, pray to him, beseech him," he says: "I entreated once, a second time, a third, a tenth, a twentieth; and not yet have I received." Do not depart, brother, until you receive; the end of a petition is the gift of that which is sought. Then depart, when you receive—or rather, not even then, but even then remain. And if you do not receive, ask so that you may receive; but when you receive, give thanks that you have received. Many enter the church, they finish a myriad of verses of prayer, and they go out, and they do not know what they said; the lips move, but the hearing does not hear. You do not hear your own prayer, and do you want God to hear your prayer? You say, "I bent the knees," but your mind was flying outside; your body was inside the church, and your intention outside; the mouth was saying the prayer, and the mind was counting usury, contracts, business deals, lands, possessions, ^D friendships. For the devil, being wicked and knowing that in the time of prayer we achieve great things, then approaches. Often we lie supine in bed, and we consider nothing; we came to pray, and a myriad of thoughts [come], so that he may throw us out empty-handed.

11.

^A ... mitigate. Is the judge urgent? Do you flee to God. Is a prince present? Do you call upon the Lord. Is he a human being, that you should go to some place? God is always near. If you wish to ask a human being, you inquire what he is doing, whether he is sleeping or free from business; and the minister does not answer you. To pray to God, you have no need of any of these things: wherever you have gone and called upon Him, He hears: no occupation, no intermediary, no minister blocks the hearing. Say, "Have mercy on me," and God is immediately present: "While you are yet speaking," He says, "I will say, Behold, I am here" (Isai. 58. 9). O words full of kindness! He does not wait for the end of the prayer; not yet is the prayer finished, and you receive the gift. "Have mercy on me." Let us imitate this Canaanite woman, I beg you: "Have mercy on me: my daughter is badly vexed by a demon." But the Lord says to her: "O woman, great is your faith: let it be done to you as you wish" (Matt. 15. 28). Where are the heretics? Did He say, "I will entreat my Father"? Did He say, "I will pray to my Progenitor"? Did He have need of prayer here? Not at all. Why? Because the faith was great, the vessel was great, the grace was poured out abundantly. Where prayer is necessary, there the vessel is infirm. "O woman, great is your faith." You did not see the dead raised, you did not see the leper cleansed, you did not hear prophets, you did not meditate upon the law, you did not see the sea divided, you did not see another sign performed by me; rather, you were despised and troubled by me; I drove you away as a wretch, and you did not withdraw, but persisted: finally receive from me praise that is worthy and fitting: "O woman, great is your faith." The woman is dead, and the eulogy of her remains, more splendid than a diadem. Wherever you go, you hear Christ saying, "O woman, great is your faith." Enter into the church of the Persians, and you will hear Christ saying, "O woman, great is your faith"; likewise among the Goths, among the barbarians, among the Indians, among the Moors, and in as much land as the sun surveys: Christ uttered one word, and that word does not cease to be brought forth, but with a loud voice proclaims her faith: "O woman, great is your faith: let it be done to you as you wish." He did not say: "Let your daughter be healed"; but, "As you wish." You heal her yourself, you be the doctor, I hand the medicine to you, go, apply it, "Let it be done to you as you wish." Let your will heal her. The Canaanite healed her by her will, and shall not the Son of God heal by Himself? "Let it be done to you as you wish." He did not command the woman, nor did He order the devil; but she only willed it, and the will of the woman healed her and cast out the demons. Where are those who dare to say the Son worked through prayer? "Let it be done to you as you wish." See the affinity of the wording: He imitates His Father. For when God was creating heaven, He said, "Let there be heaven, and heaven was made"; "Let there be sun, and the sun was made"; "Let there be earth, and the earth was made." By His command He produced the substance. So also He, "Let it be done to you as you wish": the affinity of the speech shows the communion of nature. And her daughter was healed. When? In that hour (Matt. 15. 28). She came, not fearing that He would come. She arrived to find the demon-possessed girl, and found her healthy, restored to health by her will. For all these things let us give thanks to God, for to Him belongs glory forever and ever. Amen.

ADMONITION

[444] A DISCOURSE

That no one is harmed except by himself.