As you read your Bible you’ll see that Jesus came out with some pretty far-out stuff! Check out how He deals with this desperate woman: ‘”Lord…My daughter is suffering terribly” ...He answered, “I was sent only to…Israel…It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.” “Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” 

Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted”’(Matthew 15:22-28 ). Wotz all that about? This woman wasn’t a Jew, she was an outsider, but she pushed through and got her blessing. Nice one. But talk about hard work! First, Jesus refused to answer her, then He starts going on about bread and dogs! But she was sharp and refused to be shut down, put off, or discouraged. 

Listen to her: ‘Have mercy on me’. She’s not asking for what she deserves, she crying out for what she needs. As a result Jesus took time out from His tightly-focused mission and answered her prayer. Don’t you think we could all learn to be a bit more like that? 

‘Let the children have the bread, all I need are the crumbs.’ Let’s think about that for a minute. It’s easy to neglect the bread of life, waste the bread, complain about the bread, don’t even show up for the bread – but desperate people pick up the crumbs and find life! They know that if there’s power in the loaf there’s power in the crumb, and when a crumb from God is all you can get, a crumb is all you need. So, what do you need from Jesus today? How badly do you want it?

"LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am faint; 
O LORD, heal me, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in anguish. How long, O LORD , how long? Turn, O LORD, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love. No one remembers you when he is dead. Who praises you from the grave? I am worn out from groaning; all night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears."

(Many of the reflections on each page are used with the kind permission of United Christian Broadcastors (UCB) from their FREE daily devotional - The Word for Today. They allow the publication of 52 of their passages per year and I find their messages apt and though-provoking for the times we live in.)

A Circle of Prayer around the world praying for and with each other, for peace and for a world in crisis. Please read more about it and perhaps join us, prayer was never more needed than it is in these times!

Praying all year round for the souls of our deceased relatives and friends, for the souls of those most in need of prayer and for those souls in purgatory who have nobody to pray for them.