Opening Prayer
Infinite Lord
May we be courageous in our faith.
May we persistent in our prayer.
May we be fearless in our works.
May we be boundless in love.
Fill us with Your grace and mercy through Your Word.

Journal/Reflection Questions
Isaiah 56:1, 6-7
• How do you show mercy in your life? To whom do you show mercy? How does it compare to God’s boundless mercy?
• How might the world be different if we truly lived life knowing God’s grace and mercy were endless?
Romans 11:13-15, 29-32
• What feelings or emotions do you feel knowing God will never stop loving you?
• Describe the power of mercy. What does it offer? How do we receive it? Where does it come from? Who can have it?
Matthew 15:21-28
• What surprises you about this scripture passage? How does this fall in line with or go against who you know Jesus to be?
• What does the phrase, “even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters” mean? What exactly was the woman saying?

General Questions for Journaling
• Reflect on a time when you were excluded from something. How did it feel? What did you do about it? Would you do the same thing again or would you do something differently?
• Have you ever intentionally excluded someone from something? What was the reason? Is there a circumstance in which excluding someone is acceptable?
• Has there ever been an occasion when you felt excluded within your faith community? What was it that made you feel separated? How might the scriptures this week help you heal?
• Have you ever seen a disobedient child? How do you discipline him/her? Do you love them less because they are disobedient?
• Do you judge others’ faith simply by looking at them? Do you compare yourself to them?
• How would you judge a woman begging at the feet of Jesus? Have you ever done the same thing?
• Where in your life should you be more persistent? In prayer? Good works? Self-discipline? Encouragement?

Closing Prayer
Leader: Great is my faith
ALL: when I seek YOU before all other things.
Leader: Great is my faith
ALL: when I listen when YOU call my name.
Leader: Great is my faith
ALL: when I serve others and show YOUR love.

Challenge for the Week: We can learn so much from this Canaanite woman. She doesn’t back down, she remains calm and she kneels before Jesus and asks for help. How often do we just nonchalantly ask Jesus to help us with something in prayer? Are the things you pray for simply a list of wants and needs or are they true desires? Do you pray with persistence and fervor? When you attend Mass or Sunday Worship listen intently to the prayers of the faithful, the petitions of the community. Set your mind to faithfully listen and put emotion and feeling into the prayer intentions so that you pray them with your whole being.
OR
Let us learn from the Canaanite woman how our faith can save and not back down from what we believe in when challenged. Too often even those whom we might consider “the faithful” will give up and back down when their faith gets too hard. It’s easy to be called a Christian when we are sitting in the pew on Sunday morning but when the rubber hits the road on Sunday afternoon, are we still as strong in our faith beliefs and practices as we were when we were in church? Jesus challenges us at times just like He is testing this woman. He tests her so she might exercise her faith to the fullest extent. Where is Jesus challenging you to be stronger in your faith?