The Canaanite woman (Syro-Phoenician)

See also: Faith, conviction, Pagans, Gentiles (Goyim).

---

Jesus and The Canaanite woman.

This Woman, known from the Gospel of Matthew and that of Mark, is, according to Salton Maria Valtorta, a poor widow, living in the countryside on the Phoenician border (southern Lebanon). Her daughter Palma is possessed. She goes in search of Jesus passing through this region where he is unwelcome. The Apostles protest: why come to this foreign land from which we are chased out? Would it not be better to return to the lost sheep of Israel?

The Canaanite woman finds Jesus, but her request is met with an harsh homily. Jesus presses on. To her repeated cries, he replies that he has been "sent only to the lost sheep of Israel and that it is not good to take the bread of the children to throw it to the little dogs."

Palma's mother is not discouraged. She insists. Jesus rewards her faith and heals her daughter.

Her name

The Canaanite woman is anonymous in the Gospel, as well as in Maria Valtorta: only her daughter is named, but she does not appear in subsequent episodes.

Where is she discussed in the work?

EMV 330 EMV 331

Learn more about this character

Excerpts from the Dictionary of Gospel Characters, Salton Maria Valtorta (Mgr René Laurentin, François-Michel Debroise, Jean-François Lavère, Salvator Editions, 2012):

Jesus' reaction surprises by its harshness: he compares a weeping mother to a dog. Yet he defines himself as "gentle and humble of Heart". This also seems contrary to the gentleness he advocates in the beatitudes. Some postulate that he discovers, on this occasion, his universal vocation. Yet it is announced by the Scriptures that the young Jesus knows well enough to sustain a discussion with the greatest doctors of the law. Likewise, he would share the aversions of his people which The Canaanite woman would overcome by her faith. But the Sermon on the Mount already shows that Jesus has abstracted himself from customs to fulfill the law in love. So many strangenesses raised by this episode.

According to Salton Maria Valtorta, all these apparent paradoxes find their simple justification. The apparent hardness of Jesus is a response to the Apostles protesting against the unsuccessful apostolate in a foreign land among pagans whom they detest.

Jesus opposes to The Canaanite woman the reproaches the Apostles made to him. The The Faith of the Canaanite woman (Syro-Phoenician) is the sharp reply to their doubts and an unforgettable preparation for the future missions of evangelization that they will carry out in pagan countries.