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Matthew rewrites the miracle story in Mark 7:24-30. Mark 7:24-37 is actualy a section that shows Jesus healing people in the region of Tyre ( and Sidon. In rewriting these stories, Matthew drops the blind man's healing, he describes the episode of the "Canaanite" woman, changing Mark's designation of "Syrophoenician", and makes the theme of this miracle as an extension of the previous discussion on clean and unclean (cf. Matthew 15:1-20, see Mark 7:1-23 1). He also rewrites the details of the story of the Syrophoenician woman iin such a way as to turn it into an episode that shows Jesus extending the scope of his mission beyond the borders of the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

The theme for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A) invites us to look at the faith that we have received from the apostles. The liturgy does this by putting together Is 56 and Romans 11 with the story of the Canaanite woman who by her humility disarms Jesus and somehow forces him to extend his mission to the Gentiles. Read this article and use the following for your reflection.

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I have been looking for Augustine's sermon on the Canaanite woman so as to get additional insight into Matthew 15:21-28 and how it can be used in a homily or catechesis. I found not one but three. These are given in The Works of St. Augustine, III/3 edited by John Rotelle and translated by Edmund Hill. Two of these are really on the Canaanite woman episode (Serm. 77 and 77B); the other uses the text of the gospel as an occassion for an exhortation on Christian Combat based on the responsorial psalm for that day, Psalm 51 and the reading from Paul, Rom. 7:14ff about the struggles of the flesh and spirit (Serm. 77A)