Reading 1
Nm 13:1-2, 25–14:1, 26a-29a, 34-35
The LORD said to Moses [in the desert of Paran,]
“Send men to reconnoiter the land of Canaan,
which I am giving the children of Israel.
You shall send one man from each ancestral tribe,
all of them princes.”
After reconnoitering the land for forty days they returned,
met Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation of the children of Israel
in the desert of Paran at Kadesh,
made a report to them all,
and showed the fruit of the country
to the whole congregation.
They told Moses: “We went into the land to which you sent us.
It does indeed flow with milk and honey, and here is its fruit.
However, the people who are living in the land are fierce,
and the towns are fortified and very strong.
Besides, we saw descendants of the Anakim there.
Amalekites live in the region of the Negeb;
Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites dwell in the highlands,
and Canaanites along the seacoast and the banks of the Jordan.”
Caleb, however, to quiet the people toward Moses, said,
“We ought to go up and seize the land, for we can certainly do so.”
But the men who had gone up with him said,
“We cannot attack these people; they are too strong for us.”
So they spread discouraging reports among the children of Israel
about the land they had scouted, saying,
“The land that we explored is a country that consumes its inhabitants.
And all the people we saw there are huge, veritable giants
(the Anakim were a race of giants);
we felt like mere grasshoppers, and so we must have seemed to them.”
At this, the whole community broke out with loud cries,
and even in the night the people wailed.
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron:
“How long will this wicked assembly grumble against me?
I have heard the grumblings of the children of Israel against me.
Tell them: By my life, says the LORD,
I will do to you just what I have heard you say.
Here in the desert shall your dead bodies fall.
Forty days you spent in scouting the land;
forty years shall you suffer for your crimes:
one year for each day.
Thus you will realize what it means to oppose me.
I, the LORD, have sworn to do this
to all this wicked assembly that conspired against me:
here in the desert they shall die to the last man.”
106:6-7ab, 13-14, 21-22, 23
Responsorial Psalm R. (4a)
Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
We have sinned, we and our fathers;
we have committed crimes; we have done wrong.
Our fathers in Egypt
considered not your wonders.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
But soon they forgot his works;
they waited not for his counsel.
They gave way to craving in the desert
and tempted God in the wilderness.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
They forgot the God who had saved them,
who had done great deeds in Egypt,
Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham,
terrible things at the Red Sea.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
Then he spoke of exterminating them,
but Moses, his chosen one,
Withstood him in the breach
to turn back his destructive wrath.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
Gospel
Mt 15: 21-28
At that time Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out,
“Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!
My daughter is tormented by a demon.”
But he did not say a word in answer to her.
His disciples came and asked him,
“Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.”
He said in reply,
“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
But the woman came and did him homage, saying, “Lord, help me.”
He said in reply,
“It is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs.”
She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps
that fall from the table of their masters.”
Then Jesus said to her in reply,
“O woman, great is your faith!
Let it be done for you as you wish.”
And her daughter was healed from that hour.
Meditation: Numbers 13:1-2,25–14:1, 26-29,34-35
We ought to go up and seize the land.” (Numbers 13:30)
For centuries, parents have named their little boys “Joshua” and “Caleb” after these biblical heroes. There is something attractive about the way Joshua and Caleb were faithful and brave, something appealing about the way they put their confidence in God. Even God himself recognized that Caleb had “a different spirit and follows me unreservedly” (Numbers 14:24). Ultimately, because of their trust in God, these were the only two adult Israelites allowed to enter the Promised Land!
All twelve of the men Moses sent to scout the land of Canaan saw the same things during their forty-day reconnaissance mission, but only Joshua and Caleb gave an encouraging report. They were the only ones who remembered God’s power and his promises. The others could see nothing but obstacles ahead of them—obstacles that seemed like giants to their frightened imaginations.
Our troubles can seem like giants to us, too. That’s because we are engaged in a kind of inner battle going on in our minds. On the one hand, we have the voice of the Holy Spirit encouraging us as Joshua and Caleb did: “You can do it! Christ is in you! Go and take the spiritual land!” On the other hand, we have voices from the devil and our own fallen nature, like the other scouts, chanting: “No, I can’t! It’s too hard. I’m on my own. I’ll never get there.”
When the battle rages like this, we need to step back and recall the goodness and promises of the Lord. His word says: “Fear not, I am with you; be not dismayed; I am your God. I will strengthen you, and help you” (Isaiah 41:10). It teaches us to proclaim: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). With assurances like these, we can find the strength to take on the “giants” that threaten us.
“Holy Spirit, I trust in your power and in your love! Come to my aid. In my weakness, show the strength of your might!”
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