Wednesday of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 and//www.usccb.org/bible/numbers/13:1 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 Israelin the desert of Paran at Kadesh,made a report to them all,and showed the fruit of the countryto the whole congregation.They told Mosesand 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 NegebHittites, 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 Israelabout 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 Aaronand How long will this wicked assembly grumble against me?I have heard the grumblings of the children of Israel against me.Tell themand 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 landforty years shall you suffer for your crimesandone year for each day.Thus you will realize what it means to oppose me.I, the LORD, have sworn to do thisto all this wicked assembly that conspired against meandhere in the desert they shall die to the last man.” Responsorial Psalm and//www.usccb.org/bible/psalms/106:6 PS 106:6-7AB, 13-14, 21-22, 23 R. (4a)Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.We have sinned, we and our fatherswe have committed crimes we have done wrong.Our fathers in Egyptconsidered not your wonders.R.Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.But soon they forgot his worksthey waited not for his counsel.They gave way to craving in the desertand 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 breachto turn back his destructive wrath.R.Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people. Alleluia and//www.usccb.org/bible/luke/7:16 LK 7:16 R.Alleluia, alleluia.A great prophet has arisen in our midstand God has visited his people.R.Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel and//www.usccb.org/bible/matthew/15:21 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 childrenand throw it to the dogs.”She said, Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scrapsthat 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.