Numbers 13:1-2, 25 - 14:1, 26-29, 34-35 / Matthew 15:21-28
Whenever we desperately need a favour from someone, the most obvious word that will be needed in our request is the word "help".
Obviously, we are not just asking for a favour. We need that person to help us and we need that help desperately.
More so if the other person is not obligated to help us or that we are not so deserving of the help from that person, then something more needs to be done.
We will have to appeal to the mercy and compassion of that person.
That was what the Canaanite woman did. When she said "Son of David, take pity on me" she knew that Jesus was not obligated to help her but she appealed to His mercy.
Of course, we may be astonished or amused by the conversation between Jesus and the Canaanite woman, the point is that Jesus eventually gave her what she requested for.
But in the 1st reading, we heard about the people raising their voices and cried aloud and wailed all night just because they were told that the opposition they were facing were just too much for them.
They disparaged the country that the Lord was going to give them, and yet they did not turn to the Lord for His mercy and help.
And for that they had to pay the price of a generation who will have to be buried in the desert.
In life, we have our desperate moments and urgent needs. We can worry and fret and be over-anxious.
But let us turn to the Lord and appeal to His mercy. We just need to say, "Lord, have pity on me, and help me".
We don't need to spend 40 years in the desert just to learn this.