There are many moments in life when we will certainly need help from others.
And at times, it is not just some kind of general help but a real desperate need for help.
And it is not just asking for help; it would be a plea and even begging for that help.
In the gospel, the Syrophoenician woman came to Jesus with a desperate need.
And she expressed that need by falling at His feet and begging Him to cast the devil out of her daughter.
That was certainly a desperate pleading and begging for help, and that woman also knew that it could be her last option..
But all ended well as Jesus eventually granted her desperate request.
It was a contrasting picture in the 1st reading when king Solomon swayed his heart to other gods and did what was displeasing to the Lord.
But instead of asking for forgiveness and asking for the Lord's help to repent, it was the Lord God who had to appear to Solomon twice to try to make him repent.
It was such an irony that the king of God's people did not ask for the Lord's help, whereas it was the pagan Syrophoenician woman who turned desperately to Jesus for help.
May our faith teach us to be humble and to rely on the Lord's help at all times, and may we also be able to lead those in desperate need for help to turn to the Lord.