Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time – August 16, 2026 Sr. Anne Mary O’Donnell, SNDdeN Matthew 15: 21-28 When Pope John Paul II promulgated the five Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary in 2002, I realized that Jesus cured five specific females, thus giving us five Healing Mysteries of the Rosary. The first case was of a little girl, the daughter of a Syrophoenician woman. Jesus rejected her suit because mother and daughter were both Gentiles. Her quick reply to Jesus, that dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the children’s table, probably moved him to smile. Her faith moved him to cure her daughter, even at a distance. Before his Ascension, Jesus missioned the Apostles to preach the Gospel to the whole world. The second case was Mary Magdalene, who was always named first in the list of women who supported Jesus in his public ministry. I think of her as in her thirties, personally and financially independent, free to travel with Jesus and his other disciples. She was not the sister of Martha and Lazarus, nor the sinful woman of Luke 7:37. Jesus cured her of seven demons (Luke 8:2), not sins of lust but a severe physical or psychological […]