Say Yes to Holiness Newsletter #380
Inspiration for the week of August 17, 2026
Welcome to the latest edition of the weekly Say Yes to Holiness newsletter—designed to help inspire, encourage and accompany you on the path towards holiness.
In this Sunday’s Gospel from Matthew 15:21–28, a Canaanite woman approaches Jesus and begs Him to heal her daughter.
At first, Jesus appears to ignore her, so she cries out again. Now, the disciples want Jesus to send her away, but she continues to persist.
So, Jesus challenges her, and she still persists. Jesus seems to be intent on refusing her, but she finally kneels before Him and says simply: “Lord, help me.”
Jesus continues to challenge her, but she refuses to leave.
Why? Because she knows who Jesus is.
The Canaanite woman believes Jesus can heal her daughter, so no silence, obstacle, rebuke, or delay is going to convince her otherwise, and the result is that ultimately Jesus praises the greatness of her faith with one of the most extraordinary compliments we hear Him share in the Gospels as He finally grants her request: “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.”
I don’t know about you, but I long to have such persistent faith!
Because how often do we stop praying because God seems silent? Or we assume that a delay means “no”? Or we become discouraged because God’s response does not come in the manner—or according to the timetable—we expected?
The Canaanite woman models for us another way.
Keep asking. Keep trusting. Keep believing.
This model is particularly appropriate during this week in which we will celebrate the Feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary on August 22, because Mary exemplifies for us what a lifetime of persevering faith and trust in God looks like.
Therefore, this week’s Food for the Head, Heart, Hands and Feet will seek to inspire, encourage and accompany us in growing in faith, persevering in prayer, interceding for others, and confidently approaching Jesus—with the help of His Mother—as we continue on our journey towards holiness…
Food for the Head
"Something does change when we trust God. But it may not always be our circumstances. Often, the thing that changes is our disposition and our hearts, knowing that God is with us in this place." — Father Pierre Toussaint
The Canaanite woman’s circumstances did not immediately change.
Her daughter remained afflicted and Jesus remained silent and the disciples were annoyed by her presence. Yet, she continued to trust.
This is probably one of the most difficult lessons of the spiritual life, because we often think that trusting God means believing that He will change our circumstances.
And sometimes He does.
But trust means something much deeper. Trust means believing that God is present even when our circumstances do not change.
The Canaanite woman trusted Jesus more than she trusted what she could see happening around her.
The question before us is, can we do the same?
Can we believe that God is good when our prayers appear unanswered? Can we believe He is working when we cannot see evidence of it? Can we remain confident in His love when everything around us seems to suggest otherwise?
That is faith.
And it is the most difficult kind of faith to hold on to because it seems like God isn’t responding.
I can truly identify with this, especially in the last year and a half since my husband’s passing. It has seemed like God was not answering my prayers, especially when circumstances in some areas of my life seemed to get worse. But the fact is that God was moving. He was preparing the circumstances for a life that was beyond what I could even pray for, and now that life is beginning to emerge through new opportunities and new connections and new friendships. And I need to persist and have faith so the Lord can continue to love me and care for me—even if I still can’t see it sometimes.
That is the faith the Canaanite woman displays for us, and the same faith which Jesus invites us to cultivate in our lives.
This week, resolve to identify one circumstance you have been asking God to change and instead ask Him to help you recognize His presence within it.
Food for the Heart
"Know, dearest daughter, how, by humble, continual, and faithful prayer, the soul acquires, with time and perseverance, every virtue. Wherefore should she persevere and never abandon prayer." — Saint Catherine of Siena
The Canaanite woman gives us a beautiful model of humble, continual, and faithful prayer. She asks and waits. She asks again. She kneels and pleads. But most importantly, she refuses to stop believing.
Saint Catherine of Siena reminds us that perseverance in prayer does more than obtain something from God.
Prayer changes us.
Because it is through continual and faithful prayer that our desires are purified and our humility grows and our trust deepens. In the end, our faith becomes stronger.
Perhaps this is why God sometimes allows us to wait.
I know that the waiting for my son to secure a job as a golf instructor was a long time coming. And many prayers were offered for him to find not just a job, but the right one. To find the job that has him in the right place, with the right people, doing the thing that helps him become more fully who God created him to be. It took more than a year and a half, but it finally has happened.
All of us have something that we are seeking and desiring and praying for. For the Canaanite woman, she came seeking the healing of her daughter. But through her perseverance, something else was revealed—the extraordinary depth of her faith.
So extraordinary that Jesus Himself praised it!
Saint Catherine tells us how to do the same as the Canaanite woman. To remain humble, offer continual and faithful prayer so as to persevere in acquiring every virtue we will need to be a person of faith.
But also remember that our unanswered prayers could be the very places where God is quietly forming something beautiful within us—if we but persevere and remain faithful.
This week, resolve to return faithfully to one prayer intention you may have become discouraged about and entrust it to Jesus every day.
Food for the Hands
“You know well enough that Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them." — St. Thérèse of Lisieux
The Lord tells us that there are only two commandments—to love God with all our heart, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. This is important to remember in that the Canaanite woman was not asking for herself.
She was asking for her daughter.
Her persistence was an act of love.
And love is the heart of intercessory prayer.
Intercessory prayer is simply that we bring someone we love before Jesus and ask the Lord to help them. Because sometimes there is nothing else we can do.
We cannot heal their illness or repair their relationships, or make their decisions, or remove their suffering.
But we can carry them to Jesus.
Interceding for another is no small thing, and Saint Thérèse reminds us that God measures our actions according to the love with which they are offered.
All of the smallest acts, at least in the eyes of the world, are acts of love that are great in the eyes of God.
The persistent prayer of a parent. The quiet prayer of a spouse. The Rosary offered for a friend. The Mass offered for someone who has died. The whispered prayer for someone who may never even know we prayed for them.
These are all tremendous acts of love in the eyes of God, so love God even more by loving your neighbor.
This week, resolve to choose one person in particular and faithfully intercede for that person's needs each day.
Food for the Feet
“Let them fly with utter confidence to this most sweet Mother of mercy and grace in all dangers, difficulties, needs, doubts, and fears.... [S]he has been appointed by God to be the Queen of heaven and earth.... [S]he presents our petitions in a most efficacious manner. When she asks, she obtains. Her pleas can never be unheard." — Blessed Pope Pius IX
This Saturday, we celebrate the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and I can’t think of a better way to conclude a week spent reflecting upon persistent intercession!
But let’s not only remember the Canaanite woman who interceded for her daughter. Let’s remember that Mary intercedes for all of her spiritual children—and that includes each and every one of us!
Because Mary’s Queenship is not about worldly power or prestige. Mary’s queenship is all about being perfectly united to Christ the King. And through that union, Mary loves us and desires for us what is best for us.
And what is it that our Queen desires? For us to draw closer to her Son.
We see this throughout Mary’s life. At Cana, she recognizes the need of the newly married couple and brings that need to Jesus, and then she tells the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
She tells us to do the same thing. And she has continued to do the same thing in Heaven by taking our needs to Jesus and then pointing us back towards Him.
So, let’s approach our Blessed Mother with confidence and ask her to intercede for us, so that we can keep asking, trusting and believeing—especially when we find it difficult to persevere.
This week, resolve to bring one seemingly impossible intention to Mary and ask her to present it to her Son.
A beautiful way to do this is through the Rosary. Place your intention into Mary's hands before beginning and allow her to accompany you as you meditate upon the life of her Son. A favorite rosary podcast of mine is the Daily Rosary podcast by the School of Faith.
Exhortation
"When will the happy time come when the divine Mary will be established Mistress and Queen of all hearts, in order that she may subject them fully to the empire of her great and holy Jesus?" — Saint Louis de Montfort
Queen of all hearts.
Saint Louis de Montfort beautifully captures what Mary’s Queenship is ultimately about—Jesus.
Because Mary does not desire our hearts so that she can keep them for herself. She desires to bring them completely under the reign of her Son.
This is why Mary can help us imitate the Canaanite woman. Mary knows what it means to trust when God’s plan is mysterious. She knows what it means to persevere when circumstances appear impossible, and she knows what it means to stand faithfully before Jesus in the midst of suffering.
Most importantly, she knows the power of intercession.
So when Jesus seems silent...
Keep praying.
When circumstances do not change...
Keep trusting.
When you become discouraged...
Keep believing.
When someone you love desperately needs God’s grace...
Keep interceding.
And when you feel as though you cannot persevere any longer, fly with confidence to your Queen and Mother and ask her to help you approach her Son, so perhaps one day we, too, might hear Jesus say: “Great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.”
This week, may each of us do WHATEVER IT TAKES to persevere in faith, hope and prayer, trusting in the goodness of Jesus and seeking the intercession of Mary, our Mother and Queen, so that together we can tell the Master of Death,“NOT TODAY!”
All the best,
Christina
PS—If you haven’t already, go check out my new book, Solving the Parish Puzzle: One Person, One Disciple, One Leader at a Time is now available for purchase on Amazon.
Below are the Latest Happenings In the Say Yes to Holiness Community!
Both the Say Yes to Holiness and The Catholic Leadership Puzzle podcasts are now available on Fio!
Fio is a platform with a plethora of Catholic podcasts and music options. I invite you to go and check it out by accessing it through my podcast links below:
Check out my christinasemmens.com website and download some of the free resources.
Some of the FREE resources include a Spiritual Wellness Assessment, List of Recommended Books for Spiritual Reading, and a Rule of Life Planner Sheet.
This website is also where I blog and where you can learn more about working with me or learning more about spiritual direction. If you are interested, make sure to sign up for a FREE 20 minute consultation. Hope to hear from you soon!
Finally, if you would like to support my work, you can click the link below and subscribe to the Say Yes to Holiness Substack.
Latest Posts on the Women of the New Evangelization (WINE) blog:
Mercy, Peace and Exultation (April 12)
Harden Not Our Hearts (Mar 9)
Guest appearance on the Equipcast Podcast:
"When God Asks, How Do You Answer?: The Power of 'Yes' with Christina Semmens
Articles on the Catholic365.com Platform:
Recognizing the Path to Life
We Are All Eucharistic Missionaires!
Latest episode of the Say Yes to Holiness podcast...
Episode #265
“America’s Saint--Venerable Fulton Sheen”—1:1 Converation with Dr. Peter Howard, President of Fulton Sheen Institute
Subscribe to the Say Yes to Holiness podcast!
You can listen to the latest episodes of the podcast on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere else you listen to podcasts.
You can also watch the podcast on the Say Yes to Holiness YouTube channel
Click Here to Check Out All the Podcast Episodes
The Say Yes to Holiness YouTube Channel
Episode #265
“America’s Saint-Venerable Fulton Sheen”—1:1 Conversation with Dr. Peter Howard, President, Fulton Sheen Institute
In addition to podcasts, you can also find additional content like the Lenten Book Online Retreat—”Rooting Out Hidden Faults” by Father James McElhone on YouTube—Click here to be taken to the playlist
Update from The Catholic Leadership Puzzle
Now that Solving the Parish Puzzle: One Person, One Disciple, and One Leader at a Time has been released (and is available for purchase at Amazon), I have just started a NEW PODCAST SERIES that highlights different topics covered in the book by having conversations with a variety of guests.
The next in the series was just released, and the topic this time around was HOSPITALITY. My guest on the Catholic Leadership Podcast was Richard McCorry, Author of Company's Coming: A Spiritual Process for Creating More Welcoming Parishes.
The Power of Hospitality: Insights from Richard McCorry
If you have yet to pick up a copy of Solving the Parish Puzzle: One Person, One Disciple, One Leader at a Time, I encourage you to do so, especially in light of all the wonderful reviews it has received. And if you do already have a book, please consider posting a review on Amazon—every review matters!
And if you are looking for more SPP book resources and content, you can find it at The Catholic Leadership Puzzle Substack.