Word to the Wise
Monday, February 25, 2019 - Monday in the 7th Week in Ordinary Time
[Sir 1:1-10 and Mark 9:14-29]"But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." Jesus said to him, "'If you can!' Everything is possible to one who has faith." Then the boy's father cried out, "I do believe, help my unbelief!"
I often hear someone say to me in the Sacrament of Reconciliation: "I wish I had more faith!" I have to tell them that they have a lot of company! In the story today from the Gospel According to Mark, the father of the possessed boy is desperate for anything that will help his son. The faith of the disciples is not yet strong enough to do such things (and won't be until Jesus dies and rises). The dad brings the boy to Jesus. It is the father's plea about faith that Jesus responds to: "I do believe, help my unbelief!" That prayer could be ours.
The power of religious faith needs no real proof if one has even the slightest knowledge of history or even the experience of others in our own time. The Bible is the story of a persistent faith (and lack of it)! The fact that the human mind can ask questions is simply testimony to God's gift of reason, which sometimes gets into conflict with its creator! The story in today's gospel shows that Jesus can do great things even when faith is absent. We can echo that father's prayer. AMEN