"I DO BELIEVE, HELP MY UNBELIEF"
What kind of faith does
the Lord Jesus expect of us, especially when we meet challenges and
difficulties?
In the first half of Mark's Gospel, Jesus is
portrayed as a man who is powerful in word and deed. In the second half, Jesus
teaches His followers the way of powerlessness. The disciples felt that they
were unsuitable for the task at hand - that is, to heal. What kind of faith
does the Lord Jesus expect of us, especially when we meet challenges and
difficulties? Inevitably there will be times when each of us causes
disappointment to others. In this Gospel incident, the disciples of Jesus
brought disappointment to a pleading father because they failed to heal his
epileptic son. Jesus' response seemed stern, but in reality, it was tempered
with love and compassion.
We see at once, both Jesus' dismay with the
disciples' lack of faith and His concern to meet the need of this troubled boy
and his anguished father. Jesus recognizes the weakness of the father's faith
and at the same time challenges him to pray boldly with expectant faith:
"All things are possible to him who believes" (Mk 9:23)! St. Augustine,
in his commentary on this passage, reminds us that prayer and faith go
together: "Where faith fails, prayer perishes. For who prays for that in
which he does not believe? So then in order that we may pray, let us believe,
and let us pray that this same faith by which we pray may not falter."The
Lord gives us His Holy Spirit that we may have the confidence and boldness we
need to ask our heavenly Father for His help and grace. To trust in God's love
and care for us and to pray with an expectant faith that will give us what we
need on our journey!
Today, we began reading from the Book of
Sirach, which was composed approximately two hundred years before the birth of
Christ. The author was concerned that some of his people were adopting the
customs and outlook of the pagan Greek civilization. He wished to call them
back to their own religious traditions and the values they had been taught. In
a sense, he was like parents and guardians today, who have raised their
children to practice the Faith only to see them abandon it as young adults.
Prayer and faith go together! In one of his
reflections, Paul Graves said, "The closer we are to God, the more we're
willing to leap into faith. Edging toward the center is risky... Today, I
encourage us to live near and/or on the edge precisely because our center
requires it. St. Paul spoke this to his congregation, and their response was:
Leader: The Lord said, "Come to the
edge"
People: and we said, "But we might
fall."
Leader: The Lord said, "Come to the
edge"
People: and we said, "But it's
dangerous."
Leader: The Lord said, "Come to the
edge"
People: so we came to the edge and God
pushed us. And we flew!"
Patrick Overton once said, "When we come
to the edge of all the light that you know, and you are about to step into the
darkness of the unknown, Faith is knowing that one of two things will happen:
there will be something solid to stand on or you will be taught to fly."
Prayer, we see, is an act of trust in God.
Prayer indicates that we are dependent upon God and trust that He will take
care of us. The boy's father demonstrates the kind of faith Jesus represents.
The man recognizes that he can do nothing to help his son, and he asks Jesus to
help his unbelief after stating that he, indeed, does believe. As we gather in
prayer, we, too, recognize that all our trust has to be in God!
"I do believe, help my unbelief!"