Saturday of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time – Matthew 17:14-20
The focus of today’s Gospel is faith. A father comes to Jesus and begs him: “Have pity on my son! He is a lunatic and his life has been one of constant suffering. He falls into the fire as well as water! I begged your disciples to heal him, however, they could not cure him!”
Jesus was not at all sympathetic to the man. Rather, he says: “O faithless and perverse generation, how long will I be with you? How long can I endure you?” After these harsh words, Jesus then instructed the man to bring his son to him. When the boy was brought to Jesus, Jesus simply rebuked the demon. And immediately the demon came out of the boy and the boy was restored to health.
Later his disciples came to Jesus and asked him why they had been unable to cast out the demon? Jesus told them that it was because they had little faith. Then he says: “If you have faith the size of a tiny mustard seed, you will be able to move mountains! If you have faith, nothing will be impossible for you!”
Today is a good day for us to examine our faith. How strong is our faith and belief in Jesus? Do we trust that if we have faith that we will be able to move mountains? Or is our faith weak? Today I invite you to take 10-20 minutes and examine your level of faith in God, Jesus and the Spirit. If our faith is strong, then we will be strong. If our faith is weak, most likely we will have great difficulty in life. And if our faith is weak, may we ask Jesus to help us strengthen our trust in him!
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