Vamshi Eedara csc –
Readings: Sir 1:1-10; Mk 9: 14-29
Today’s gospel reading invites us to have faith in Jesus Christ. All things are possible for those who believe in Christ. In the gospel reading we read that someone had brought his son to Jesus’s disciples and asked them to cast out a demon from him. But the disciples could not cast out because of their lack of faith in God.
So, he requested Jesus to cure his son. Jesus asked him to have faith. Only because of the father’s faith Jesus could help his son. What does Jesus really mean when he talks about faith. Heb 11:1 says, “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” I define faith as my acceptance of Jesus’ gift of saving grace, offered to me by his death on the cross. But accepting his gift requires both believing in his grace and living it in our day today life as well.
Prayer is another aspect that we can see in today’s gospel. Later the disciples asked Jesus why they were unable to drive the demon out of the boy. He said this kind of demons could be driven out only through prayer. Prayer is very important in our pursuit of faith. If faith is the acceptance of God’s saving grace, then we need to have some form of relationship with God to fully understand what we believe and how we act. Through prayer we can build our relationship with God so that he will answer all our needs. We need to persevere in our prayer life so that at the right time he will answer our prayers.