20 February 2023
Monday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
After Jesus drives out the demon from the boy with epilepsy, his disciples ask him why they could not drive out that particular demon. We see in the Gospels elsewhere that the disciples have the power to do this, but not on this occasion. Jesus replies that “this kind can only come out through prayer” (Mark 9:29). Whose prayer? Does Jesus insinuate that the disciples lacked prayer or perhaps did not pray hard enough (or at all) to cast out this evil spirit? Maybe Jesus is implying that it is by his own prayer that drove out the demon. However, right before this episode, Jesus is transfigured before the disciples but does not necessarily pray as he does elsewhere when he goes up a mountain to pray in solitude. Perhaps he might mean the father’s prayer helped drive the demon out.
Looking at the story more closely, the father brings his son to Jesus, and then Jesus exclaims that this generation is faithless before even seeing the possessed child. Then the father asks Jesus with the utmost politeness, “If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us” (Mark 9:22). Jesus erupts and says anything is possible for those with faith. Then the father cries out with tears, “I do believe, help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24)! At this moment, Jesus then acts and drives out the demon. St. Ignatius reminds us always to ask for what we want from Jesus and to do so boldly. Here, the father makes an honest, faith-filled prayer from the depth of his soul. He expresses his painful desire to see his son cured, and his prayer heals his son through Jesus. Christ hears and responds to his prayer when it comes from the heart. For all those things that ail us or our family, friends, enemies, or our world, we can pray with our heart and ask, or better yet, beg, for what we need trusting that Jesus will provide.
By Nicholas Leeper, S.J.
February 20th, 2023