By Charles Muchiri
Monday, February 20, 2012
Liturgical Year B, Cycle II
Monday of the Seventh week in
Ordinary Time
Readings for Mass
First Reading: James 3: 13-18
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 19: 8, 9, 10, 15
Gospel: Mark 9: 14-29
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| Time to pray |
Today’s Gospel is quite dramatic. Christ,
together with Peter, James and John are coming down from a high mountain – from
where His transfiguration took place.
As it appears, the rest of the disciples
who had been left behind are urging with the crowd. There is without doubt a
problem, down there.
And as Christ comes to learn, at his
absence, the disciples had been faced with a case of a boy who is possessed by a
mute spirit.
Without
Him, they are unable to heal him.
Here
is the question; does it feel like Christ is absent from our lives today? And in this situation, are we desperately trying to fight
with the worldly influences – by ourselves?
Christ quickly takes over the case,
and is promptly briefed about the particular situation at hand, by the boy’s father.
If
you can, Christ tells the father of the boy, everything is possible to one who
has faith.
Now,
here, the father’s faith is paramount.
And
so is it to us, today. In order for Christ to intervene in our situations, we must
offer Him the homage of our faith.
But
our believe might not always be at its best; and as the father of the boy in
today’s Gospel; we always need to be in touch with Christ to ‘help our unbelief.’
Christ
responds quickly by commanding the mute and deaf spirit to come out of the boy
and never enter him again.
He
also does this with some urgency, since He wants to avoid too much attention
from the rapidly gathering crowd. It is obvious that He is not interested in
gaining the earthly fame from the crowd, something that many ordinary human
beings would have tapped into!
Now,
here is the beauty of the day’s Gospel: Privately, the disciples of Jesus can’t
wait to understand why they just couldn’t hack it; why they failed to drive
this spirit possessing the boy.
And
His short answer; “This kind can only come out through prayer.” (Mk 9: 29)
Today,
Christ is not walking amidst us. But He is certainly within us, who believe, through
the Holy Spirit who was given us.
And
as we are faced with various kinds of challenges, we must always bear in mind,
that some of these challenges ‘can only be overcome through prayer.’
It
is only through prayers that we can defeat all the demonic powers that hover
around us, trying to ruin us. It is only though prayers that as Christians, we
can achieve the seemingly unachievable!
It
is through prayers that (As the first reading exults) we are able to connect
with the wisdom from above; which by extension ‘is pure, then peaceable,
gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without inconstancy or
insincerity.’
It
is through prayers; that we are able to sustain a direct link with God. It is
only through prayers that we allow God’s mighty powers to pass through our
being and into the situation for, which we seek His divine help.
Now,
take sometimes off and ask yourself this question: How is your prayer life
today?
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this writer on Twitter: @muchirimuchoki/
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