Daily Retreat 08/12/06
2006 Aug 12 Sat: Ordinary Weekday/ BVM
Hab 1: 12 – 2: 4/ Ps 9: 8-9. 10-11. 12-13/ Mt 17: 14-20
From today’s readings: “For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint.... You forsake not those who seek You, O Lord.... Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move....”
Faith and Faithlessness
Time and time again, the Gospels make note of how much can be done with faith, and how little can be done without it. When Jesus took Peter, James, and John with Him up the mountain to His Transfiguration, what did the other nine apostles do? Well, the scriptures record that they were approached by the father of a possessed boy, and they tried unsuccessfully to exorcize the demon.
Their failure baffled them, since, after being sent by Jesus, the apostles had already cast out many demons (cf. Mark 6:13). Yet Jesus squarely blamed their failure this time on their weak faith, so earlier, their faith must have been stronger!
The time they spent with Jesus should have strengthened their faith, not weakened it. Apparently, the recent prophecy about His passion (Matthew 16:21ff) shook the apostles’ faith, such that they now had less confidence in Him, and in their own share in His mission.
Many of the people that enthusiastically endorse the teaching of Jesus and adamantly admire His miracles yet cannot accept His insistence on self-denial and taking up one’s cross as conditions of following Him. Today, as always, that criterion still looms as the crucial dividing line between faith in Jesus and faithlessness.
Hab 1: 12 – 2: 4/ Ps 9: 8-9. 10-11. 12-13/ Mt 17: 14-20
From today’s readings: “For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint.... You forsake not those who seek You, O Lord.... Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move....”
Faith and Faithlessness
Time and time again, the Gospels make note of how much can be done with faith, and how little can be done without it. When Jesus took Peter, James, and John with Him up the mountain to His Transfiguration, what did the other nine apostles do? Well, the scriptures record that they were approached by the father of a possessed boy, and they tried unsuccessfully to exorcize the demon.
Their failure baffled them, since, after being sent by Jesus, the apostles had already cast out many demons (cf. Mark 6:13). Yet Jesus squarely blamed their failure this time on their weak faith, so earlier, their faith must have been stronger!
The time they spent with Jesus should have strengthened their faith, not weakened it. Apparently, the recent prophecy about His passion (Matthew 16:21ff) shook the apostles’ faith, such that they now had less confidence in Him, and in their own share in His mission.
Many of the people that enthusiastically endorse the teaching of Jesus and adamantly admire His miracles yet cannot accept His insistence on self-denial and taking up one’s cross as conditions of following Him. Today, as always, that criterion still looms as the crucial dividing line between faith in Jesus and faithlessness.
posted by FrPitstick | 8/09/2006
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