PRI Reflections on Scripture | Saturday of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time

Join Msgr. Don Fischer as he reads and delivers a short reflection on today’s gospel, followed by 3 1/2 minutes of contemplative music and a closing prayer. Msgr. Don hopes that today’s reflection on the gospel will empower you to carry the Word in your heart throughout the day.

Choose either the video or audio below.

Gospel

Matthew 17:14-20

A man came up to Jesus, knelt down before him, and said, "Lord, have pity on my son, who is a lunatic and suffers severely; often he falls into fire, and often into water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him." Jesus said in reply, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long will I be with you? How long will I endure you? Bring the boy here to me." Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out of him, and from that hour the boy was cured. Then the disciples approached Jesus in private and said, "Why could we not drive it out?" He said to them, "Because of your little faith. 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. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Reflection

It's interesting to me that Jesus uses such a dramatic example of the power that we have, because God dwells within us. Move a mountain. It's impossible. Does that mean that God wants us to move mountains? No. He's making a simple, profound truth clear to us. Faith isn't about how much you believe, it's whether or not you believe. It's not something you have a little bit of and then grow,

and we have a lot more of it. No, it's a decision you make that God can do anything. It's not you that can do anything with God's support or help. That's not the point. It's whatever God wants to use you for, it will be effective. The belief is not in us being able to do it, but in God being able to do it through us.

And there is no way that God deserves anything but absolute trust in faith in his power.

Closing Prayer

Father, it's easy for us to be overwhelmed by things. Things that we want to see changed, but they're not yet changed. And often times, if we're waiting and waiting, we think, well, nothing's going to happen. So give us this conviction that whenever we see things falling apart, whenever we see lies in place of truth, we need to know that we believe that these things for God are not a problem. And if he uses us then we should be grateful. If he's not using us yet, we should be hopeful. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Kyle Cross