Daily Gospel Reflection
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August 9, 2025
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
The faith that Jesus asks of us today is the trust that God will work the miracle of making us saints. It is the faith that God will heal us of our sin, of our flaws, and make us holy. But unless we leap and do the things that lead us to holiness, we won’t experience it.
Have you made the leap by making a daily examination of conscience, monthly confession, doing your duties for the love of God, or going out of your comfort zone? Where are you holding back?
When my daughter Grace was three or four years old, she slept in a bunk bed. As soon as I woke her up, she leaped from the ladder with open arms, and I caught her every time. Grace had faith that I would catch her because she knew me; she knew I wanted to catch her. Well, what wonders do we know God wants to work for us?
The leap that God wants us to take is the relentless pursuit of a relationship with God and our own transformation from vice to virtue, and to foster the heroic generosity that seeks the conversion of others. No matter how implausible this seems. Whose conversion and holiness do you feel like giving up on, like it’s never going to happen? Yours? A spouse? A son or daughter? Now, don’t let that send you into panic. We must persevere in praying and working toward our conversion and theirs by reaching out to others in genuine friendship.
God will not catch us unless we jump. God will not work wonders unless we trust. Your confidence in God, your Father, will enable you to move mountains.
Prayer
Merciful God, may we see the face of your Son in those who suffer. We remember that he died and rose again that all might find salvation through him. Help us to live in union with him and with one another. We ask this in his name. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Edith Stein was a brilliant philosopher who came to the Catholic faith through her intellectual pursuit of the truth.
She was born to a large Jewish family in Poland in 1891 and was an extraordinary student. She earned her doctorate in philosophy at the age of 25, and it was the witness of some of her friends that initially invited her to consider the Christian faith. She saw the strength of their faith and began studying the Catholic tradition. She converted and later became a Carmelite nun and taught in European universities as a member of the intellectual elite.
Her order relocated her to a convent in Holland because of her Jewish heritage, but she was eventually hunted down by the Nazis and was killed in a gas chamber in Auschwitz in 1942.
St. Edith Stein is the patron saint of Europe. Her story and image are used by high school students who come to campus for a summer conference with the Notre Dame Vision program.
St. Edith Stein, you searched for truth in philosophy and found Catholicism before being killed by the Nazis—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Edith Stein is an illustration by Julie Lonneman, who holds exclusive rights to the further distribution and publication of her art. Used with permission.