Daily Gospel Reflection
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February 21, 2022
As Jesus came down from the mountain with Peter, James, John
and approached the other disciples,
they saw a large crowd around them and scribes arguing with them.
Immediately on seeing him,
the whole crowd was utterly amazed.
They ran up to him and greeted him.
He asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?”
Someone from the crowd answered him,
“Teacher, I have brought to you my son possessed by a mute spirit.
Wherever it seizes him, it throws him down;
he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid.
I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they were unable to do so.”
He said to them in reply,
“O faithless generation, how long will I be with you?
How long will I endure you? Bring him to me.”
They brought the boy to him.
And when he saw him,
the spirit immediately threw the boy into convulsions.
As he fell to the ground, he began to roll around
and foam at the mouth.
Then he questioned his father,
“How long has this been happening to him?”
He replied, “Since childhood.
It has often thrown him into fire and into water to kill him.
But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
Jesus said to him,
“‘If you can!’ Everything is possible to one who has faith.”
Then the boy’s father cried out, “I do believe, help my unbelief!”
Jesus, on seeing a crowd rapidly gathering,
rebuked the unclean spirit and said to it,
“Mute and deaf spirit, I command you:
come out of him and never enter him again!”
Shouting and throwing the boy into convulsions, it came out.
He became like a corpse, which caused many to say, “He is dead!”
But Jesus took him by the hand, raised him, and he stood up.
When he entered the house, his disciples asked him in private,
“Why could we not drive the spirit out?”
He said to them, “This kind can only come out through prayer.”
While the child is the center of the action in today’s gospel reading, the person I most identify with is the father who brings his son to Jesus for healing. In my last pregnancy, I started to experience frightening physical symptoms at 11 weeks. I prayed unceasingly for God to save our unborn child.
I felt the same fear, anguish, and powerlessness that I imagine the father in this passage must have felt watching his son. As a parent, there is almost nothing we wouldn’t do to spare our child’s suffering, and yet, in some situations, there is nothing we can do except turn to Jesus in prayer.
When the father pleads with Jesus, “Have compassion on us and help us,” I hear his desperation and deep love for his child. When he exclaims, “I do believe, help my unbelief!” I am struck with admiration for his continued faith, despite the pain he has experienced and the disciples’ inability to help his son. He does not give a qualified, “I will believe if you heal my son.” His prayer demonstrates his trust in God and his desire to grow in his faith.
Jesus, in turn, shows his compassion for the father and child in healing the boy immediately, “rais[ing] him” up, as though from the dead. Not all stories have such a happy ending; we lost our baby in our case.
However, in my grief, this scripture passage assures me of God’s love and reminds me that he hears and answers our prayers, whether we understand his response or not. I aspire to be like this father, trusting fully in God and working to strengthen my relationship with him, for he is our heavenly father, who loves us and wants the best for us always.
Prayer
Lord of life, through sin and lack of faith we become cold and lifeless. Help our faith to grow ever stronger, believing that Jesus, who is the resurrection, will raise us up from the death of sin to new and vibrant life.
Saint of the Day
St. Peter Damian was declared a doctor of the Church for practicing what he preached. He reformed and strengthened the Church as an administrator, but he led people with his example.
He was born in 1007 in Italy as the youngest of a large family. When he was orphaned at a young age, he was sent to live with an older brother, who treated him like a slave and sent him to tend the pigs. Another brother, Damian, a priest, took pity on him and welcomed him into his home and educated him. In gratitude, Peter took this brother’s name as his own last name.
Peter was an excellent student and continued in school until he was teaching himself. He was also very pious and devoted himself to prayer and fasting. He seemed to always have a poor person under his care, and often fed them at his own table. He was considering a vocation to the religious life when two Benedictine monks happened to visit him. He heard about their community life and decided to join them.
He was so devout that his fasting and mortifications interfered with his health, and he had to spend time recovering. He used that time to learn the Scriptures well, and when he recovered fully, he was tasked with teaching others, both within the monastery and beyond.
Peter was eventually elected to lead the Benedictine community when the abbot died, and he greatly expanded the monastery and even went on to establish seven other houses for new communities.
He was so intelligent and led such a faithful life that popes and kings began to ask for his assistance in deciding matters. He was named bishop and cardinal, and fervently fought to reform life of the clergy, who were living in worldly ways. Whatever he proposed for others he practiced himself. The pope used him a number of times as his representative.
Peter never lost sight of the life of prayer, and continually sought relief from his official duties so he could live as a hermit. He encouraged people to live heroic lives of faith, especially through his own witness.
St. Peter Damian was declared a doctor of the Church, a title given to 37 saints who are known for elucidating the faith by their words or example. Some of his relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
St. Peter Damian, you urged others to live with heroic virtue by your own example—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Peter Damian is in the public domain. Last accessed December 6, 2024 on Wikimedia Commons.
