Matthew 17: 14-20
When they came to the crowd, a man came to Jesus, knelt before him, and said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; he often falls into the fire and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.”
Jesus answered, “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him here to me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly.
Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly I tell 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; and nothing will be impossible for you.”
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Strength of Love
Nothing will be impossible for you.
What a powerful scene! I am truly struck by the faith of the father and his love for his son. What parent does not desire health and happiness for their child? My wife and I have two grown sons and we pray for them every day. We always will.
I have always known some sense of love in my life…being loved by my parents, the love of God, the love of siblings and certainly the love of my wife and the love for my wife. All love is transformative. But, when I became a father, my understanding of love changed. I realized that, despite how much I love my sons, I cannot make their lives perfect. I cannot fix everything for them. At times, I had to sit back and watch them fail or watch them hurt. This was not easy. In these moments, just like the father in the Gospel passage, I turned to prayer. I turned to Jesus, knowing that he would guide them and comfort them.
With Jesus, all things are possible, especially the strength we need to love, even in the most challenging and difficult circumstances. Amen.
—Ed DeVenney is the Director of Campus Ministry at Saint Ignatius High School in Cleveland, Ohio. He and his wife, Colleen are very proud of their two sons, Brendan and Daniel, who both work in Catholic education. Ed and Colleen live in northeast Ohio with their dog, Spencer.
Prayer
God of love, from before we were born, you have loved us more than we can imagine. In the midst of uncertainty or challenge, may we look to Jesus as a model of how we can love those around us, strengthened always by your love for us. Amen.
—Jesuit Prayer team