Episode Details

The gospel today teaches us how to foster our faith by removing the obstacles to the reception of the grace of faith. A father of his possessed son asks Our dear Lord's disciples to liberate his suffering son from the mute devil within him. They find out that they could not. Our Lord arrives from the Mount Tabor excursion with His favorite apostles Peter, James, and John. He approaches the crowd forming around the distressed father. He sizes up the situation and asks the dad to fill Him in about the background of the possession of his child. The man lets out a heart-wrenching plea for Jesus to help Him. He prefaces it with a conditional that does not please Jesus. He placed a conditional clause for his faith, i.e., "If you can..." Our Lord points out to him his error. Then, the inconsolable man manifests the truth of his faith in Jesus. He does it sincerely. The truth of his dispositions consists of his belief that Our Lord can do the exorcism, but at the same time, he admits his faith is not solid. This humble acceptance of this deficiency opens his soul to accept Jesus' infusing him with more faith. He declares, "I believe but help my unbelief." With this, Jesus cures his son of the mute demon.