The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate two complementary aspects of our mission: virtues and prayer.
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| Healing and prayer |
The reading from the Letter of James identifies two kinds of Wisdom, one as True Wisdom.
* [3:13–18] This discussion of true wisdom is related to the previous reflection on the role of the teacher as one who is in control of his speech. The qualities of the wise man endowed from above are detailed (Jas 3:17–18; cf. Gal 5:22–23), in contrast to the qualities of earthbound wisdom (Jas 3:14–16; cf. 2 Cor 12:20).1
In Psalm 19, the creator’s wisdom is declared available to human beings in the law.
* [Psalm 19] The heavenly elements of the world, now beautifully arranged, bespeak the power and wisdom of their creator (Ps 19:2–7). The creator’s wisdom is available to human beings in the law (Ps 19:8–11), toward which the psalmist prays to be open (Ps 19:12–14). The themes of light and speech unify the poem.2
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus rescues the healing of a boy with a spirit from the misstep of His disciples.
* [9:14–29] The disciples’ failure to effect a cure seems to reflect unfavorably on Jesus (Mk 9:14–18, 22). In response Jesus exposes their lack of trust in God (Mk 9:19) and scores their lack of prayer (Mk 9:29), i.e., of conscious reliance on God’s power when acting in Jesus’ name. For Matthew, see note on Mt 17:14–20. Lk 9:37–43 centers attention on Jesus’ sovereign power.3
Kyle Lierk shares the crux of the story and the real teaching moment for Jesus. He shares with the father, loud enough so everyone within earshot can hear, “Everything is possible to one who has faith.”
Well if that isn’t a lesson I need to continue learning, I don’t know what is! In my imagination with the scripture, I join the father in saying, “I do believe, help my unbelief!”
Like Bagger Vance and this father, there are times when the dark spirits of life are “shouting their bad advice” (as Mary Oliver calls it) and I succumb to the confusion and chaos that causes. I lose sight of my true north and begin finding myself in the “rough” of life. Inevitably, Jesus shows up with light in his eyes through my wife or a friend or some momentary gift from nature and reteaches me the lesson of belief. As St. Ignatius of Loyola wrote in his Autobiography (referring to himself in the third person), “At that period God dealt with him as a teacher instructing a pupil.”4
Don Schwager quotes “Emerging faith seeks maturity,” by Saint Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"In saying, 'When the Son of Man shall come, shall he find faith upon the earth?' our Lord spoke of that faith which is fully matured, which is so seldom found on earth. The church's faith is full, for who would come here if there were no fullness of faith? And whose faith when fully matured would not move mountains (Matthew 17:20; 21:22)? Look at the apostles themselves, who would not have left all they had, trodden under foot this world's hope, and followed the Lord, if they had not had proportionally great faith. And yet if they had already experienced a completely matured faith, they would have not said to the Lord, 'Increase our faith' (Luke 17:5). Rather we find here an emerging faith, which is not yet full faith, in that father who when he had presented to the Lord his son to be cured of an evil spirit and was asked whether he believed, answered, 'Lord, I believe, help me in my unbelief' (Mark 9:24). 'Lord,' says he, 'I believe.' 'I believe': therefore there was faith; but 'help me in my unbelief': therefore there was not full faith (Hebrews 10:22)." (excerpt from SERMONS ON NEW TESTAMENT LESSONS 65)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Mark 9:14-29 asks don’t we sometimes feel like these disciples? We try to share your faith with a neighbor, only to have it blow up in our face. Or we offer to pray for an ailing family member, only to be rebuffed in the harshest of terms. It’s as if we had put our foot in the wrong place and ended up sliding down the mountain.
“This kind can only come out through prayer,” Jesus told his disciples (Mark 9:29). There’s no easy formula. Sometimes the footholds are hard to find. Sometimes the air is too thin. You have to be careful. You have to be deliberate. You have to be humble. In the end, the best you can do is try to stay close to the Lord and follow his lead—whatever you think that is.
There’s no guarantee that you will always get it right. The only thing you can be sure of is that, even if you slide down the mountain, Jesus will always be there to pick you up, encourage you, and help you keep climbing.6
Friar Jude Winkler notes that James counsels virtue against jealousy and ambition. Help my unbelief is our call for help from the Spirit. Friar Jude warns about our tendency to want to act on our own authority.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, is sharing Chris Heuertz’ Enneagram-based explanation of the three Intelligence Centers, which Cynthia Bourgeault described so well in last week’s meditations on Mind, Body, and Heart. [2] This week we are focusing on the Body’s Intelligence Center, sometimes referred to as the Gut or Instinctual Center.
Many of us don’t know how to hear from God in the present [moment]. . . . But God is here now, closer than our very breath, and can be found in our Intelligence Centers—the Enneagram’s way of helping us recognize our primary mode of perceiving this world through either our head, heart, or body. Each of these Intelligence Centers offers us a different way of experiencing the loving presence and voice of God. . . .
Our Intelligence Centers help us hear and invite us to greater discernment. . . . Discernment is our ability to judge what is good, true, and beautiful. Discernment is also the inner knowledge of how to act on that which we perceive. Our use of discernment relies on the clarity of our centered minds, the objectivity of peace-filled hearts, and the unobstructed impulses or instincts of our bodies. . . .
Can we learn to listen to God in our minds, trusting the silence underneath the clutter of noise? Can we learn to trust the voice of God that speaks in our hearts, through feelings of pain and peace? Can we learn to sense God at work in our bodies, speaking to us through our resistances and our openness? . . .7
Our mind, body and heart respond, when touched in prayer, to welcome Jesus teaching on faith and virtue.
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