HEALING AND RAISING UP
Introduction
In Year I, the first reading comes from the wisdom book of Ben Sirach, a high-placed Jewish official of Jerusalem in the 2nd century BC. Whatever wisdom a human person can acquire through education and experience falls far short of true and full wisdom which comes from God, and which often puts human wisdom to shame. Indeed, human wisdom is sometimes folly, and God’s folly, as the wisdom of the cross, is genuine wisdom.
Jesus heals a man who is possessed. He demands faith and trusting prayer, otherwise we are closed to God’s action. Mark describes the healing of the possessed boy in terms of a raising up, like the cure of the mother-in-law of Peter or the raising up of the daughter of Jairus. By his touch Jesus heals and restores life.
Opening Prayer
Compassionate God,
through your Son, Jesus Christ,
you raised the sick to a full life
by healing them.
Take us by the hand too,
touch us and restore us to a fuller humanity.
Touch our minds, that we may become wiser
and look at the world and people
with your own compassionate eyes.
Touch our hearts,
that we may love and serve people more.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen!
1 Reading – SIRACH 1:1-10
All wisdom comes from the LORD and with him it remains forever, and is before all time The sand of the seashore, the drops of rain, the days of eternity: who can number these? Heaven’s height, earth’s breadth, the depths of the abyss: who can explore these? Before all things else wisdom was created; and prudent understanding, from eternity. The word of God on high is the fountain of wisdom and her ways are everlasting. To whom has wisdom’s root been revealed? Who knows her subtleties? To whom has the discipline of wisdom been revealed? And who has understood the multiplicity of her ways? There is but one, wise and truly awe-inspiring, seated upon his throne: There is but one, Most High all-powerful creator-king and truly awe-inspiring one, seated upon his throne and he is the God of dominion. It is the LORD; he created her through the Holy Spirit, has seen her and taken note of her. He has poured her forth upon all his works, upon every living thing according to his bounty; he has lavished her upon his friends.
Responsorial PSALM 93:1ab, 1cd-2, 5
R. (1a) The Lord is king; he is robed in majesty.
The LORD is king, in splendor robed;
robed is the LORD and girt about with strength. R.
And he has made the world firm,
not to be moved.
Your throne stands firm from of old;
from everlasting you are, O LORD. R.
Your decrees are worthy of trust indeed:
holiness befits your house,
O LORD, for length of days. R.
Alleluia Cf. 2 TIMOTHY 1:10
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Our Saviour Jesus Christ has destroyed death
and brought life to light through the Gospel.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel MARK 9:14-29
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.”
Commentary
Help my unbelief
Jesus comes down with the three apostles after the ecstatic experience of transfiguration on the mountain. Peter and his companions wanted to remain in the thickness of the cloud, to experience God’s undiluted presence. But this cannot be: our call is to live with Christ and one another in the daily realities of pains and struggles. Now the disciples are back to the realities of life on the ground.
The scene on the planes which greets the returning apostles is contrary to the beatific vision they had on the top of the mountain. It happens all the time. Despite all the spiritual exercises and prayers, we suddenly find ourselves in disputes and confrontations about what is right and who is right.
Mark must have been narrating his experience in his Community, where they had plenty of disputes, arguments and disagreements. And this is our experience in the Church even today: we are still in arguments. The boy, possessed by the devil and his father, are representatives of the numerous disputes we have among ourselves, our families, and the community. Despite the beatific vision we experience in the Eucharist and our spiritual exercises, it is also our experience that we feel helpless and unable to drive the demons that torment us out of our lives.
The disciples stood embarrassed by their failure in front of so many people and were hoping that Christ could come quickly and deliver them from their discomfort. The crowd, as usual, was always watching, demanding and commenting on the failure of the disciples until they saw Jesus coming down from the mountain.
Jesus had previously commissioned the apostles to exorcise demons, and they had successfully done it in the early part of their following of Jesus (Mark 6:13). However, in this episode, they failed in their effort. Jesus explains the reasons: “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer” (Mark 9:29). Mark indicates that the disciples need to grow not only in faith but also in prayer. One cannot be complacent about having faith in Christ and remain content with past experiences. Faith needs to be constantly nurtured through prayer to confront the forces of evil.
The cured boy remains like a corpse until Jesus raises him by hand. God does that with all of us who remain like the dead. Jesus raised the daughter of Jairus by hand and gave her a new life, he took the deaf and mute person by hand and gave him hearing, he guided the blind at Bethsaida by hand away from the village and gave him sight. Let us join the father of the boy in prayer: “Lord, Help my unbelief.”
Intentions
– Lord, help us to raise up the downhearted from their discouragement by our friendship and our comforting words, we pray:
– Lord, bless doctors, nurses, and those who care for the sick, that they may succeed in raising from their illnesses those who seek their help, we pray:
– Lord, raise from the dead all those dear to us who died with faith and hope in the resurrection, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord our God,
here are your own gifts of bread and wine.
Touch them with the power of the Holy Spirit
to change them into Christ,
our brother and Savior,
that we may share in his victory
over suffering, sickness and death.
We ask this in the name
of him who came to raise us to a higher life,
Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen!
Prayer after Communion
God of mercy and compassion,
let us share in the healing power
of your Son, Jesus Christ.
Give us a spirit of prayer and penance
to make us humble and strong,
and above all a sense of deep faith,
that we can do great things
if we believe in him
and let in us work
his power of raising up people
from their miseries and helplessness.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen!
Blessing
Touching people, taking them by the hand, freeing them from their isolation and raising them up from their sadness and hopelessness are also our tasks, as we continue the work of Jesus. Let us do so with the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!