Sunday Vigil

Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Matthew 17,14-19

As they were rejoining the crowd a man came up to him and went down on his knees before him. 'Lord,' he said, 'take pity on my son: he is demented and in a wretched state; he is always falling into fire and into water. I took him to your disciples and they were unable to cure him.' In reply, Jesus said, '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 when Jesus rebuked it the devil came out of the boy, who was cured from that moment. Then the disciples came privately to Jesus. 'Why were we unable to drive it out?' they asked.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

If you believe, you will see the glory of God,
thus says the Lord.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Jesus is approached by a man who is asking mercy for his son. Pain often becomes a cry for mercy, because it is unbearable both for those who suffer and those who must be at the side of their loved ones hit by pain. The young man is not master of himself like many young people who keep falling, prisoners of addictions that make them incapable of control. This dad had not wanted to bother the teacher, and so had brought his son to the disciples, hoping they could heal him. But they could not. First of all Jesus expresses a deep lamentation: "You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you?" These words appear as a reproach for a generation that uses him to receive healings, but that does not accept to get involved in the Father's plan of love. Nevertheless, he immediately has that boy brought in. A single word is enough - "Jesus rebuked the demon" - and it "came out of him." The disciples, upon seeing the miracle, remain embarrassed and amazed at the same time. When they are alone with Jesus, the disciples ask him to explain why they were not able to heal the boy. Jesus responds very clearly and tells them that it was because of their little faith. It is not words or techniques that free people from evil spirits, but the love of God, the true and only strength of the disciples. Jesus' words reveal that the disciples had not had faith and had sought strength in something else. How easily we too rely on personal abilities or the power of this world! In this way we are unable to change our lives and the world. Jesus explains that the disciples' strength lies entirely in faith, even if it is small: "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." From that failure, Jesus opens a future of hope to the disciples: "Nothing will be impossible for you." It is the Lord who continues to act in the world and in history also through his disciples.