Sunday Vigil
Memorial of Saint Lawrence (+258), deacon and martyr. He pointed to the poor as the true treasure of the Church. Memorial of those who serve them in the name of the Gospel.
Reading of the Word of God
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Whoever lives and believes in me
will never die.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia
Matthew 17,14-20
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. He answered, 'Because you have so little faith. In truth I tell you, if your faith is the size of a mustard seed you will say to this mountain, "Move from here to there," and it will move; nothing will be impossible for you.'
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 for 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 in pain. The young man is not master of himself like the many young people who keep falling, prisoners of addictions that make them incapable of control. In actuality, this father 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. Jesus expresses first of all a great lament: "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." These words appear as a rebuke to a generation that resorts to him to receive healings, but does not accept to involve itself in the Father's plan of love. Nevertheless, he immediately has the boy brought to him. Just one word - "Jesus rebuked the demon - and it "came out of him." On seeing the miracle, the disciples are both embarrassed and amazed. And when they find themselves alone with Jesus, they ask him for an explanation as to why they had not been able to heal that boy. Jesus answers with great clarity saying that it was because of their little faith. It is not words or techniques that deliver people from evil spirits, but the love of God, the disciples' true and only power. Jesus' words reveal that the disciples had lacked faith and had sought strength in something else. From that failure, Jesus opens a future of hope for 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.