Daily Mass Gospel Reflection- Faith, Trust, and Nothing Impossible

Word on Fire Ministry ^ | 8.12.23 | Bishop Robert Barron

[MurphsLaw]

Matthew 17:14-20

Friends, in today’s Gospel,
Jesus exhorts his disciples and us to exercise our faith.
St. Paul tells us that “we walk by faith, not by sight.”
We see the world around us.
And we can learn to understand it according to conventional categories—
political, cultural, economic, etc.
Christians don’t turn from the world that reason delivers.

But our primary orientation is not given by reason;
it’s given by faith.
This has nothing to do with irrationality or credulity.
It has to do with an appreciation of God and the movement of God—
in and through all of the conventional events perceived in the conventional manner.

What is God doing?
Sometimes it is exceedingly hard to see.
But we trust.
It might happen slowly and in the face of overwhelming contrary evidence,
but God is always acting.
From the smallest beginnings can come the accomplishment of God’s purpose.

God is working, though we can’t see it with our eyes.
That’s why Jesus says,
“Amen, I say to you, 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.
Nothing will be impossible for you.”

[MurphsLaw]

+++A man came up to Jesus,
knelt down before him, and said,
"Lord, have pity on my son,
who is a lunatic and suffers severely;
often he falls into fire,
and often into water.
I brought him to your disciples,
but they could not cure him."
Jesus said in reply,
"O faithless and perverse generation,
how long will I be with you?
How long will I endure you?
Bring the boy here to me."
Jesus rebuked him and the demon
came out of him,
and from that hour the boy was cured.
Then the disciples approached
Jesus in private and said,
"Why could we not drive it out?"
He said to them,
"Because of your little faith.
Amen, I say to you,
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.
Nothing will be impossible for you."