THEY RAN TO GREET HIM

PRAYER MOMENT  

Monday 24 February 2014.

THEY RAN TO GREET HIM

Pause. Be in the presence of the Lord and the confused people.

Reading. “The moment they saw him the whole crowd were struck with amazement and ran to greet him.” (Mark 9:14-29)

Reflection. Amazement, confusion, frustration, faith – they are all there in this passage from Mark. There is excitement among the people but Jesus senses the superficiality of it and cries out in frustration, “How much longer must I put up with you?” We are in chapter 9 and like with the blind man in chapter 8 this healing takes time because they are a “faithless generation.” In the end the father of the tormented boy pleads, “help the little faith I have.” And the boy is cured. We can take the passage as a commentary for today with all the excitement that can be there in religious events, even the popularity of Pope Francis. And we ask ourselves how deep is the faith? How far does it go? And we too can make that prayer, “Help my little faith.”        

Prayer. Lord, we live in a time of excitement and constant visual images of people and events. But help us to go deeper to that rocklike basis for our life which is our relationship with you. Amen.

David Harold-Barry SJ