Monday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
(Sirach 1:1-10; Mark 9:14-29)
Today’s gospel has a parallel at the beginning of Mark’s
Gospel. After he was baptized and heard God
proclaiming him His Son, Jesus confronted the devil in the desert. Here, he comes down from the mountain, where
God again declared him His Son, to battle again with the devil. This time the devil has possessed a boy.
On both occasions Jesus triumphs. The devil, no match for God’s grace, yields
to Jesus’ command. He tells his
disciples that the reasons he succeeds can be found in the prayer he
makes. He has prayed for the boy’s
deliverance.
When we pray constantly, we will experience many marvelous
deeds. They will surprise us at times,
not being the expected answers to our requests.
Social scientists might tell us that prayer makes little, if any,
difference among the people they survey.
Yet we know from believers that prayer’s effects may be uncanny but
nevertheless are real.
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