According to Richard Foster, the key to the heart of Jesus is through our prayers. When I was still a kid, I always associated prayers with my wishes. I prayed to God when I needed or wanted something. However, when I grew up, I realized that prayers are not simply my wishes to God. Rather, it is our way of conversing with God. Through our prayers, we develop a personal and meaningful relationship with the Lord. It is how he can do miracles in our hearts. Through prayer, he can bring our lives into alignment with his vision and plans.

In the Gospel, when Jesus is asked by the disciples about their inability to cast out the demon, he emphasizes the need for prayerful dependence on God. If we rely on our own strength, we will always fail. Success does not rest on our power. Self-sufficiency is the enemy of faith. We are not supposed to handle our trials alone. As a priest-in-process, the gospel challenges me to always pray to God that my faith be strengthened. We must be a people who rely on God, and our dependence is most evident in our commitment to prayer. All things are possible for someone who believes. Nothing is impossible with God.

By: Sem. Arjay Ligamzon

Gospel: Mark 9:14-29

As Jesus came down from the mountain with Peter, James, John
and approached the other disciples,
they saw a large crowd around them and scribes arguing with them.
Immediately on seeing him,
the whole crowd was utterly amazed.
They ran up to him and greeted him.
He asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?”
Someone from the crowd answered him,
“Teacher, I have brought to you my son possessed by a mute spirit.
Wherever it seizes him, it throws him down;
he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid.
I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they were unable to do so.”
He said to them in reply,
“O faithless generation, how long will I be with you?
How long will I endure you? Bring him to me.”
They brought the boy to him.
And when he saw him,
the spirit immediately threw the boy into convulsions.
As he fell to the ground, he began to roll around
and foam at the mouth.
Then he questioned his father,
“How long has this been happening to him?”
He replied, “Since childhood.
It has often thrown him into fire and into water to kill him.
But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
Jesus said to him,
“‘If you can!’ Everything is possible to one who has faith.”
Then the boy’s father cried out, “I do believe, help my unbelief!”
Jesus, on seeing a crowd rapidly gathering,
rebuked the unclean spirit and said to it,
“Mute and deaf spirit, I command you:
come out of him and never enter him again!”
Shouting and throwing the boy into convulsions, it came out.
He became like a corpse, which caused many to say, “He is dead!”
But Jesus took him by the hand, raised him, and he stood up.
When he entered the house, his disciples asked him in private,
“Why could we not drive the spirit out?”
He said to them, “This kind can only come out through prayer.”