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July 3, 2021In this fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time the Gospel of Mark, chapter 6, vs. 1-6, provides us with the telling of Jesus’ teaching in the synagogue and that the listeners were astonished by His Wisdom said, “Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him…? Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary…?” Yet the wisdom spoken was diluted by the speaker itself.
If we place ourselves in the midst of this conversational telling, we can almost hear the congregation of the synagogue say—isn’t this guy one of us, a local yokel? There is no way he can have this wisdom, this way of speaking. In fact, the end of the gospel account leads us to understand that since they recognized Jesus as one of themselves, a local bloke, he could not perform any miracles, aside from a few simple healings. This always makes me think of the Warlock in the Christmastime children’s story, Santa Clause is Coming to Town, who after his power is drained from him he is left with just a few “trick” in his bag of his magical repertoire.
But what this gospel truly speaks to is the level of faith, or perhaps the level of unbelief, that the people in the synagogue had—and what our level of faith today in Christ and His power might have on the practice of our own faith in the modern world. It makes me think of my own prayer life—as well as the things I pray for and the expectation of what will come from those prayers?
Prayer, and the intensity of it as this week’s gospel addressed, is always a wonderful topic of conversation at any time.
So, how do I pray—and for what do I pray? Translated another way, do I believe that the depth and breadth of my faith’s belief have an impact on the graces I receive and the impact of the sacramental life of the Church on me?
First, let us agree that faith is not magic. We don’t say a prayer—an incantation, if you will—and poof, whatever we asked for from God, He grants. Faith is a belief in what cannot be seen but is there, through the understanding of God’s Wisdom, Love and His plan for our lives. When we receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist, whether we believe in the power of Transubstantiation or not, the Eucharist comes into being by the valid and licit act of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The faith-level of the believer in the pew does not ‘make or break’ the Words of Christ repeated and prayed by the validly ordained priest—if the priest’s words, intentions and actions are correctly stated and completed, the transformation of the bread and wine into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ is made present.
Yet the level of the faith of the believer, when at the reception of the Holy Eucharist and he or she says the word, “AMEN,” is a fact in faith: do we believe that the bread and wine are now transformed into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ? The impact of the Sacrament, validly instituted, can impact the power of the reception of the sacrament on the individual. Similarly, when one makes their wedding vows on the day of marriage, do they fully believe in those words and are the committed “for better for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part.” The gift of God’s grace and favor is in the sacrament, but do I have a full ascent of the will to believe?
In the synagogue that day as Jesus preached, He was the Lord. His Wisdom was present, His power and His grace and favor were ever-present, yet did the hearers believe or were they weak in faith, people of unbelief? Our faith is a gift from God through Jesus Christ. And we are free, due to His unconditional and abiding love, to accept Him or not. His gift is never forced upon us nor does He alter His Love for us depending upon our acceptance of His Love. He is God and He is immutable. In the end, the greatest thing we may do to grow our faith and to access the Grace and Favor of God is to deepen our prayer life—conversations with God—so that our faith in Him and His Plan for us may ever grow. Let us expand our journey as a faith community in prayer.
Finding new ways to pray as well as new methodologies of prayer, will help to deepen our conversations with the Lord. Asking Him to be with us each day—in the joys and particularly in the struggles and trials of everyday life. He is interested—ever so much—for He created you in His Divine Image and Likeness, and desires nothing more to be with you forever and ever. “This is the will of the one who sent me, says the Lord, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I will raise it on the last day.” (John 6:39)
As a starter, I will make a recommendation for growing our prayer life into faith: I am reading a daily reflection book, brief and powerfully relevant each day, entitled “Praying with Saint Paul: Daily Reflections on the Letters of the Apostle Paul.” Magnificat; edited by Fr. Peter Cameron, O.P.
