Father, Help My Unbelief

Faith is a Gift. It's a grace from God. Our own faith may falter, and that's why the community of the Body of Christ is so important. It can carry us through those times we can't see that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.

I have faith.  If I rated it on a scale of one to ten, sometimes it's at the top of the scale, and it sometimes drops to a four or a five.  The latter usually occurs because I've unconsciously put too much importance on my role as a believer instead of on the power and mercy of God.

I've prayed in front of the Blessed Sacrament for many dire situations. When the hubby was in his accident, I had the faith of expectant prayer. I knew in my heart that my hubby would be healed, though I always submitted, "God's will be done," and I was prepared to accept His will, whatever He decided.  There have been other life-threatening situations that friends and family have experienced, and with many of them, I felt confident that my prayers for healing would be answered.  Note that I did NOT have a premonition, and I wasn't given the gift of Prophecy (which is being a mouthpiece for God's Word.) Just a sure faith that it was God's will that these people be healed.

However, there was one woman who had a serious illness. When I would pray for her, I usually felt nothing, and when I did experience a sensation, it was doubt mixed with fear.  I cannot see into the heart of another, but from her choice of church, it seemed she didn't believe in Jesus. And I knew that her painful journey had led her into Pantheistic practices.

I worried that Jesus would not be able to work his miracle without her cooperation.

Mark 6:  Then Jesus said to them, "Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house." And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.

Jesus couldn't work His deeds of power because the people didn't believe.  He could  have cured them all if He wished. He's God. But He wanted them to cooperate with His grace. And this was my worry.

By Spc. Lindsey Schulte [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

What I had failed to recall was the healing of the paralytic in Mark 2.  Jesus was in Capernaum, and there were so many around Him that four men who had brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus for healing couldn't reach Him. So they cut a hole in the roof of the house where He was staying and lowered their friend down to Him.

The passage never mentions the faith of the paralytic.  His friends  had faith, and through their faith, Jesus healed the man.

This woman had many people offering prayers for her. Many Rosaries were said for her healing. I forgot the power of the prayers of the community. I forgot the power of our  faith, and so, when the woman was healed, I felt joyful surprise.  I also felt shame.

I had faith in my prayers, but didn't have faith in the prayers of the community. I isolated my belief and made it dependent on my interpretation of circumstances, as if there were criteria to be met before Jesus would act.  Spiritual Pride.

We have The Prayers of the Faithful at every Mass where we come together as a community to offer our intentions.  This is a good reminder that the many can pray for the one, and that the one doesn't have to be in a good mood, or grateful, or even believe in order for the prayers of the many to reach God's ears. They believe, and that's enough.