💖 HOMILY - FEBRUARY 20 💖

First Reading - Ecclesiasticus 1:1-10 

Gospel - Mark 9:14-29

We need confidence in ourselves to carry out our works. Confidence gives us courage. At the same, we need to learn to overcome our overconfidence that can become a reason for downfall rather than progress. The readings of today invite us to learn to have confidence in God through faith.

This first reading is a lovely hymn in praise of Wisdom. It starts from praise of creation, the obvious wonders of creation, deducing with gratitude that all the beauty and wonder of creation, even the raindrops and the grains of sand, is beyond our limited human understanding; these reflections are very close to the wonderful poem of Job 28. Creation is seen as a reflexion of the Wisdom of God, derived from God and speaking of God, giving us a faint image of God’s own Wisdom.

A close reading of the passage encourages us to have confidence in the wisdom of God that transcends human wisdom and understanding. Although, God's wisdom is incomprehensible but a glimpse of it can be captured by observing the beautiful creation that reflects His wisdom. The passage also underlines that to grasp the mighty wisdom of God, it's required that one should fall in love with it. To fall in love with it means to be willing to be educated and guided by the wisdom of God. This is another expression that evokes the attitude of confidence and trust one should have to understand the wisdom of God.

A distinctive nature of wisdom paves a way to decipher a deeper meaning of the gospel of today. The episode of the healing of a deaf and mute boy can have two main ideas that strike out. One is to give an example of the inability of the disciples; this is not their inability to understand but inability to act. Another purpose is to stress the necessity of faith in discipleship.

The disciples were quite confident about the power with which they had cured many and exorcised demons from some in their missionary journey. They might have assumed they could do the same whenever they wished. However, they failed to do so this time when the deaf and mute boy was brought to them. They failed because of their lack of faith. The inability of the disciples to cast out demon appears to have shaken the faith of the father who brought his son to them. However, he confesses his unbelief and gives the affirmation of faith. Consequently, Jesus restores the boy.

Dear friends, faith is a humble disposition of our heart to God. A humble person will always place God in the first place rather than oneself. This gels well with the passage of the first reading that invites us to wear a humble attitude to grasp the wisdom of God. The attitude of humility stands in contrast to pride or arrogance. It's a disposed heart that can possess wisdom and see the wisdom of God in His creation.

On the other side, the gospel shows the attitude of overconfidence of the disciples in order to cast out demon from the boy. This in fact manifests their faith in themselves more than God. Jesus teaches them to trust and have faith in God. This also shows that the spiritual power is not something which once possessed will always be available. It must be maintained and renewed by prayer.

Let's learn to dispose ourselves to acquire wisdom that helps us become humble and kind rather than arrogant and proud. It's here we can cultivate strong faith in God.