Saturday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Or Optional Memorial of Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, Virgin and Martyr
Matthew 17:14-20
Drive the evil out by prayer

There are moments in life when we are simply helpless. Like the father in today’s Gospel, who brings his suffering son to Jesus, we too carry the weight of our loved ones’ pain. His son’s epilepsy, a terrible illness, causes him to lose control, fall, and injure himself. The father cannot help him. He stands by, watching—loving, suffering, and waiting. How many mothers and fathers today, how many friends and family members, know this helplessness, this silent anguish?

But there is another illness that many of us carry—a kind of spiritual epilepsy. It doesn’t convulse the body, but it shakes the soul. It makes people feel worthless, as if they don’t matter. It leaves others confused, unstable, unable to finish what they begin. Some feel voiceless, as if their cry cannot be heard, even by God.

To all of this, Jesus offers a gentle yet firm response: “Bring him here to me.” And so we must bring ourselves, too—just as we are—into the presence of the Lord. The disciples once asked why they couldn’t heal the boy. Jesus said plainly: “This kind can only come out through prayer.”

Yes, prayer. Real, honest, intimate prayer. Even if all we do is sit in silence, letting Jesus look at us with love. Even if all we can do is cry in His presence. There, in prayer, our hearts are restored. The Lord listens. He heals. He lifts us up.

So today, let us not be afraid to pray. Let us bring to Jesus our sufferings, our doubts, even our spiritual chaos. In His love, there is power. In His presence, there is peace.

And in prayer, there is the miracle of healing.

© Claretian Publications, Hong Kong, China
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica 2025