''Help my unbelief!''

Today's Gospel reading (Mk. 9:14-29) contains one of my very favorite lines in scripture.

A father, in his desperation, asks Jesus to free his son of a demon "if [He] can." When Jesus tells him that "Everything is possible to one who has faith," he replies with a very poignant cry--"I do believe, help my unbelief!"

I accept and adopt as my own beliefs all that is taught by the Church. Sometimes that's a lot easier said than done, though. This may not resonate as deeply with our cradle Catholic readers, but I imagine the converts out there know what I'm talking about. One can recognize the fallacies in all those things that get trotted out against our faith, one may have never given them any stock in the first place, but Satan uses everything possible to keep us away from the Truth. Things creep up in the back of one's mind, unbidden and unwelcome but present all the same. In these times, we do well to call out to God as the father in today's Gospel did. "I do believe, help my unbelief!" Just as He cast the demon out of that man's son, He is faithful to cast out our doubts and fears.

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