Exasperation

“If You can!”  (Mark 9:28).

The Transfiguration of Christ (Willem van Herp)

I have been reflecting on Faith.  I have often said that a person cannot have half faith or part faith.  A person must have full faith and believe with all their heart and mind and soul.  Because there is no such thing as part-faith.  If a person only partially believes that they will not fall then they will keep holding on and never let go.  This means that they will never truly be free.  Faith allows the freedom to be able to move without fear of falling.

In essence, faith is the ability to believe that I will not fall and will not die even if I step out into the space and the unknown.  If I take a step over the edge of a cliff, I will know that I am going to be safe.

And faith is absolute.  It is complete.  If a person has faith it means that they are able to let go of the edge…  A person cannot jump off a cliff and stay on the edge at the same time, and so it is with faith…

“A man said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a dumb spirit...I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.’ And He answered them, ‘O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.’... [The father] said, ‘if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘If You can! All things are possible to him who believes.’ Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, ‘I believe; help my unbelief!’” (Mark 9:14-29).

This happened as Christ was coming down from Mount Tabor after the Transfiguration, which we commemorate in the Fourth Luminous Mystery of the Most Holy Rosary.  And I can imagine the exasperation of Christ.  There He was – having revealed His Divinity to the chosen few and just a short time later, people were saying, “If You can!”

It is not “IF” when a person has faith – it is “WHEN”.  When a person has faith, all things can be achieved.  When a person has faith, they can understand things with a spiritual gaze and not a physical one.  When a person has faith, they can ask God to move mountains and they will not just hope that He can do this, they will KNOW that He can.

It was not the ability of Christ that limited the miracle, but the depth of faith…

And I have been thinking about that today, as I go about my day asking for all the things that I would like my God to help me with…  And I think as I do this, of the exasperation of Christ when He said, “If You can!”  And I think to myself that I would never want to exasperate my Lord like that, and sadly, I think I often do…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.