“And when he was come to the multitude, there came to him a man falling down on his knees before him, saying: ‘Lord, have pity on my son, for he is a lunatic, and suffereth much: for he falleth often into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to thy deisciples, and they could not cure him.’ Then Jesus answered and said: ‘O unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me.’ And Jesus rebuked him, and the devil went out of him, and the child was cured from that hour. Then came the disciples to Jesus secretly, and said: ‘Why could not we cast him out?’ Jesus said to them: ‘Because of your unbelief. For, amen I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, ‘Remove from hence hither,’ and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you. But this kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting.’”
St. Peter, longing to grasp the sweetness of time with the Lord, is then drawn by love’s demands back out to the people, for love does not seek one’s own, but the good of others: “See ye that I have not laboured for myself only, but for all that seek out the truth” (Ecclesiasticus 24:47). Those that can climb to the highest mountains of love and wisdom: “Stay me up with flowers, compass me about with apples: because I languish with love” (Canticle 2:5) are called to give to those who cannot so ascend the fruits of their contemplation, thus does the Psalm say: “Let the mountains receive peace for the people” (Psalm 71:3) by providing the knowledge that soothes the soul. A man then comes forward, imploring Jesus’ aid for his son, because the man points to a mental disorder, while Jesus later removes an unclean spirit. Now, illnesses of the mind are indeed illnesses, but demons can wreak havoc in places where the brain is not operating ideally: “And the servants of Saul said to him: ‘Behold now an evil spirit from God troubleth thee” (1 Kings 16:15), and even through the tortures the boy and those with unhealthy minds endure, Providence upholds them, keeping them from greater evils, as the boy would have been outright killed if God had not restrained the evil spirit: “When thou shalt pass through the waters, I will be with thee, and the rivers shall not cover thee: when thou shalt walk in the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, and the flames shall not burn in thee: For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour” (Isaias 43:2-3). Jesus then responds to the man and those present as a physician whose patient is not following the prescriptions given to them, and that in having the gift of the love of God and not walking in harmony with it, but in either going one’s own way or expecting God’s love to be as fragile as what one sees in fallen humanity, there is a weakness of faith: “For as the heavens are exalted above the earth, so are my ways exalted above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts” (Isaias 55:9). Jesus is looking here to hand on His presence to His people, that He may work through them by the Holy Spirit: “For the Spirit himself giveth testimony to our spirit, that we are the sons of God” (Romans 8:16), and in this they must be strong in faith, and willing to do as He does, and love as He loves: “Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath delivered himself for us” (Ephesians 5:2), with the confidence that it shall be done: “I can do all things in him who strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13); “Behold I command thee, take courage, and be strong. Fear not and be not dismayed: because the Lord thy God is with thee in all things whatsoever thou shalt go to” (Josue 1:9). After this admonition, Jesus rebukes the demon out of love for the boy, showing that all sin and evil, which defile the temple of human nature, should be met with verve: “And when he had made, as it were, a scourge of little cords, he drove them all out of the temple, the sheep also and the oxen, and the money of the changers he poured out, and the tables he overthrew” (John 2:15), but all people treated with the utmost love: “Love edifieth” (1 Corinthians 8:1). There can also be a metaphorical meaning here, that the guardian angels that watch over people lost to their passions, represented by the fire, and who drown themselves in worldly affairs and pleasures, bring them to receive the grace of Christ, the words of spiritual men not making the imprint the angel longs to see. Angels are lifelong companions, and know the best way to reach the heart of the one they tend to, and thus can be called a father to the soul that is overseen, and this angel rejoices with their companions on seeing light break through: “So I say to you, there shall be joy before the angels of God upon one sinner doing penance” (Luke 15:10). The Apostles then, out of confusion, ask Jesus as to why they could not fulfill the duty and power that was given to them: “And having called his twelve disciples together, he gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out” (Matthew 10:1). Jesus says this is because of their unbelief, as their faith had grown stagnant in being separated from Him for a time: “Without me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). While Saints Peter, James, and John were immersed in the divine goodness, the others wither, as they were away from their hearts’ desire: “You shall be as an oak with the leaves falling off, and as a garden without water. And your strength shall be as the ashes of tow, and your work as a spark: and both shall burn together, and there shall be none to quench it” (Isaias 1:30-31), and so is the soul that neglects time with Jesus in Mass, adoration, the Scriptures, and mental prayer, because without receiving His love in prayer, you simply cannot do the works of mercy that it you are called to do. Faith is then compared to a mustard seed, because matters of faith are looked on with contempt as something juvenile and foolish by men who are themselves without wisdom: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7), but when this faith falls into the good soil of a loving heart, it grows into a great tree, filled with mercy, virtue, and wisdom to give shade and fruit to all that would come to it: “He shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season” (Psalm 1:3). The littleness that comes with faith, of being a child of the Father, can “move mountains,” which is on the surface a great, though unnecessary, work, can be interpreted spiritually, such as moving a nest of demons that resembles a mountain crawling with them from a soul: “My name is Legion, for we are many” (Mark 5:9), or great obstacles to one’s love story such as pride or sloth, which block the smooth passage to the King’s Heart: “Every mountain and hill shall be made low” (Isaias 40:4); “The king hath brought me into his storerooms” (Canticle 1:3). However, the greatest obstacles to love are removed by prayer and fasting, with these too being the greatest weapons against the ancient serpent. Fasting itself endues great lightness of soul, for St. Maximus the Confessor’s ideal of asceticism is to simply remove all that hinders constant meditation on divine things: “Let thy thoughts be upon the precepts of God, and meditate continually on his commandments” (Ecclesiasticus 6:37), and when the soul is weighed down with much meat, it has difficulty working through such things, with wandering after various delights hindering the exercise of wisdom entirely. However, more important than fasting is prayer, for vocal prayers such as the Divine Office or the rosary are the greatest swords to be drawn against the enemy: “Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten thousands” (1 Kings 18:7); “By all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the spirit; and in the same watching with all instance and supplication for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:18). However, in addition to this is the need to encounter Jesus in mental prayer and reading the Scriptures, for every warrior needs time to eat, drink, and be cared for, rather than incessantly fighting: “And the land rested from wars” (Josue 11:23); “Arise, eat: for thou hast yet a great way to go” (3 Kings 19:7). However, with these wings of fasting, vocal prayer, and mental prayer, your flight will be lighter than the wind and your life will become angelic: “Upon it stood the seraphims: the one had six wings, and the other had six wings: with two they covered his face” from vanities and gluttony by fasting, “and with two they covered his feet” by letting prayer guard one’s walk of life “and with two they flew” (Isaias 6:2) by mental prayer and sacred reading into the heart of the Beloved by coming to know Him, love Him, and know of His love for you. With these weapons in your armament, your love of neighbor will proceed naturally and beautifully, as your life will be upheld by prayer and not slowed by pleasures, so you can instead live on love: “I have run the way of thy commandments, when thou didst enlarge my heart” (Psalm 118:32).