Casting Out Our Demons - Fr. Gregory - March 29, 2020

Today on the Fourth Sunday of Lent the Gospel lesson comes to us from Mark 9:17-31. Father Gregory shares with us how this New Testament reading echoes the Old Testament as well as how it applies today as we remember Saint John Climacus. This reading narrates a story about a man approaching Jesus seeking healing for his son who has a demon. This he does after he had sought help from the disciples who failed to heal the boy, although they been given power from Jesus and had performed miracles. Jesus tells the father and us that "all things are possible to him who believes," and He heals the man's son. The disciples question Jesus about their inability to cast out the demon and Jesus responds that this kind can only be cast out through prayer and fasting, which are disciplines Jesus Himself taught the disciples from the beginning of His ministry. Saint John Climacus suggests thirty practical but disciplined steps to draw closer to God as we maintain the Grace of God given to us in Baptism and remove our own inner demons.