Fr Paul Gooley reads from the Gospel of Mark (9: 14 – 29) in which Jesus tells the father who asks Jesus to heal his son of epilepsy if he can, “Everything is possible for anyone who has faith.”

Fr Paul says this vivid account of the healing of the epileptic boy is perhaps the most dramatically told of all Jesus’ wonderful healings. Anyone who has seen an epileptic fit will tell you that it is as if an alien power has taken over the person having the fit. It is not surprising that, in the extremely limited state of medical knowledge in first-century Palestine, it should be regarded as the attack of an evil spirit.

In modern terms, I think we can all appreciate the effects of a confrontation with a powerful personality and admit that we cannot set limits or even imagine what would happen if we came face to face with the divine personality of Jesus.

The struggling faith of the father of the boy is also a comfort at times of doubt. He believes and yet he hardly believes, as the cry of his agonized hope declares.

Fr Paul invites us to consider today’s Gospel Lesson – Everything is possible for anyone who has faith…even a small amount of faith.