Misery, Pity, Perfection
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Saturday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Read this Gospel passage aloud to the family
Matthew 17:14-20 - A man came up to Jesus, knelt down before him, and said, "Lord, have pity on my son, who is a lunatic and suffers severely; often he falls into fire, and often into water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him." Jesus said in reply, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long will I be with you? How long will I endure you? Bring the boy here to me." Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out of him, and from that hour the boy was cured. Then the disciples approached Jesus in private and said, "Why could we not drive it out?" He said to them, "Because of your little faith. Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, "Move from here to there," and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.
(Parent) Reread this part a few times aloud
“A man came up to Jesus, knelt down before Him, and said, ‘Lord have pity…’”
(Parent) Read this meditation aloud to the family
In the Gospel, there are many people who beg the Lord to have pity—and He does. Our reality, our true reality, is that we must rely on God for everything. He made us out of nothing, and apart from Him we can do nothing. Without God we are unable to overcome sin or its effects. Without Him we don’t understand things as we should. Without Him we don’t desire the things we should in the way we should. Without Him we don’t choose the things we should. In reality, left alone, we are pitiful creatures.
Sometimes we get a glimpse of our great weakness or of the horror of our sin. This is painful, but it can be very good for us. These glimpses remind us of our true state of nothingness. We have an utter need for God. We have an utter need for God to have pity on us. But it is essential that we don’t dwell on our weakness and our sin. God’s strength and love are infinitely greater than our weakness and sin, and He wishes to have pity on us, help us in our weakness, and forgive our sin. There is a wonderful equation that is helpful for us to remember: God’s perfection + our misery = God’s perfection. What this means is that, when God in His perfection unties with us in our misery, our misery is swallowed up and transformed in God’s perfection. He is not made worse. But we are made better. What is ultimately left remaining between us and God is only God perfection. So let us bring our misery to Him. Let us pray now, “Lord have pity!”
As a family, pray a portion of the Rosary together (very short if children are young) reflecting on the Scripture passage above. (Optional: allow a brief time for discussion or questions from children concerning their thoughts and prayer.)
Reminder for Parents: Pier is just meant to be a jumping off point. The real goal is that you pray & eventually use the fruits of your personal prayer as the content of your family’s prayer. Duc in altum.
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