SATURDAY, March 20 (Cuthbert of Lindisfarne)

Mark 9:14-29. This kind can come out only through prayer.

I can identify with the disciples when I read today's passage. The disciples had tried, no doubt with the best intentions, to cast out an unclean spirit, but they had failed. We, too, often fired with enthusiasm, try to do God's work only to fail. A stewardship drive, an adult Bible class, introducing a newcomer to Christ--any number of projects on which we embark can fall surprisingly flat, leaving us wondering why.

When we have a brilliant idea for some project for God, amazed at our own ingenuity, do we pray about it? When we venture to "go out on a limb" for God, impressed with our own courage, do we pray about it? When we endeavor to reach or help others for God, pleased with our own magnanimity, do we pray about it? Or do we assume everything depends on our own talent, energy, intelligence, and leadership?

Jesus said, "Apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). In my experience, I can actually do a lot of things on my own, but I have discovered that in the end, none of them matters. What matters is what Jesus does through me, and that happens only when I have surrendered my will to him and gotten out of the way. (1979)

PRAY for the Diocese of Bujumbura (Burundi)

Ps 107:33-43, 108:1-6(7-13) * 33; Exodus 2:23-3:15; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

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