Flannery O’Conner – ‘Bring the boy to me’

“Lord, I believe; help my unbelief” is the most natural and human and agonising prayer in the gospels, and I think it is the foundation prayer of faith.

Flannery O’Connor

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Mark 9:18-24 

¹⁹ Bring the boy to me.”

²⁰ So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

²¹ Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”

“From childhood,” he answered. ²² “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

²³ “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

²⁴ Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help my unbelief!”

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I love this idea too; the idea that the action of belief can heal. It is irrelevant or at least not our concern on some level, whether God exists, rather it is our openness to the transcendent that is important. “I do believe; help my unbelief!” Raise up your hands and reach beyond yourselves, this is the point of spiritual restoration. Also read Flannery O’Connor! Read A Good Man Is Hard To Find. It’s a short, sharp shock of a story!

Love, Susie with a bit of the husband.