This prayer was made humbly and wholeheartedly. 

Jesus saw true faith in his prayer;the boy was healed through the faith of his father.

 ◇◇ We pray constantly, ‘Lord, I believe, strengthen my belief’. ◇◇ 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Isaiah 65:17-21

 I now create new heavens and

A new earth, and the former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind again.  Be glad forever and rejoice in what I create; for I create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight.   I will rejoice over Jeru­sa­lem and take delight in my people. The sound of distress and the voice of weeping will not be heard in it any more.

 You will no longer know of dead children or of adults who do not live out a lifetime. One who reaches a hundred years will have died a mere youth, but one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.  They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant crops and eat their fruit.

 

Ps 30:2 & 4, 5-6, 11-12a & 13b

I will praise you, Lord, for you have recued me.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊  

John 4:43-54

When the two days were over, Jesus left for Galilee. Jesus himself said that no prophet is recognized in his own country. Yet the Galileans welcomed him when he arrived, because of all the things which he had done in Jerusalem during the Festival, and which they had seen. For they, too, had gone to the feast.

Jesus went back to Cana of Galilee, where he had changed the water into wine. At Capernaum there was an official, whose son was ill, and when he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and asked him to come and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

Jesus said, "Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe!" The official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies." And Jesus replied, "Go, your son lives!"

The man had faith in the word that Jesus spoke to him, and went his way. As he was approaching his house, his servants met him, and gave him the good news, "Your son has recovered!"

So he asked them at what hour the child began to recover, and they said to him, "The fever left him yesterday, at about one o'clock in the afternoon." And the father realized that that was the time when Jesus had told him, "Your son lives!" And he became a believer, he and all his family.

Jesus performed this second miraculous sign when he returned from Judea to Galilee.

  

Gospel Reflection：

Faith Up One's Sleeve

At the plea of the official to heal his son, Jesus expresses some exasperation, surprisingly so. Did he doubt the genuineness of the faith of the official? It appears so. But the man was too concerned with his son's illness to debate anything else. Jesus does not disappoint him, anyway.

The evangelist seems to believe that the man had faith. But did he, really? For, if he had authentic faith, why did he have to ask his servants for the exact hour of his son's recovery? He had to match the time of recovery with the time of his encounter with Jesus, to finally believe.

Until now he just wore his faith on his sleeve, and now he lets it into his heart. So, at the end of it all, Jesus was right in his sixth sense: the man would believe only after the signs matched! Far more blessed are those who believe without matching evidence!