In this Gospel we are shown the great power of God. Jesus drives out the demon from the mute man, and he is immediately questioned and accused. The people say he drives out the demons by the power of the prince of demons. Jesus ever so powerfully responds, “For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons. If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own people drive them out?” He also says, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house.”

Jesus here is calling us to faith, faith in the power of God. In order to fully call ourselves Christians, followers and witnesses to Christ, we need to be absolutely invested in Christ. We are called from our ways of complacency, to have a change of heart. Jesus is beckoning us to live fully as His follower, to love one another, to be Christ in the world. Let us ask Jesus for the gift of faith so that we might be true witnesses to Christ.

—Jack Lupica, a senior at Saint Ignatius High School, Cleveland, OH.