The message of the Virgin Mary - By Fr Dimitrios Bokoutranslated

A father brought his child to Christ, telling him that he was mooning. Christ showed that the child was possessed by a demon. It was not affected by the moon or the stars in any way, as people thought and often think.

And of course Christ healed the child, rebuking and casting out the demon. To his disciples, who failed to cast out the evil spirit, he imputed a lack of faith, prayer and fasting (Matthew 1st Sunday).

This dynamic triptych (faith, prayer, fasting) is something that does not ring pleasantly in our ears today. It requires conditions that we are not willing to provide. In principle, man is not satisfied with faith. He wants unwavering certainties, palpable certainty about everything. He is more attached to his logic, usually accepting only what it can explain. Realities beyond logic, such as God, are accepted with agnosticism, since there are no logical, i.e. irrefutable, proofs for them. Faith is not enlisted anywhere. The rule applies, "what we can't talk about, we better keep silent". Reason is deified, faith is despised.

Prayer presupposes displacement…