What an interesting Gospel reading
we have today. The crowds have seen
Jesus perform many miracles. Yet, when
they see Jesus drive out a demon, they respond that Jesus must be able to do
this from some demonic power inside himself.
Jesus responds to them, saying: “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?”
Jesus challenges the
crowd: “If Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?” We can see in the reality of our world today
that what Jesus says is true: There are two kingdoms – the kingdom of God
versus the kingdom of Satan. Yes, whoever is not with Jesus is against him;
whoever does not gather with him scatters.
Jesus invites those of us who
follow him to do so completely & without compromise. Our act of contrition in the sacrament of
reconciliation states that we “firmly resolve, with the help of God’s grace, to
confess our sins, to do penance & to amend our life.” This is the theme of Luke’s gospel passage
today: that we wholeheartedly follow Jesus as his disciples.
Jesus
expelled demons in today’s Gospel. How
do we turn to God to expel those things that are the demons in our own
lives? We cannot do this on our own –
only with Jesus' help will our continuing process of repentance &
conversion to be successful.
Today, we celebrate Our Lady
of the Rosary. The Rosary has been a
favorite prayer of Catholics for centuries, it has been a source of strength
and a connection to the divine that has helped so many of us along our journey.
In fact, Pope St. Pius V established the feast
of Our Lady of the Rosary in 1573 in order to express our thanks to God for the
victory of Christians over the Turkish forces in the battle of Lepanto, a
victory attributed to the praying of the rosary
For
those of us who question the source of Jesus’ power & authority to heal us
& to rid us of the demons that inhibit us, we should remember that our Lord
calls us to put our trust in him, to have faith even in those situations that
we don’t completely understand. The crowds in today’s Gospel story are very
judgmental: We should acknowledge the presence of God that can be in our lives
and in the lives of others in so many different ways, & not be so
judgmental ourselves.
