4th Sunday in Ordinary Time 1st Reading:
Dt. 18:15-20 2nd Reading: 1 Cor 7:32-35 Gospel: Mark 1:21-28
Jesus and his disciples went into the town of Capernaum and began to teach in the synagogue during the Sabbath assemblies. The people were astonished at the way he taught, for he spoke as one having authority and not like the teachers of the Law.
It happened that a man with an evil spirit was in their synagogue and he shouted, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: You are the Holy One of God.” Then Jesus faced him and said with authority, “Be silent and come out of this man!” The evil spirit shook the man violently and, with a loud shriek, came out of him.
All the people were astonished and they wondered, “What is this? With what authority he preaches! He even orders evil spirits and they obey him!” And Jesus’ fame spread throughout all the country of Galilee.
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the
Assimilated Life
Experience)
It was shocking for Lucifer who was once an angel to know that God was running after human beings, not to judge them for their betrayal but to save them. The last straw that broke the camel’s back was the incarnation. Lucifer found it insulting that God should become human. The incarnation meant one thing he couldn’t swallow: humans were more important to God than angels like him. In disgust he broke from the ranks of the principalities and enthroned himself in hell with this sole mission: to engage humanity in an endless battle.
In recent years Lucifer’s battleground shifted from the external world to man’s inner sanctum. Lucifer labors to make man lose his sense of dignity and so feel it natural to wallow in sin. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI calls this ‘nihilism’ — a state of utter loss of dignity that frees the person from all inhibitions to commit sin.
As human struggle against the power of evil intensifies, today’s Gospel reading comes as a welcome relief. God is at work in society and the devil still listens to Him. We just have to surrender to God by remaining open to his grace “in season and out of season”. A worse form of possession awaits backsliders who, cleansed from evil possession, merely create a vacuum that sucks back the presence of more devils into their lives.
Lucifer is consumed with envy because you are so precious to God – more precious than angels. He wouldn’t miss any opportunity to destroy you. He wouldn’t spare any strategy to lure you into his trap. Forewarned is forearmed! Arm yourselves with God’s grace and never allow the devil to get to first base. — (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com
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