Monday,
February 03, 2014
4th Week
in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: 2Sam 15:13-14, 30; 16:5-13
Gospel: Mark 5:1-20
Jesus and his disciples arrived on the other side of the lake in the region of the Gerasenes. No sooner did Jesus leave the boat than he was met by a man with evil spirits who had come from the tombs. He lived among the tombs and no one could restrain him, even with a chain. He had often been bound with fetters and chains but he would pull the chains apart and smash the fetters, and no one had the strength to control him. Night and day he stayed among the tombs on the hillsides, and was continually screaming and beating himself with stones.
When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell at his feet and cried with a loud voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the Most High God? For God’s sake I beg you, do not torment me.” He said this because Jesus had commanded, “Come out of the man, evil spirit.” And when Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” he replied, “Legion is my name, for we are many.” And all of them kept begging Jesus not to send them out of that region.
Now, a great herd of pigs was feeding on the hillside, and the evil spirits begged him, “Send us to the pigs and let us go into them.” So Jesus let them go. The evil spirits came out of the man and went into the pigs, and immediately the herd rushed down the cliff and all were drowned in the lake. The herdsmen fled and reported this in the town and in the countryside, so all the people came to see what had happened.
They came to Jesus and saw the man freed of the evil spirits sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the same man who had been possessed by the legion. They were afraid. And when those who had seen it told what had happened to the man and to the pigs, the people begged Jesus to leave their neighborhood.
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Today’s Gospel reading takes us to the following conclusions: 1) Devils work in herds to ensure a person’s damnation; 2) Evil confines a person to the world of tombs, making him a living dead; 3) Vicious life is the favorite breeding ground of evil; 4) Instant exorcism won’t guarantee that devils won’t be back as in fact they do come back stronger than ever; 4) Life of grace nourished by the sacraments insulates us from demonic possession. These form the acronym “devil” for better recall.
Let’s keep these conclusions in mind as we keep ourselves busy doing good works so not to give the devil a chance. As St. John Bosco said, “Idleness is the workshop of the devil”. —Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
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