Reflection for January 27 Monday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time: Mark 3:22-30

Gospel: Mark 3:22-30

The scribes who had come from Jerusalem said of Jesus, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “By the prince of demons he drives out demons.” Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables, “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 

And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand; that is the end of him. But no one can enter a strong man’s house to plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house. Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.” For they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

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Reflection:

The story is told about a family who would always attend Holy Mass together as a family. Whenever there was a problem in their household, the father or mother would always see to it that they reconciled before the day was over, for to them, God always desired a unified family. Indeed, God is an advocate of unity. 

Yet, the devil seeks to destroy the unity of the family for the simple reason that he thrives on disunity, problems, and conflict. When there is discord and conflict, the evil one has the opportunity to come in and sow more havoc and division. 

In the Gospel, Jesus talks about the importance of unity. He tells us: ‘If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.’ (Mark 3:24-25) 

Unity is indeed very important and essential, especially in a family. What would happen if there is no unity between the father and mother? The same applies to friendship—how can a friendship last if friends are not on the same wavelength? 

The same is true if we are not united with Jesus in our daily lives. What would happen to us if we lived apart from Him and tried to stand on our own in this world? We would end up with nothing but division, loneliness, and evil. – Marino J. Dasmarinas