Gospel:
Luke 11:15-26
When
Jesus had driven out a demon, some of the crowd said: “By the power of
Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons.” Others, to test him,
asked him for a sign from heaven. But he knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every
kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against
house. And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? 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? Therefore they
will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons,
then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man fully armed guards
his palace, his possessions are safe. But when
one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him, he takes away the armor on
which he relied and distributes the spoils. Whoever is not with me is against
me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
“When an
unclean spirit goes out of someone, it roams through arid regions searching for
rest but, finding none, it says, ‘I shall return to my home from which I came.’
But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and
brings back seven other spirits more wicked than itself who move in and dwell
there, and the last condition of that man is worse than the first.”
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Reflection:
What
motivates us to accuse falsely or to destroy the good reputation of our
fellowmen? Its greed, anger, envy and other negative emotions. These emotions
are so dangerous that it could even lead us to kill. All of these are devious instruments
of the devil. All of these are used by the devil to entice us to be at his
side.
How could
we refuse these enticements of the devil? We must always pray, we must always
do good and we must at all times be focused on our mission to spread the
teachings of Jesus through our words and actions.
By doing
good Jesus was accused as being with the Demon, what a reckless accusation
emanating from the crowd! Is it Jesus siding with the demon or the crowd siding
with the demon? The demon will never do good it will always seek to create
chaos and manufacture baseless accusations.
Come to
think of it, by accusing Jesus the crowd allowed themselves to be used by the
demon himself. In like manner we also allow ourselves to be an instrument of
the demon when we purposely accuse people even without a grain of truth.
The demon
or devil is a clear and present danger to all of us. It’s always there imminently
present looking for the right timing to lure us. However if we are close to
Jesus and we practice and live the teachings of Jesus. We have nothing to worry
for the simple reason that the devil can do nothing to us.
Do you always
live the teachings of Jesus? – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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