Tuesday, October 04, 2016

Reflection for Friday October 7, Our Lady of the Rosary; Luke 11:15-26

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:
Does Jesus deserve the accusation that He is a demon? Has he done any demonic actions to earn the accusation? No Jesus doesn’t deserve the accusation  and He surely has not done any actions contrary to His mission. None at all!

The crowd’s accusation originates from the deceit and envy in their hearts. And who planted that deceit and envy? It’s Beelzebul the prince of demons himself! So it was actually the accusers who were in fact possessed by the demon.

We must be careful not to allow deceitful/envious and other negative emotions to takes root in our hearts for these are temptations that originate from the devil. We should instead fill our hearts and minds with thoughts that are Godly.  Of course we must choose to be with Jesus for this is always the correct choice.  If we are not for Jesus, then we are against Jesus there’s no middle ground.

Why should we choose to be in the company of the devil when it will not do any good to our lives? The devil will bring us nothing but problems and perdition.  Although he often times disguises his diabolical intentions and himself through the many attractive things of this world.  

We should therefore be discerning because the devil may already be enticing  us without us knowing it. How would we able to discern if the devil is already laying his enticement upon us? We have to be close to Jesus and should not walk away from Jesus, for this is the only way that we could discern the presence of the devil.  The same devil who always seeks to destroy us by trying his very best to snatch us away from the love of Jesus.

Let us therefore always align ourselves with Jesus and let us never compromise with anything that is wrong and evil. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

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