9-Oct-15

Gospel LK 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 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.”
Reflection:
Demons and evil are subjects that most of us prefer to avoid.
Yet, here in the gospel of Luke, we find Jesus driving out a demon and being accused of being in league with the devil.
In the 21st century, it's difficult to imagine the devil roaming around looking for someone to devour.
But, aside from whether a person believes in the devil, there is great wisdom in what Jesus has to say:
“Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste
and house will fall against house."
Truly, whether in a family, a country, or society as a whole, wherever there is infighting and strife, then the fabric of peace is torn and everyone suffers. We certainly hear politicians and even families torn by strife accusing one another of being in league with the devil.
Are such divisions caused by the devil?
I don't know.
But, I don't dismiss the existence of evil because I recognize that there lies within me both good and bad instincts and temptations.
The question is how to follow the good and avoid the evil.
Life experience has taught me that I am not strong enough to resist temptation. I must rely on someone stronger than myself. So, I turn in prayer to God for help.
In today's gospel, Jesus tells us that the evil spirit once driven out of a person comes back to find a soul "swept clean" and moves back in and the man is worse off than before.
There is an old saying, "Nature abhors a vacuum."
In other words, it is not enough to "clean house," and try to refrain from doing evil. Once having cleaned house, I must fill that space with things of God.
If I clear a garden plot of every weed and do not plant flowers then the space will soon, once again, be filled with weeds.
The "flowers" that prevent the weeds of evil from returning to choke out our Spirit of goodness are the acts of loving service that fill up the empty spaces in our life.

"Doing the right thing for someone else was like a tonic for me: it was like some magic ointment that made a wound disappear." Susan Bright