casting out demons

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Wednesday, 2 July 2014 : 13th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Matthew 8 : 28-34

When Jesus reached Gadara, on the other side, He was met by two men, possessed by devils, who came out from the tombs. They were so fierce that no one dared to pass that way.

Suddenly they shouted, “What do You want with us, You, Son of God? Have You come to torture us before the time?”

At some distance away there was a large herd of pigs feeding. So the demons begged Him, “If You drive us out, send us into that herd of pigs.”

Jesus ordered them, “Go!” So the demons left and went into the pigs. The whole herd rushed down the cliff into the lake and drowned. The men in charge of them ran off to the town, where they told the whole story, also what had happened to the men possessed with the demons.

Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him, they begged Him to leave their area.

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Saturday, 28 June 2014 : 12th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Irenaeus, Bishop and Martyr, and the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White (Saturday Mass of our Lady or Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary) or Red (Martyrs)

Matthew 8 : 5-17

When Jesus entered Capernaum, an army captain approached Him to ask His help, “Sir, my servant lies sick at home. He is paralysed and suffers terribly.”

Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” The captain answered, “I am not worthy to have You under my roof. Just give an order and my boy will be healed. For I myself, a junior officer, give orders to my soldiers. And if I say to one, ‘Go!’ he goes; and if I say to another, ‘Come!’ he comes; and if I say to my servant, ‘Do this!’ he does it.”

When Jesus heard this He was astonished, and said to those who were following Him, “I tell you, I have not found such faith in Israel. I say to you, many will come from east and west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the kingdom of heaven; but the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown out into the darkness; there they will wail and grind their teeth.”

Then Jesus said to the captain, “Go home now. As you believed, so let it be.” And at that moment, his servant was healed. Jesus went to Peter’s house and found Peter’s mother-in-law in bed with fever. He took her by the hand and the fever left her; she got up and began to wait on Him.

Towards evening they brought to Jesus many possessed by evil spirits, and with a word He drove out the spirits. He also healed all who were sick. In doing this He fulfilled what was said by the prophet Isaiah : He bore our infirmities and took on Himself our diseases.

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Thursday, 27 March 2014 : 3rd Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Luke 11 : 14-23

One day Jesus was driving out a demon, which was mute. When the demon had been driven out, the mute person could speak, and the people were amazed. Yet some of them said, “He drives out demons by the power of Beelzebul, the chief of the demons.” Others wanted to put Him to the test, by asking Him for a heavenly sign.

But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them, “Every nation divided by civil war is on the road to ruin, and will fall. If Satan also is divided, his empire is coming to an end. How can you say that I drive out demons by calling upon Beelzebul? If I drive them out by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive out demons? They will be your judges, then.”

“But if I drive out demons by the finger of God; would not this mean that the kingdom of God, has come upon you? As long as a man, strong and well-armed, guards his house, his goods are safe. But when a stronger man attacks and overcomes him, the challenger takes away all the weapons he relied on, and disposes of his spoils.”

“Whoever is not with Me, is against Me, and whoever does not gather with Me, scatters.”

 

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Wednesday, 26 February 2014 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 9 : 38-40

John said to Him, “Master, we saw someone who drove out demons by calling upon Your Name, and we tried to forbid hum because he does not belong to our group.”

Jesus answered, “Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My Name can soon after speak evil of Me. For whoever is not against us is for us.”

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Monday, 24 February 2014 : 7th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 9 : 14-29

When they came to the place where they had left the disciples, they saw many people around them and some teachers of the Law arguing with them. When the people saw Jesus, they were astonished and ran to greet Him.

He asked, “What are you arguing about with them?” A man answered Him from the crowd, “Master, I brought my son to You, for He has a spirit, deaf and mute. Whenever the spirit seizes him, it throws him down and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth and becomes stiff all over. I asked Your disciples to drive the spirit out, but they could not.”

Jesus replied, “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring him to Me.” And they brought the boy to Him. As soon as the spirit saw Jesus, it shook and convulsed the boy, who fell on the ground and began rolling about, foaming at the mouth.

Then Jesus asked the father, “How long has this been happening to him?” He replied, “From childhood. And it has often thrown him into the fire and into the water to destroy him. If You can do anything, have pity on us and help us.”

Jesus said to him, “Why do you say, ‘If You can?’ All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the boy cried out, “I do believe, but help the little faith I have.” Jesus saw that the crowd was increasing rapidly, so He ordered the evil spirit, “Dumb and deaf spirit, I command you : Leave the boy and never enter him again.”

The evil spirit shook and convulsed the boy and with a terrible shriek came out. The boy lay like a corpse and people said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him and the boy stood up.

After Jesus had gone indoors, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not drive out the spirit?” And He answered, “Only prayer can drive out this kind, nothing else.”

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Thursday, 13 February 2014 : 5th Week of Ordinary Time (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Mark 7 : 24-30

When Jesus left that place, He went to the border of the Tyrian country. There He entered a house, and did not want anyone to know He was there, but He could not remain hidden. A woman, whose small daughter had an evil spirit, heard of Him, and came and fell at His feet.

Now this woman was a pagan, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and she begged Him to drive the demon out of her daughter. Jesus told her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to puppies.” But she replied, “Sir, even the puppies under the table eat the crumbs from the children’s bread.”

Then Jesus said to her, “You may go your way; because of such a response, the demon has gone out of your daughter.” And when the woman went home, she found her child lying in bed, and the demon gone.

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Monday, 3 February 2014 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Blaise, Bishop and Martyr, and St. Ansgar, Bishop (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Bishops)

Today we witnessed the exorcism conducted by Jesus our Lord on the possessed man of Gerasenes, and how even the evil spirits obeyed the Lord and feared His authority. In today’s readings, we listen about the concept of authority and power, and how mankind had interacted with these across time, with the story of the rebellion of Absalom, the son of David, and how Jesus cast out the demons from the man.

The authority of Jesus was clear. He was the Son of Most High God as the demons themselves proclaimed. He was the Word of God made flesh, incarnate into Man in Jesus through Mary His mother. The evil spirits, the Legion feared Him because they knew who He was, even if mankind could not recognise who He was.

The evil spirits feared Jesus as Lord not because He has wealth, influence, or power that denote greatness in our human eyes. The greatness of the Lord is not measured in terms of human power and glory. What is power and glory to us mankind have no meaning and are nothing before the Lord our God. Jesus Himself showed us all this through His own actions.

Jesus was great not just because He was already the Lord and Almighty God, but because in His actions He showed the perfection of God’s love and mercy to us all. He was great because even though He has power, majesty, and authority, He chose to come down and be our servant, that through His works, we may have new hope in Him, and as our Shepherd, He guided us through the narrow gates towards salvation.

As Jesus mentioned in His Last Supper with the disciples, that the true meaning of leadership is service. A leader must be the servant of the people whom he or she leads, and the power and authority that the leader has been given must not be misused. True authority does not equal oppressing others or destroying those whose ideas or views not necessarily in line with our own views and opinions.

The Lordship and authority of Jesus is one of humility and service, and He did not boast of His miracles and achievements, while mankind like us must have been tempted to glorify ourselves or seek praise and glory from others for what we have done, gaining credits for our works. The irony is that, it is always the devil and the evil spirits in league with him that clamoured to proclaim Him! Yes, such as the evil spirits that inhabited that man of Gerasenes.

The authority of Jesus in casting out the numerous demons, the Legion, from that man showed His power and sovereignty over all things, be it angel, man, or demons, and is a testimony clear enough for all of us today to hear. We are fortunate to be able to witness this testimony through the Holy Gospels written by the Holy Apostles, who witnessed what happened first hand on that day.

If we trust in the Lord and in His power, then we will have no need to worry, for our Lord will be with us and He will take care of us well, and He shows us how to live a good and faithful life. The contrast we can see in the first reading today, which is centred on the civil war in Israel, between king David, the faithful servant of God and his own son, Absalom.

Absalom as the oldest son of king David was driven by his youth and ambitions, and he aspired to be the king of Israel, even though his father was still the reigning king and the chosen one of the Lord. Absalom succumbed to the taste of power and human glory, and that doomed him, causing him to rise up in rebellion against his own father.

As the story would go, Absalom was defeated in that war, and he lost his life in the process. The example of Absalom and David in today’s reading showed the frail nature of human power and glory. Power and glory in human terms are just temporary. We cannot hope to depend on our human power, as if we depend on them as Absalom had done, then we shall fail.

In a way even king David also had a part of blame on himself in this matter. David as a king as was common among the kings of his time, had many wives and children. Having more wives and children was associated with power and glory, and the more wives and children one had, the more powerful and prestigious was one seen by their people and their neighbouring countries.

Trusting in human power and authority was what had made David, the faithful servant of God, to err in some occasions. First of which was his plot to kill Uriah after committing adultery with the latter’s wife, Bathsheba, despite Uriah’s great loyalty to him, and then David’s sin of wanting to count the number of the people of Israel and Judah, as if he revelled in the great glory God had given him and was immersed in a moment of self-glorification and self-praise.

And David met his troubles because of what he had done, be it the rebellions of his sons and their mischievous behaviours, or the disease and pestilence that swept across the land and killed many, as the sign of God’s displeasure. This is proof that trusting in human and worldly power does not bring us good. Rather than be proud of our own power, ability, and achievement, we should rather trust in the Lord and walk in His ways.

Today, brethren, we celebrate the feast of two saints of the Church, that is of St. Blaise and St. Ansgar. St. Blaise was the well known patron for throat based diseases, which feast day usually saw the traditional blessing of the throats with two crossed candles. St. Blaise was a renowned physician who went around many places to heal peoples, often with miraculous results, and people flocked to him seeking the consolation of the flesh as well as the soul.

St. Blaise was a faithful follower of the Lord, and practiced his faith truthfully in the works that he had done, but when Christians were persecuted by the last persecution of Christians by Emperor Licinius of the Eastern Roman Empire, he was arrested by the governor of his province and subsequently was tortured and martyred for his faith in the Lord.

Meanwhile St. Ansgar was an Archbishop who lived in northern part of Germany during the late Dark Ages, and was renowned as the Apostle of the North, for his works of evangelisation, bringing the Good News of the Lord to many peoples in the northern Europe, where paganism still dominated most of the people. St. Ansgar tirelessly worked for the cause of the Lord and gained many converts, even baptising lords and kings of the pagans.

Despite his position in the Church, St. Ansgar did not have an easy work ahead of him. Often times many of his supporters withdrew their support from him, and St. Ansgar had to proceed with his missions with great difficulties. Yet, St. Ansgar persevered and he never complained. And the Lord gave him the help he needed through various sources, and he prevailed in his missions.

The examples of St. Blaise and St. Ansgar show that if we walk upright in the path of the Lord and if we remain faithful to Him and trust always in Him, then we have no need to fear at all about the work we are to do, our about our lives. God will care for us and He will protect us. He has all the power and authority, and no evil shall dare to approach us, for they know who they will be dealing with if they mess with us.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us today therefore put our trust in God, and keep our faith in Him strong, especially avoiding the bad influences of this world, taming our greed and desire, particularly for power, authority, and influence among many others, and seek only for the Lord. May our Lord therefore be with us, and guide us to walk upright at all times in His ways, that we may never again fall into sin. Amen.

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Monday, 3 February 2014 : 4th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Blaise, Bishop and Martyr, and St. Ansgar, Bishop (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Green or Red (Martyrs) or White (Bishops)

Mark 5 : 1-20

They arrived at 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 the evil spirit, “What is your name?” It replied, “Legion is my name, for we are many.” And it 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 neighbourhood. When Jesus was getting into the boat, the man, who had been possessed, begged to stay with Him.

Jesus would not let him, and said, “Go home to your people, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you.” So he went throughout the country of Decapolis, telling everyone how much Jesus had done for him; and all the people were astonished.

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Wednesday, 4 September 2013 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we continue today reading about the Lord’s ministry in this world, in His healing of the sick and those possessed by evil spirits, through which He showed His might and mercy, and in healing us He revealed to us the great true depth of His divine love, and the nature of His love. He cared for us so deeply that He even was willing to descend unto us, to be one of us, and to walk among us that we may have a new hope.

He was sent into this world on an important mission, that is to bring the Good News of the Lord to many, that they would be aware of the imminence of the coming of the kingdom of God, and that the Lord Himself had come to bring forth and herald the coming of the kingdom. He came to fulfill the prophecies and predictions of the prophets, regarding the coming Saviour, the Messiah who would come and save all, in the same way that Moses had come to liberate the people of Israel from their bondage in Egypt.

He brought forth into this world, a new and complete understanding as well as explanations on the Law of God, that is love. He showed that love is all God wanted from us mankind, the love we have for Him and for one another. He did not just preach that brothers and sisters and then did nothing. On the other hand, Jesus the Lord Himself took concrete actions in order to show His love, the love He had shown throughout His ministry on this world.

The healing of the sick and the healing of those possessed by demons were just some of the examples of the great divine love that our Lord had for us all. He showed mercy to those who clearly showed their faith in Him, to those who placed their hope in Him. He brought healing and new life to those who had asked Him for His mercy. And ultimately, He did no greater act of love, than His own death on the cross, the death that brought about new life for all the faithful ones in Him.

The Risen Christ, Lord of all, God who laid down His life for His people that we may all live and not die, is at the centre of our faith, brothers and sisters, as our faith is truly about rejoicing and praising the Lord our God, the Lord our Saviour and Redeemer. This is the Gospel that St. Paul and the other Apostles had worked hard, and even putting their lives in a line, to bring to the peoples who never saw or knew Christ.

It is easy for the people of Israel to believe in Jesus, because He did wonders, healing and miracles, casting out demons among many other things He had done, but does this really constitute strong faith? Well, sometimes yes, but more often than not, no. Remember that despite them praising and glorifying Christ for the miracles He had done, they were also the ones who called for His death when they were agitated by the Pharisees and the chief priests.

Therefore they in fact did not truly have faith or love for God in Jesus. What they truly had was in fact awe and the sense of surprise, and fascination on the miracles, the healing powers of Jesus. What they truly loved is the miracles and all the wonders He had performed. Yet they did not truly have God in their hearts.

That is why, today, brothers and sisters in Christ, we who are in this world of ours today, are happy, and truly are blessed. Why so? That is because we who have not seen the Lord and all of His wonders and miracles, kept our faith and love for Him, and we have kept our dedication to Him, despite having not seen all the great works He had once done to Israel, the healing of the sick and the casting out of demons.

But we must not stay idle, brothers and sisters, for we have indeed a lot of work to do, a lot of tasks that we must accomplish, as in our world today, the faith in God had been diminishing, because people once again clamour for things that they can see and they can feel tangibly, which apparently the Lord does not ‘offer’ them. That is why the reason, brothers and sisters in Christ, that many chose science as an ‘alternative’ to God. This really should not be the case!

Yet, the presence of God can be made truly manifest and real, through us, brothers and sisters in Christ, through our actions and deeds based in the love of God, that God who is love will truly manifest through our loving actions, through our loving deeds, and that is our task in this world, brothers and sisters. Let us make the Lord visible to others, to everyone who seeks Him, through us, through our own actions, that many will turn back towards the Lord their God and therefore receive salvation in Christ.

May the Lord our God who showed us love, and who cast demons from the possessed, and brought healing to the sick also empower us, to be able to love with all sincerity of our hearts, to be able to commit to His cause, and to be able to show His presence in this world through ourselves, to our brethren who have yet to believe in the Lord and God. May the Lord guide us and bless us through life. Amen.

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Tuesday, 3 September 2013 : 22nd Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church (Scripture Reflection)

Liturgical Colour : Green or White

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we celebrate today the great feast of one principal saint of Christendom, none other than St. Gregory the Great, also known as Pope St. Gregory the Great who lived and reigned as Pope in the turn of the seventh century after the birth of Christ. He lived during the time of troubles, of the Dark Ages Europe, after the fall of the Roman Empire in Western Europe, with barbarians plundering the former lands of the Empire and settling in them as permanent settlers.

Even Rome and Italy at the time the birth of Pope St. Gregory the Great was under the authority and power of the Ostrogoths, one of the Gothic barbarian peoples who had settled in Italy after the fall of the Empire in the west. The Ostrogoths adopted the Arian heretic belief, and the predecessors of Pope St. Gregory the Great, as the Pope and the Bishop of Rome, worked hard to convert them to the true faith of the Apostles and reject their heretical beliefs.

Pope St. Gregory the Great lived through a time of great difficulties before he became Pope in 590 AD. The Ostrogothic kingdom went through a series of civil wars and internal conflicts, and together with the reconquest campaign by the Eastern Roman Empire, which saw Italy and Rome back at the hand of the Empire, had wrecked much of the local population, ravaged by warfare and deadly disease.

On the backdrop of these events, Pope St. Gregory the Great lived his early life and his adult years, and yet, he grew up to be a pious, zealous, and well educated man, who joined the religious life and became a monk. He was deeply devoted to Christ and immersed himself in his religious devotions as a monk, and prayed fervently and worked hard for the sake of God. Even after his election to the See of Peter, he remained the same, and continued his good works for the sake of God and God’s holy people.

Most importantly, Pope St. Gregory the Great reinvigorated the Church and its missionary efforts, in spreading the faith and the Holy Gospels to the pagan peoples and to the heretics who had walked away from the true path of God, the path of salvation. He sent many missionaries to the far ends of Christendom, to England through St. Augustine of Canterbury, and to other parts of Europe, converting many to the faith in God, and bringing many souls to salvation.

Not only that, Pope St. Gregory the Great was truly irreplaceable for his crucial role in the reform of the Church, particularly in its liturgy and rules of worship in the Mass. Both the Mass we have today, in all its forms, and the Divine Liturgy that our brethren of the Eastern Churches celebrate can trace their origins to the reforms and changes made by Pope St. Gregory the Great, the holy and great reformer Pope.

If you find the name Gregorian Chant familiar, yes, this wonderful music of worship is named after this great Pope, who reformed Church music in such a radical way, that it totally changed the landscape of divine song and songs of worship over the centuries even until today. To Pope St. Gregory the Great, the Lord our God in Jesus Christ is so great and glorious in heaven, and so profound is His might and power, that we ought to honour Him the best way we can with our abilities and senses, and hence, his reforms of the Mass and the Church music in the Gregorian chants.

Pope St. Gregory the Great gave much of his love and care for others, for the poor through charity, and for everyone through his dedicated and loving actions in Christ. He brought the Lord close to everyone through his own deeds and words, and indeed, through his copious writings. Many of Pope St. Gregory the Great’s writing remained and became source of inspiration for our faith, just as it had been during his time as Pope. He worked hard to defend the people against heresies and against the temptations of the devil, doing as much as he could to bring more and more souls towards salvation.

Yes, brethren, this great and saintly Pope truly is worthy of heaven, and he preached with the authority of Jesus Christ the Lord and Saviour of all, who is so mighty and all-powerful, that even the evil spirits obeyed Him, as we heard in the Gospel today. Even the devil would kneel before the Lord crucified, the Almighty Creator of all, for He is the light of the world, and no darkness would be able to stand before Him.

We are the children of light, brothers and sisters in Christ, and as long as we do the will of God, and follow His ways, we will always reflect His brilliant light, and the devil will have no power over us, for he is doomed to destruction and eternal torture, while we who are saved in Christ are fated to be in the eternal light of God and enjoy the fruits of our faith, the fruits of our salvation. Fear not, brethren, for our Lord and God who loves us, desires not our death and destruction, as what He truly wishes for us, is to live, and not just any life, but an eternal life filled with love and true joy in Him.

That was why He sent us many help along the way, all His saints, including Pope St. Gregory the Great, whom we talked about just before. Through their hard work, we have known the Lord our loving God, and through their labours, we have received the teachings of the Lord and grow to understand the extent of His great love and dedication to all of us. However, the work did not just stop there, brethren, as even today, much work awaits us, and we too are called to be the saints and the apostles of our own time.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, inspired by the examples of Pope St. Gregory the Great, and by the love and sacrifice of our Lord, through which He showed us His infinite love, let us also be proactive, in all our dealings, all of our words and all of our actions, that we will always reflect the love of God with zeal, and therefore obey His will, that is to love, to love Him with all our hearts and all our strength, and do the same to our fellow brothers and sisters.

May the Lord our God who showed us His mercy and love, and who rebuked evil spirits from the hearts of men that we may be clean and pure and worthy of Him, bless us, strengthen us, and empower us, that we will be reunited with Him when He comes again in glory and bring us to eternal life with Him, forever and ever. Amen.