Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
(Galatians 3:7-14; Luke 11:15-26)
There is a story about a monk named Fr. Moses. Fr. Moses was having a particularly hard time
keeping lustful thoughts at bay. He went
to the wise, old Fr. Isidore for help.
He told the elder that he could stand it no longer, that he should leave
the monastery. Fr. Isidore took him
outside to see the night sky. He told Fr.
Moses to look west. The young monk
looked there and saw a great number of devils whooping it up for battle. Then Fr. Isidore told him to look at the
eastern sky. There Fr. Moses saw a
countless host of angels. Fr. Isidore
said that this was the help God sends to his holy ones to defend them from evil
spirits. It is like the strong man who
overtakes the guard of the palace in Jesus’ parable today.
Jesus is repudiating the charge of his critics that he casts
out a demon by invoking an evil spirit. He
implies that the charge is absurd because one evil spirit will not harm another.
Jesus claims that he can cast out demons because he has the power of God which
is greater than that of any demon. But
he warns that a demon can return to a person to make matters worse if he or she
only makes superficial changes. The
person must undergo a radical change of life if demons are going to be kept
away.
We should not doubt the possibility of having our sins
forgiven, be they having to do with sex or with justice. Nor should we doubt the possibility of
committing those same sins again if we do not change our ways. We must avoid the things that lead us into
temptation and pray constantly for God’s help.
