LETTING JESUS DRIVE OUT OUR DEMONS

“Moses said, ‘A prophet like me will the LORD, your God, raise up for you; to him you shall listen. This is exactly what you requested of the LORD, your God, at Horeb, when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the LORD, our God. . ,  lest we die.”
And the LORD said to me, “This was well said. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kin, and will put my words into his mouth.’” Deuteronomy 18: 16-18

“He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.”  Mark 1:27

GOD’S PROMISE: I WILL RAISE UP PROPHETS

At Horeb, i.e., at Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Ten Commandments, God’s gathered people chose to have God speak to them through prophets, and God responded that He would raise up for them a prophet like Moses “from among their kin, and put my words into his mouth.” The people promised that “to him (the prophet) they would listen.”  Fast forward through the days of the Old and New Testatments – and even to today – and we see the same: “prophets from among our kin”, priests, religious, laity, albeit weak and erring at times, sinners like all of us, but still God’s prophets, listening for the Word of God and bringing it to God’s People.

Those gathered, be it to listen to Moses at Horeb, to Jesus in the temple or to the homilist at Mass, react in different ways to what they hear.  Some are attentive, others are bored or, like the Scribes and Pharisees, are outraged by the “prophet’s” message. But, whatever the reaction, much of the time, like the people at Horeb and like those who saw Jesus expel the possessed man’s demon, we, upon our dismissal from Mass (“Go and preach the Gospel by your lives”), we, instead often dismiss the Word of God we just heard and the promises to God we just made. So, by forgetting what just happened, we miss opportunities for the Word of God to drive out the demons that possess us, thus keeping our true selves, the “me” God knows, imprisoned within. We all have these demons that make us hear God’s message as the Scribes and Pharisees did, demons that keep us from loving ourselves and from being as deeply related to God and our neighbors as God planned.

LETTING JESUS DISPEL OUR DEMONS

Do we do this weekend after weekend:  leave Mass – forget about it and just go back to being caught up in our everyday lives? Or do we truly listen for God’s message in the homily and to what we promised in our conversing with God during the Mass? Did I come to Mass just to be uplifted, or did I come also to let the Word of God drive out my inner demon?  How much more freedom and joy would be mine, were I to let Jesus speak to my demons?

ONCE DISMISSED FROM MASS, REMEMBER

Consider how our relationships grow: think about what happens when we are with someone we love.  How much stronger and deeper are those relationships –  with our spouses, children, religious sister or brother, fellow priests, hoped-to-be best friends – when we ponder what happens within us while we are physically present to each other!  How hollow our lives are when we don’t take time to think about these encounters, to let ourselves grow into a richer understanding of these persons, a deeper love and devotion to them, a willingness to sacrifice for them!  And likewise with God:  How strong and deep a relationship with God do I want?  What am I doing to nurture this, to let God and God’s love re-form me, transform me?

SELECTIVE LISTENING OR TRANSFORMATION?

Prophets don’t always say what we want them to say.  Jesus didn’t. Lots of people found what Jesus said hard to accept.  Some did accept it and acted upon it:  they were willing to work on their own re-formation. They became disciples and saints. Others continued to let their inner demons rule and de-form them, keeping them from the maturity that God intended for them.

How do we listen to our present-day prophets? Are we listening deeply? Or are we letting our demons continue to rule us?

Sister Loretta

Psalm 51
Your inmost being must be renewed, and you must put on a new man (Ephesians 4:23-24).

Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness.
In your compassion blot out my offense.
O wash me more and more from my guilt
and cleanse me from my sin.

My offenses truly I know them;
my sin is always before me
Against you, you alone, have I sinned;
what is evil in your sight I have done.

That you may be justified when you give sentence
and be without reproach when you judge.
O see, in guilt I was born,
a sinner was I conceived.

Indeed you love truth in the heart;
then in the secret of my heart teach me wisdom.
O purify me, then I shall be clean;
O wash me, I shall be whiter than snow.

Make me hear rejoicing and gladness,
that the bones you have crushed may revive.
From my sins turn away your face
and blot out all my guilt.

A pure heart create for me, O God,
put a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
nor deprive me of your holy spirit.

Give me again the joy of your help;
with a spirit of fervor sustain me,
that I may teach transgressors your ways
and sinners may return to you.

O rescue me, God, my helper,
and my tongue shall ring out your goodness.
O Lord, open my lips
and my mouth shall declare your praise.

For in sacrifice you take no delight,
burnt offering from me you would refuse,
my sacrifice, a contrite spirit,
a humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn.

In your goodness, show favor to Zion:
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
Then you will be pleased with lawful sacrifice,
holocausts offered on your altar.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
— as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Psalm-prayer

Father, He who knew no sin was made sin for us, to save us and restore us to your friendship. Look upon my contrite heart and afflicted spirit and heal my troubled conscience, so that in the joy and strength of the Holy Spirit I may proclaim your praise and glory before all the nations.