Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Friday 27th Week in Ordinary Time
October 13, 2006
Friday 27th Week in Ordinary Time - Yr II
GALATIANS 3:7-14
Brothers and sisters: Realize that it is those who have faith who are
children of Abraham. Scripture, which saw in advance that God would
justify the Gentiles by faith, foretold the good news to Abraham,
saying, Through you shall all the nations be blessed. Consequently,
those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham who had faith. For
all who depend on works of the law are under a curse; for it is
written, Cursed be everyone who does not persevere in doing all the
things written in the book of the law. And that no one is justified
before God by the law is clear, for the one who is righteous by faith
will live. But the law does not depend on faith; rather, the one who
does these things will live by them. Christ ransomed us from the curse
of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed be
everyone who hangs on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might be
extended to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith.
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."
REFLECTION
There's a very deep mystery at work in today's Gospel. Not the mystery
of Jesus or of his miraculous exorcism. The mystery is situated in the
Pharisees. The Pharisees were men of deep religious conviction. The
mystery is this: how could these deeply religious men witness Jesus'
godly works and see them as the works of the devil?
The background to today's Gospel selection is a man possessed by an
evil spirit. The spirit had bound his tongue, he was mute. Jesus
expelled the demon from the man and the man spoke. The Pharisees
watched this stupendous miracle as it happened. How could they have
missed the spiritual reality that unfolded before their very eyes? It
wasn't hidden. They should have recognized it.
Spiritual blindness is a self-inflicted disease. It develops because we
intentionally distort spiritual reality. We do not want to recognize
spiritual reality as it is. Maybe it's too burdensome for us, maybe we
see it as too demanding. And so we shift our gaze from the spiritual
reality to the comfort, the ease, the pleasure, the power or whatever
else it is that we want and that we will lose if we admit spiritual
reality's existence.
Let us pray that we will not allow the faculty of spiritual discernment
God has given us, to atrophy and to waste away so that we will always
recognize God's reality when he steps into our lives.
PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray ...
- for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the
unborn.
- Birthday: Bernadette Ching Pamute
- for the speedy recovery and healing of Manuel Go.
- for the speedy recovery and healing of Domingo.
- for the eternal reopse of the soul of Benjamin B. Bonita, Sr.,
eternat rest grant unto him O Lord.
- for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Birthday: Frederick Ng Tiu
- Birthday: Ellery S. Lim
- Birthday: Cora Chiong
- for world peace and reconciliation.
Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our
prayers and for those who need our prayers the most.
Have a good day!
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