20231013 FIGHTING AGAINST THE EVIL ONE
13 October 2023, Friday, 27th Week in Ordinary Time
First reading |
Joel 1:13-15,2:1-2 © |
Let all tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming
Priests, put on sackcloth and lament.
Ministers of the altar, wail.
Come, pass the night in sackcloth,
you ministers of my God.
For the house of our God has been deprived
of oblation and libation.
Order a fast,
proclaim a solemn assembly;
elders, call together
all the inhabitants of the country
to the house of the Lord your God.
Cry out to the Lord,
‘Oh, what a day!
For the day of the Lord is near,
it comes as a devastation from Shaddai.’
Sound the trumpet in Zion,
give the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the country tremble,
for the day of the Lord is coming,
yes, it is near.
Day of darkness and gloom,
day of cloud and blackness.
Like the dawn there spreads across the mountains
a vast and mighty host,
such as has never been before,
such as will never be again
to the remotest ages.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 9A(9):2-3,6,16,8-9 © |
The Lord will judge the world with justice.
I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart;
I will recount all your wonders.
I will rejoice in you and be glad,
and sing psalms to your name, O Most High.
The Lord will judge the world with justice.
You have checked the nations, destroyed the wicked;
you have wiped out their name for ever and ever.
The nations have fallen in the pit which they made,
their feet caught in the snare they laid.
The Lord will judge the world with justice.
But the Lord sits enthroned for ever.
He has set up his throne for judgement;
he will judge the world with justice,
he will judge the peoples with his truth.
The Lord will judge the world with justice.
Gospel Acclamation | Jn10:27 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice,
says the Lord,
I know them and they follow me.
Alleluia!
Or: | Jn12:31-32 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Now the prince of this world is to be overthrown,
says the Lord.
And when I am lifted up from the earth,
I shall draw all men to myself.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 11:15-26 © |
The finger of God has overtaken you
When Jesus had cast out a devil, some of the people said, ‘It is through Beelzebul, the prince of devils, that he casts out devils.’ Others asked him, as a test, for a sign from heaven; but, knowing what they were thinking, he said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is heading for ruin, and a household divided against itself collapses. So too with Satan: if he is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? – since you assert that it is through Beelzebul that I cast out devils. Now if it is through Beelzebul that I cast out devils, through whom do your own experts cast them out? Let them be your judges then. But if it is through the finger of God that I cast out devils, then know that the kingdom of God has overtaken you. So long as a strong man fully armed guards his own palace, his goods are undisturbed; but when someone stronger than he is attacks and defeats him, the stronger man takes away all the weapons he relied on and shares out his spoil.
‘He who is not with me is against me; and he who does not gather with me scatters.
‘When an unclean spirit goes out of a man it wanders through waterless country looking for a place to rest, and not finding one it says, “I will go back to the home I came from.” But on arrival, finding it swept and tidied, it then goes off and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and set up house there, so that the man ends up by being worse than he was before.’
FIGHTING AGAINST THE EVIL ONE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Joel 1:13-15; 2:1-2; Ps 9: 2-3,6,16,8-9; Lk 11:15-26]
The battle against the Evil One is still as real as in the days of our Lord. As St John Chrysostom tells us, it would be naïve to think that the battle over the Evil One has been won. The war against evil is ongoing and the Evil One, cunning as he is, comes in new ways to attack humanity. Indeed, the warning of the Prophet Joel remains relevant even in our days. “Day of darkness and gloom, day of cloud and blackness. Like the dawn there spreads across the mountains a vast and mighty host, such as has never been before, such as will never be again to the remotest ages.”
Indeed, the future of the world is gloomy because dark forces apparently are gaining momentum and with force. Indeed, the changing trends of the world are making us all feeling uncertain about the future. We do not know the future of humanity because the family is at risk and so too are marriages. With the separation of procreation from companionship in marriage, it has led to the promotion of transgender, same-sex union, adoption of babies by same-sex couples, IVF to conceive babies outside of marriage, surrogate motherhood. With the advancement of science and technology, the introduction of A1 Robots, and these robots which are perfected over time might soon take over the jobs of humanity because they can do better, with greater accuracy and efficiency. In time to come, they might even rule human beings because they are programmed to be the best and perfect “human being” whereas we remain imperfect no matter how much we try. Over and above, the world is controlled by secularism, relativism, materialism, and individualism. These godless and self-centred ideologies will eventually destroy humanity. Indeed, the real danger we are facing is not just climate warming and the heating up of the planet earth, it is the human ecology that is dysfunctional. The earth will be destroyed by the selfishness and individualism of humanity promoted by secularistic and worldly values.
That is why, the prophet invites us all, leaders, elders, priests and the common person to seek repentance. “Priests, put on sackcloth and lament. Ministers of the altar, wail. Come; pass the night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God. For the house of our God has been deprived of oblation and libation. Order a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly; elders, call together all the inhabitants of the country to the house of the Lord your God. Cry out to the Lord, ‘Oh, what a day! For the day of the Lord is near, it comes as a devastation from Shaddai.” We must wake up to the bleak future of the world, just like our young people today who are the proponents for saving the planet because it affects their future. Unfortunately, the world is only focused on the physical planet but they are not worried about the future of humanity, in terms of integral development, affective, moral, and spiritual growth.
Judgement will come. We will have to pay a price for our neglect and complacency and indifference to what is happening in the world. By keeping silent, we are allowing the Evil One to gradually, day by day, little by little, sow seeds of ignorance, falsehoods, individualism, lies and division in humanity. However, the psalmist makes it clear. “You have checked the nations, destroyed the wicked; you have wiped out their name for ever and ever. The nations have fallen in the pit which they made, their feet caught in the snare they laid. But the Lord sits enthroned forever. He has set up his throne for judgement; he will judge the world with justice, he will judge the peoples with his truth.” It will not be God who will destroy humanity but evil will destroy us. As St Augustine says, “The price of iniquity is to commit more iniquities.” Evil deeds do not stop at one but will escalate, multiply and increase. Evil will eventually consume the world until the good are destroyed. When evil rules the world, evil and selfish people will destroy each other. If not, robots created by the dark forces of evil will be unleashed into the world to destroy humanity.
Accordingly, we must be alert to the strategy of the Evil One. He is intelligent and smart. He will find all ways to destroy humanity. In the gospel, we see how the Evil One works to destroy what is good. The devil shakes the faith of man in God by planting doubts. This was the way Eve was tempted when the Devil placed doubts in her mind, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Gn 3:1) This was the same trick the Devil played on the people during the time of Jesus. When Jesus casted out an evil spirit, the Devil suggested to the people, and especially the leaders that “it is through Beelzebul, the prince of devils that he casts out devils.” Hence, “others asked Jesus, as a test, for a sign from heaven.” So, temptation begins with sowing doubt.
This is how relativism works. It creates doubt. We are now not sure who has the truth because relativism says that everything is relative. There is no objective truth and even if there were, no one knows for sure. Everything is changing so truth is also changing. Since none of us have the truth, we all live in doubt all the time. There are no principles to guide us in life, to live the truth since truth cannot be found. So our opinions are changing to suit the time. We are called to live pragmatically, what can bring us immediate gratification here and now. As for the future, no one knows and it is not our problem anyway.
Relativism is the cause of division. This is what the Lord warns us. “Every kingdom divided against itself is heading for ruin, and a household divided against itself collapses. So, too, with Satan: if he is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? – since you assert that it is through Beelzebul that I cast out devils.” When there is no basis to hold humanity together, each one believing that his opinion is the truth, there is no longer any way we can find common ground. And even if we find it, it is a moving goal post. The moment we agree, the next day, someone will change the goal post again because he is not agreeable. We see this in the context of globalization. At one time, leaders in the world were promoting globalization as the way forward to bring humanity closer together and live as a big family where we are all winners. Now, world leaders are saying globalization is not the way because their national interests are affected. Their national interests come first. Only they can live and others could but only as second-class citizens in the world. Hence, we see the division that is taking place in the world because of segregation, marginalization, and individualism.
Rejection of truth is what is dividing the world because of selfish interests. Everyone is concerned about his interests, not the total good of humanity. The leaders accused Jesus of colluding with the Evil One. Jesus quipped, “You assert that it is through Beelzebul that I cast out devils. Now if it is through Beelzebul that I cast out devils, through whom do your own experts cast them out? Let them be your judges, then.” The rejection of truth means that one cannot claim to have the truth. Those who proclaim relativism as the absolute truth contradict themselves because relativism means no absolute truth. They cannot on one hand deny that absolute truths exist, and on the other hand declare that those who reject relativism are wrong. Indeed, one cannot reject the exorcisms of Jesus as colluding with the Evil One because to do so would also mean admitting that their leaders who cast out the evil spirits were also in cahoots with the Evil One.
To defeat evil today, we cannot use human power alone because the Devil is more powerful than us. This is what the Lord is advising us. “But if it is through the finger of God that I cast out devils, then know that the kingdom of God has overtaken you. So long as a strong man fully armed guards his own palace, his goods are undisturbed; but when someone stronger than he is attacks and defeats him, the stronger man takes away all the weapons he relied on and shares out his spoil.” Christ, who conquers the Evil One through the power of God, invites us to unite ourselves with Him if we are to be strong enough to resist the Evil one. Indeed, the Lord warns us, “He who is not with me is against me; and he who does not gather with me scatters.” If we do not unite with Jesus and fight with the help of our Lord, we will be overwhelmed by the power of evil.
St Paul reminds us, “For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Eph 6:12) We must “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” (Eph 6:10f) We must not allow complacency to set in. Otherwise, Jesus warns those of us who are neutral in the face of evil that we will eventually be sucked into the system. This was the case of the man when an unclean spirit went out of him. “But on arrival, finding it swept and tidied, it then goes off and brings seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and set up house there, so that the man ends up by being worse than he was before.” So, let us take heed of the advice of St Peter, “Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.” (1 Pt 5:8f)
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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