Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
A house divided cannot stand.
Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Reading: Galatians 3:7-14
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 111:1B-2, 3-4, 5-6
Alleluia: John 12:31B-32
Gospel: Luke 11:15-26
Today’s readings audio:
Justification by Faith (continued)
Today’s reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Gentiles continues Paul’s discourse on faith. Paul tells of that in the scriptures we see God telling Abraham that all nations, to include the Gentiles, would be blessed.
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.”
Galatians 3:8
But Paul again reiterates that we are justified by faith and not the works of the law. Gentiles were no to be made to fall under Jewish Law in order to come into the Church.
It is faith in Jesus Christ, who was crucified, died, and was buried and rose again on the third day that saves us. It is through our faith and the sacraments that Jesus gave us that we are able to work our way to heaven. Through our Baptism, the stain of original sin is washed away and through the Confirmation, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit who strengthens us.
It is through the sacrament of Reconciliation we are brought back into communion with God and his son, Jesus. It is the reception of Holy Communion at Mass that unites us with Jesus as we receive him substantially in the Eucharist. It is through the sacrament of Holy Orders or Matrimony that we are in service to the Lord; bishops, priests, and deacons preaching and spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and married couples evangelizing to their children and bringing them up in the faith. And so not a sacrament, those called to the single or consecrated life also spreading the Gospel and living out their Christian lives as a witness to many.
And it is through the Anointing of the Sick and those who are dying and preparing them for their final journey to meet God face to face through the providing of Viaticum in their last moments.
Let us reflect on our faith more deeply. Let us put our faith to work. Let us carry out the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.
Jesus and Beelzebul & The Return of the Unclean Spirit
In the first part of today’s gospel reading, Jesus is casting out a demon that was mute and after being cast out, the man could speak again. The people then began to say that he was casting out demons with the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons. Jesus’s then replies,
17 But he knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house.
18 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.
19 If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own people drive them out? Therefore they will be your judges.
20 But if it is by the finger of God that [I] drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Satan cannot be divided against himself and continue to stand. Christians likewise cannot be divided against themselves and still stand. Jesus tells Peter,
And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
Matthew 16:18
The Roman Catholic Church still stands today, but over the centuries there have been many fractures. During the Great Schism, the Eastern Orthodox Church separated from the Catholic Church. The “Reformation” initiated in 1517 by Martin Luther created further fractures, and this has perpetuated down to today where there are more than 45000 denominations globally. This has led to a greatly watered down version of the faith.
Even within the Western Rite (Roman) Catholic today, there are divisions on between those that want to “reform” and change church teachings on abortion, contraception, and same sex marriage. They want female ordinations to the diaconate and priesthood. Then there are traditionalists. Some want to keep to the Traditional Latin Mass (or Extraordinary Form Mass) and completely reject the Novus Ordo Mass. Others reject the aforementioned reformes on abortion, contraception, same sex marriage, and female ordinations.
Each day and year, we become a little more divided and we need to figure out how to come back together. We need to go back to a pre-1960’s mindset on marriage, contraception, and abortion while living with the reality that we need to support single parents.
We need to bring back proper catechesis, and this starts with the adults. Catechesis since the 1960s has been in a word, atrocious. Before parents can be the primary teachers to their children in the matters of faith and morals, they have to know it first. And in a world that will tell you that the Church and its teachings are not important, it is the rare couple that is going to go out and research on their own.
We need parents that are willing to take the time to teach their children about sex in a mature manner. Children need to grow up to understand about why sex before marriage is wrong and that there are natural consequences to having sexual intercourse. And that the remedy to that consequence is not the murdering of that child.
We need unified families. We need men and women that will take the time to discern if the one that they are considering to be their spouse is the person that they are willing to spend their lives with and raise children with. We need husbands and wives that are willing to commit and not be completely driven by emotions. Emotions come and go and feelings grow cold. This is when Satan comes in and divides the home.
I say these things, because I have experienced them. I got engaged in the spur of the moment and I married a person that was not mature. We stuck it out for 15 years but had only just been brought into the Church a week prior to us being married. I had issues with pornography prior to our marriage and it spilled over into the marriage. She had three affairs while we were married and had two more while we were separated prior to our divorce being finalized. We had five children together and one of those children was the result of one of the affairs. We rejected abortion, which is what his father wanted, and I raised him as my own. But Satan, took advantage of our immaturity, selfishness, and lack of understanding in our Faith and divided our house. After 15 years of marriage, I filed for divorce and raised my kids as a single parent.
This leads into the next part of the gospel when Jesus talks about the return of the unclean spirit. We can repent and attempt to straighten up our lives, but if it is only whitewashed exterior, then the evil will come back eight-fold.
This happened to me after my divorce, and it nearly led to my destruction. I have since grown in prayer and over the past few years I have had my faith strengthened. Even more recently, I have been interacting with someone who challenges what I know and makes me go learn more. She has helped me overcome issues and still helps me today and I am thankful for that.
I am continuing to strengthen my prayer life. Are you trying to strengthen yours? Are you trying to keep the demons from returning? We are in a battle for our souls and our eternity depends on what we do here on this earth, with the limited time that we have.
Prayer for Deliverance from Evil
Immaculate Heart! Help us to conquer the menace of evil, which soeasily takes root in the hearts of the people of today, and whose immeasurable effects already weigh down upon our modern world and seem to block the paths towards the future!
From famine and war, deliver us.
From nuclear war, from incalculable self-destruction, from every kind of war, deliver us.
From sins against the life of man from its very beginning, deliver us.
From hatred and from the demeaning of the dignity of the children of God, deliver us.
From every kind of injustice in the life of society, both national and international, deliver us.
From readiness to trample on the commandments of God, deliver us.
From attempts to stifle in human hearts the very truth of God, deliver us.
From the loss of awareness of good and evil, deliver us.
From sins against the Holy Spirit, deliver us, deliver us.
Accept, O Mother of Christ, this cry laden with the sufferings of all individual human beings, laden with the sufferings of whole societies.
Help us with the power of the Holy Spirit to conquer all sin: individual sin and the "sin of the world", sin in all its manifestations.
Let there be revealed, once more, in the history of the world the infinite saving power of the Redemption: the power of merciful Love! May it put a stop to evil! May it transform consciences! May your Immaculate Heart reveal for all the light of Hope!
-Saint John Paul II, Consecration of all Individuals and Peoples of the World to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, 1984
Prayer for Deliverance from Evil
Today’s music: