The All Powerful Name

Today’s Gospel Text:  The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!" 18 And he said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall hurt you. 20 Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." 21 In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, "I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will. 22 All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." 23 Then turning to the disciples he said privately, "Blessed are the eyes which see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it." Luke 10:17-24

Reflection: The all powerful name of Jesus vanquishes every evil and even brings them to submission to us who have that name and value it:

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8

Yet this truth could hold very little value to the many who do not understand the full significance of such an action of God by sending his Son Jesus into the world.

In the sin of our first parents we were subjected to the power of evil, sin and decay. Death was an inevitable consequence of that first sin and hence we all are under the power of death.

These evil to which are subjected to are further taken advantage of by the devil by either tempting us or oppressing us by various means into various kinds of bondages of life; of lethargy and sin pleasures.

Thus we are made slaves to the evil one in long as we are slaves to these sinful tendencies at work: ‘”… but I am carnal, sold under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” Rom 7:14b-15

  

The extreme form such evil takes makes us slaves to him in such a way that we are unable to relate with others in peace and joy and or even if we do relate then it is only in constant conflict.  The worst is when we led on by such oppresses forces to drastic measures of either seeking the destruction of the other or self either through immediate suicide or over indulgence.

We are often bewildered by these destructive tendencies, especially manifested in the prime of youth and wonder where as parents they have faltered.

They have faltered in not keeping the flame of faith alive in their own hearts and subsequently in the hearts of these children entrusted to them as stewards by God.

Prayer: Lord, help me not to depart from thy holy presence and ever to lose hope in your all powerful name to set us free from every evil.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

A serious Complaint

Today’s Gospel Text: And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and kneeling before him said, 15 "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; for often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. 16 And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him." 17 And Jesus answered, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me." 18 And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" 20 He said to them, "Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you." Matt 17:14-20

Reflection:  A complaint is born out of an offense or wrong committed.

I can’t imagine, at least in our times any one coming forward and complaining to anyone's superiors that their priest or juniors couldn’t heal an epileptic.

We have forgotten that such situations exist in our times and we would rather prefer to send them to psychiatrists, or some priests may even push them on to the black magician rather than an exorcist, if the diocese has one..

Years ago, there was similar situation in which a young girl showed a clear sign of manifestation of an epileptic like attack.  She would go for communion and the moment she would get close to receive communion, she would swoon away. 

The priest in charge ruled it out as case of weakness and encouraged her parents to have her taken to a medical practitioner. It was only under a lay expert that she found deliverance, through the grace of the Lord.

If a situation like this, in the Gospel, could make the Lord express in great frustration, how much more in our generation when individuals do not want to believe in the supernatural influences, which are the cause of many of our bondage's and diseases.

There is a serious need for those in authority, those in ministry and all those who call themselves disciples of Jesus, to hear the Lord’s rebuke again and to mend their ways; "O faithless and perverse generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?”

Prayer: Lord, help me to submit as I realize that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities in the heavenly places and these we are called to vanquish. 

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us