the face of evil - 1st week tuesday 2018
Immediately after the Baptism of the Lord which inaugurates his public
ministry the gospel of Mark directs our attention to the expulsion of the evil
spirit possessing the man. It is the
inaugural work of Jesus. In a commentary
of Jerome, he says that in arranging the events that transpired in the life of
Jesus, Mark quits the order of the history of the events as they happened but
follows the order of the mysteries. Indi
na sia pasunod as it happened in the life of Jesus, pero gin-una ni San Marcos
kon ano ang makapahayag sang misteryo sang kabuhi kag misyon ni Kristo. And what is this singular event that
summarizes so to say the purpose why Jesus came into the world? The expulsion, the driving away of the evil
spirit or simply called the exorcism.
Jesus did this to free us from the grasp of evil and its power in us. And this is the primary purpose and mission
of Jesus. And so also this should be a
major preoccupation in our lives.
Most of the time we only think of possession of the evil spirit in
terms of what we see in the movies – nagamudlo ang mata, nagalaway, super human
strength, frightening etc. And we are
afraid of this. But there are other
manifestations of possessions of evil in our lives that are subtle but should
be equally scary. Greed is one sa bagay
nga nabulag ka na bisan pa illegal ukon unjust obrahon mo just to get
more. So also are illicit relationships
sa bagay nga bisan luyag mo na nga mag-guwa sa sina nga relationship, budlayan
ka na. Or you are set into a pattern of
thinking that you are a good for nothing person, you are worthless, you are bad
and you will remain bad forever – this too is a possession which enslaves you
to live a life that does not anymore entertain change and growth. Or one becomes addicted to gossiping or one
gets a boost whenever he puts down other people; or one can get entangled in
one’s anger, and hatred. These are all
possessions of the evil one, a sign of its presence and hold in our lives.
There are two sacraments in the church in which Jesus exorcises or
continues to drive away the hold of evil in our lives. Baptism has an exorcism. It reminds us that the evil one has a hold
and continues to have a hold in our lives.
And early on, bata pa kita ginasugdan na naton ini tabog. And the second sacrament which has an
exorcism is confessions. Every time we
go to confession we are expunging the evil that lurks and veers its ugly head
in our hearts, in how we think, in decisions we make, in our emotions, in our
values.
So it is important to be aware of the primary task of Jesus in our
midst. He came that we may be set free
from the clutches of the evil one that continues to take hold of us.
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