his empire is coming to an end. How can you say that I drive out demons by calling upon Beelzebul?
If I drive them out by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive out demons? They will be your judges, then.
But if I drive out demons by the finger of God;
would not this mean that the kingdom of God has come upon you? As long as a man,
strong and well armed, guards his house, his goods are safe. But when a stronger man attacks and overcomes him,
the challenger takes away all the weapons he relied on, and disposes of his spoils.
Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me, scatters.
When the evil spirit goes out of a person, it wanders through dry lands,
looking for a resting place; and finding none, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’
When it comes, it finds the house swept and everything in order.
Then it goes to fetch seven other spirits, even worse than itself.
They move in and settle there, so that the last state of that person is worse than the first.”
REFLECTION:
Praying for the Holy Spirit to inspire and guide us cannot be over emphasized
because our principal enemy is the Devil, the evil spirit who beguiles us and is out to mislead us.
Even the “learned men” of Jesus own time were misled by the Devil. They misjudged the actions of Jesus!
They accused Jesus of being in league with Satan!
Their prejudice against Jesus was used by Satan to make them fall into error.
Even the Galatians in our first reading were misled!
So St. Paul admonished the Galatians to remember the Gospel he had taught them.
Lest we, too, may be misled we must always beg for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in all that we do!
May I invite you to pray with me:
“O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful,
grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and enjoy His consolations,
through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
© Copyright Bible Diary 2020