Monday in Pentecost Week
We bask today, and all this week in the warmth of Pentecost fire, but we bask at our own risk. Fire warms us so that we can be of service, or it burns out the imperfections. It is not merely for our enjoyment.
The Holy Spirit was in Jesus in the most powerful way possible. Today we see how it enabled Him to be in the right place at exactly the right time, to know the questions to ask of this poor, frightened man, to diagnose or discern the boy’s physical and spiritual condition, and to have the power to cast out a demon. But remember that Jesus told us that we would do even greater things than He did. We can do them only because the Holy Spirit works in us. What a revolution there would be if every one of the billions of Christians in the world would accept the gifts of the Spirit and prayerfully discern what needs to be done. With prayer, we see here, even the greatest of demons can be exorcized.
And there are demons abroad in our world today. They are demons that cloud the mind and enervate the will, that impede the working of the Holy Spirit. The demon fogs our vision and tells us that pornography is “just an art form.” Don’t be a prude, it says. God made the human body; can what God made be evil? No, but it can be used, like any of God’s creations, for evil and dehumanizing purposes. The demon fogs our judgement and says “drugs aren’t harmful; what is harmful is criminalizing them? Just legalize drugs and all our drug problems will go away.” Surely people who are morally drugged with that kind of talk have never had a son or daughter addicted to coke or meth or heroin and never had to watch a child lie, cheat and steal to support a life-destroying habit.
The demons that need to be exorcized today are all around us. Their minions control much of television, movies and radio. They demand rights without responsibilities, freedom without self-control, which is license. They can only be driven out by prayer. Today we celebrate the great prayer, Eucharist. As we pray, let’s ask the Holy Spirit to stir up with fire many, many to get involved in their world and spread the good news, a good news of freedom from the slavery of sin, a good news of new life in Jesus Christ.
