If you would attain to what you are
not yet, you must always be displeased by what you are. For where you are
pleased with yourself there you have remained. Keep adding, keep walking, keep
advancing. ~ Saint Augustine: (354 – 430: was an early Christian theologian and
philosopher whose writings influenced the development of Western Christianity
and Western philosophy)
Gospel
Text: (MK 5:1-20)
Jesus and his disciples came to the
other side of the sea,
to the territory of the Gerasenes.
When he got out of the boat,
at once a man from the tombs who had
an unclean spirit met him.
The man had been dwelling among the
tombs,
and no one could restrain him any
longer, even with a chain.
In fact, he had frequently been bound
with shackles and chains,
but the chains had been pulled apart
by him and the shackles smashed,
and no one was strong enough to subdue
him.
Night and day among the tombs and on
the hillsides
he was always crying out and bruising
himself with stones.
Catching sight of Jesus from a
distance,
he ran up and prostrated himself
before him,
crying out in a loud voice,
“What have you to do with me, Jesus,
Son of the Most High God?
I adjure you by God, do not torment
me!”
(He had been saying to him, “Unclean
spirit, come out of the man!”)
He asked him, “What is your name?”
He replied, “Legion is my name. There
are many of us.”
And he pleaded earnestly with him
not to drive them away from that
territory.
Now a large herd of swine was feeding
there on the hillside.
And they pleaded with him,
“Send us into the swine. Let us enter
them.”
And he let them, and the unclean
spirits came out and entered the swine.
The herd of about two thousand rushed
down a steep bank into the sea,
where they were drowned.
The swineherds ran away and reported
the incident in the town
and throughout the countryside.
And people came out to see what had
happened.
As they approached Jesus,
they caught sight of the man who had
been possessed by Legion,
sitting there clothed and in his right
mind.
And they were seized with fear.
Those who witnessed the incident
explained to them what had happened
to the possessed man and to the swine.
Then they began to beg him to leave
their district.
As he was getting into the boat,
the man who had been possessed pleaded
to remain with him.
But Jesus would not permit him but
told him instead,
“Go home to your family and announce
to them
all that the Lord in his pity has done
for you.”
Then the man went off and began to
proclaim in the Decapolis
what Jesus had done for him; and all
were amazed.
In today’s gospel God chooses to use
an unlikely candidate to show His power and mercy. A possessed wild man that
people undoubtedly avoided and probably feared by his community made for an odd
choice. My thoughts on the reading is that Christ can choose anyone, no matter
how society judges that person, for great things. Going from a maniac to a
proclaimer of Jesus left people amazed. We’ve seen many unlikely people called
who responded like this over the eons: Mother Theresa, Francis of Assisi,
Brother Andre Bessette, Thomas Becket and many others. The commonality between
them is they followed Christ’s calling.
This story of redemption and
transformation reveals the very purpose of Jesus’ mission: to liberate us from
all the symptoms of death and to give our lives new meaning. Our circumstances
may not be as dire as that of the Gadarene demoniac, but all of us are in need
of healing and restoration. As Pope Francis has said, “Jesus reveals the
face of the Father’s mercy.”
The Gospel today is a good reminder
for me to trust and not hide when the Lord is calling.
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