“Whoever is not with me, is against me.”

My Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ: “Whoever is not with me is against me.” There are only two teams in the battle between good and evil and there are no bystanders. Either you are with God or you are not. There is no middle ground. In today’s reading (Jeremiah 7:23-28), we are told to “walk in all the ways that I command you.” We are given a simple command to follow God; yet we tend to harden our heart to his will. We want to test Christ. “If today you hear his voice” then “come into his presence.” When we were young children, we would put our fingers in our ears to avoid hearing what we perceived as unpleasant commands or orders from our parents. We considered that message as “bad news.” As young adults, we sometimes block the ears of our soul to keep from hearing God’s commands because we don’t want to hear what he has to say, we block out the Good News of his love for us. We get confused by the messages around us. Today’s Gospel (Luke 11:14-23) goes deep to the root of the problem. Here we see Jesus driving a mute demon from a man and after the demon has left his body, the man is able to speak. The people who witnessed this miracle were amazed, yet at the same time they questioned Jesus’ ability to perform the miracle. The people tested him asking for a sign from heaven, yet others thought it was by the power of Satin that cured the man. Why did the people question the miracle of Christ? Why were the people divided? Who created this mistrust? Satin tries to confuse the scene by creating conflict and doubt. He tries to divide the parties to cause them to question the pure goodness of what just happened. Yet we close our hearts to his wonder and awe. Today’s reading says it most clearly, “This is a nation that will not listen to the voice of the Lord God.” At times our spiritual life can be deafened by the mute demon. He sends us things to separate us from good. Unfortunately, we are tempted and fall pray to his ways. We must be able to build a strong defense to protect ourselves from Satin. We do this through prayer, through the sacrament of the Eucharist and through reconciliation. These should become habitual habits in your life for they will become the armor that protects you. We are at the midpoint in Lent. Is God’s message coming through loud and clear or is it being confused by Satin. Are you finding is difficult to stay on course. Victory over evil comes through prayer. In Lent, we try to separate ourselves from things we think are evil (e.g., X Box, television, candy). “We do not detach ourselves from things in order to attach ourselves to God, but rather we become detached from ourselves in order to see and use all things in and for God.” (Thomas Merton). God has not created anything evil. Everything God created is good. We make those things evil. That is why during Lent, we separate ourselves from the evil acts we commit with the gifts that God has given us. The obstacle in joining God’s team is in our “self”, not in the objects we have given up. Thomas Merton goes on to say, “The only true joy on earth is to escape from the prison of our own false self, and enter by love into union with the Life who dwells and sings within the essence of every creature and in the core of our own souls.” A Simple Prayer “Lord, May the sacrament of Life bring us the gift of salvation. May our lives be pleasing to you. Open our souls so we can hear your commands. Let us welcome the Good News of the Lord.” Yours in Christ Michael Marcon