A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark
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 reading, Jesus encounters a man possessed by many demons, who calls himself Legion because there are many unclean spirits within him. Jesus sends the unclean spirits into a herd of swine that immediately run down a steep bank and die. As people come out to see what happened, they see the possessed man sitting clothed and in his right mind. By telling the man to remain and tell his family what had happened rather than to go with Jesus on the boat, Jesus finds in this an opportunity for the man to show his family the Lord’s mercy. The result was that all who heard him proclaim what Jesus had done for him were filled with amazement. Jesus, help of the helpless, moves this man from a state of wretchedness and possession to health and sanity, all out of pity for him. Where are those areas of wretchedness within myself that disgust me, that isolate me from God and from others?
God, help me understand the nature of your mercy. Many of those who came to your Son sought him out and reached out to him for help. But the most helpless, the gravely ill, the possessed, the decrepit—even the dead—you restored to new life and health out of the free gift of your mercy. Let me invite you to see those areas of my life that wield a level of power over me—unclean desires, impure intentions, sinful habits. Let me bring those into your light through the Sacrament of Reconciliation and through a daily examination of conscience. Come, Lord Jesus, and heal me by your word; let me proclaim like the possessed man what the Lord out of his great mercy has done.
Thank you, Lord, for the gift of your mercy. Jesus, just as you went on foot and by boat to restore people to sanctity, the Church today brings you through its sacraments to people thirsting for the Eucharist and Reconciliation. From the Responsorial Psalm, we pray: “They will praise you, Lord, who long for you.”
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.