“Legion is my name. There are many of us.” | Monday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mk 5:1-20)

When [Jesus] 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.

Harming himself and a frightening threat to others, a possessed man lives among the tombs, in the shadow of death. On seeing Jesus, the man prostrates himself before him and loudly cries out, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me!” Jesus says to him, “Unclean spirit, come out of the man!” Jesus allows the Legion of unclean spirits to be driven into a herd of swine, and they rush down a steep bank into the sea where they drown. Seeing the man clothed and sane, the people of the town beg Jesus to leave the area. As Jesus begins to depart by boat, the man pleads to remain with Jesus; instead, he tells him, “Go home to your family and announce to them all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.” The man obeys Jesus and goes off to proclaim what he has done for him.

God, help me understand the Gospel passage for what it is but also see how it relates to me. Help me grow in love of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation, in whose light demons cannot dwell. I want to push the possessed man out of my mind, push away the ugliness of demonic possession. Yet, aren’t there times in my own life when I have made of myself a horde of trouble for others and dwelled in sin and darkness, unable to find an exit? Let me see in myself the possessed man bound with shackles so that I can see more clearly the divine, sovereign power of Jesus to drive out evil and scatter every shadow that occludes you. Let me hear the gentle command of Jesus to go and announce your dominion over all—”all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.”

From the responsorial psalm: “But you, O LORD, are my shield; my glory, you lift up my head! When I call out to the LORD, he answers me from his holy mountain. Lord, rise up and save me.”

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.

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