January 29, 2012

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Dt 18:15-20; 1 Cor 7:32-35; Mk 1:21-28

Hollywood loves movies dealing with absolute evil bringing fear into the lives of ordinary people.  The evil comes from vampires, psychopathic killers, zombies, ghosts, demon possessions and anything else that can be dreamed of that will bring fear to an audience.  The scarier the movie and the more evil the antagonist, the more popular the movie will become.  The plots of these films are almost always the same; poor innocent ordinary people are confronted with this evil, most of them are overwhelmed by it while one or two of them find some solution to temporarily expel the evil.  The evil is never destroyed because that would leave no room for a sequel.  

Jesus' encounter with evil in today's Gospel is not so dramatic and the solution is absolute.   This is the beginning of His public ministry and he is teaching in the place of authority in the synagogue when a man with an unclean spirit cries out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?"  Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are? the Holy one of God!" (Mk 1:24)  Unlike Hollywood, the evil is afraid, and rightly so.  It is immediately silenced and sent out of the man.

As a priest, over the years I have had many occasions when people were overwhelmed by the fear of evil.  Often it is the fear of some ghost that is haunting their house or some neighbor or person they dislike who they believe has placed a curse of them.  Sometimes it is someone who believes that they or a loved one is possessed by a demon.  The common plot in these stories, however, is that they are generally people who never or rarely go to church of any kind and their lives are complicated by a multitude of problems. 

Fortunately for us, possibly unfortunate for Hollywood, the solution to this fear is not very dramatic.  As Franklin D. Roosevelt said in his first inaugural speech to a world overwhelmed by fear because of the economy, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself."  As Christians this should be one of the guiding principles of our life.  As St. Paul writes to the Romans, " For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (8:38-39). 

Those around Jesus in today's Gospel are still unsure of who Jesus is and the peace that He is bringing into this world.  Our quest is to accept more and more the authority of Christ over us in our lives.  This is not something that happens in an instant or by a simple profession of faith.  It is a journey of discovery that the fears of this world really have no power over us when we are in unity with Christ. 

St. Paul in today's second reading addresses this in an astounding way.  He is encouraging unmarried men and unmarried women to not get married so they will not be anxious about pleasing their spouse and their family and concentrate on pleasing the Lord.  Unfortunately, we can always find opportunities for stress in this world despite our marital status.  Marriage can be a source of great stress or of great freedom and peace when it is Christ centered.  Life at any stage can be filled with stress and fear or great peace and joy.  As we become more able to conform ourselves to the love of Christ and accept His authority over us in this life, the fears and anxieties of this world will have less and less power over us. 

The prayers during the Communion Rite of Mass emphasize this confidence we have through faith.  In the Lord's Prayer we remember that it is God's Kingdom and His will that must be done and that we need to forgive one another.  This is followed by the prayer called the Embolism: Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil, graciously grant peace in our days, that, by the help of your mercy, we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ."  The prayer reminds us that as we are free from sin we will be safe from distress.

Through the Sacramental life of the Church we directly encounter the peace and love of Christ that dispels the darkness of this world.  The devils inside us are exorcised or expelled from us as we encounter the love of Christ.  As we approach the Sacrament of Penance, we receive true peace through the forgiveness of our sins and the compassion of our loving God.  As we approach the Eucharist, we are nurtured by the Bread of Heaven that comes from Jesus' victory over sin and evil in this world.  Our Lord desires to be fully a part of our lives and as we are one with Him the craziness of this world will not overwhelm us and take away our peace.

Life can be a perfect Hollywood horror film filled with drama and fear, or it can be a love story where we know and accept the peace and beauty of our Lord.  When we come to know our Lord and accept His authority over us in our lives the evils of this world will no longer have power over us.  Maybe our lives will not be great plots for a movie, but they will be more beautiful and peaceful to live. 

God bless,

Father John Provenza

Pastor