Jesus Casts Out an Unclean Spirit
Feb
1
Written by:
Sunday, February 01, 2009
4th Sunday Ordinary Time
February 1, 2009
In this Sunday's gospel, Jesus casts out an "unclean spirit" (Mark 1:21-28).
What does it mean to harbor an "unclean spirit?" Unclean spirits are rampant in our society. As Christians, we are called to live lives of purity in a world that is often immersed in filth. Most impurity in our lives has its start in the eyes and the mouth. Here are a few suggestions as to how to expel the spirit of impurity in your life.
Watch your language. People around us think nothing of taking God's name in vain, cursing, and using vulgarities of all kinds, all of which grieves the Holy Spirit! As Christians, we are called to use the language of God, not of the evil one!
Avoid complaining; start thanking. Negativity, fault-finding and complaining is a sure way to call down the spirit of impurity in your life. But thanksgiving and praise has the opposite effect: it marshals all the forces of God on our behalf.
How do I speak about others? Saying negative things about others invariably ends up poisoning our own hearts. Even if someone has truly wronged us, when we spread stories about them, even if true, it ends up making us look bad. Perhaps someone else has put a knife in our heart, and we are the one turning it, over and over. Here are three ugly ways we hurt others and ourselves:
· Calumny is the deliberate spreading of false information in order to injure someone's reputation.
· Slander is saying negative things about others that you think are true, but which later turn out to be false.
· Detraction is spreading negative things about someone that are true, but that everyone does not need to know.
Be on guard with media The filth that is available on the internet, television and movies is truly unbelievable, and the worst part is that we can now see all of this pornography in complete privacy. Are you selective in what you watch? Do you realize that you are what you eat? For what we watch habitually becomes part of who we are; it gets into our mind and corrupts our heart. To watch impurity is to invite the evil spirit of darkness to rule over our lives. Allow Jesus to expel it by being choosy in what you say and what you watch regularly!
Father Gary