Prayers today: Come, let us worship the Lord. Let us bow down in the presence of our maker, for he is the Lord our God (Ps.94).

Father, watch over your family and keep us safe in your care, for all our hope is in you. We ask this through Christ our Lord.


St. Colette (1381-1447)

Colette did not seek the limelight, but in doing God’s will she certainly attracted a lot of attention. Colette was born in Corbie, France. At 21 she began to follow the Third Order Rule and became an anchoress, a woman walled into a room whose only opening was a window into a church. After four years of prayer and penance in this cell, she left it. With the approval and encouragement of the pope, she joined the Poor Clares and reintroduced the primitive Rule of St. Clare in the 17 monasteries she established. Her sisters were known for their poverty—they rejected any fixed income—and for their perpetual fast. Colette’s reform movement spread to other countries and is still thriving today. Colette was canonized in 1807.

Colette began her reform during the time of the Great Western Schism (1378-1417) when three men claimed to be pope and thus divided Western Christianity. The 15th century in general was a very difficult one for the Western Church. Abuses long neglected cost the Church dearly in the following century; the prayers of Colette and her followers may have lessened the Church’s troubles in the 16th century. In any case, Colette’s reform indicated the entire Church’s need to follow Christ more closely. In her spiritual testament, Colette told her sisters: "We must faithfully keep what we have promised. If through human weakness we fail, we must always without delay arise again by means of holy penance, and give our attention to leading a good life and to dying a holy death. May the Father of all mercy, the Son by his holy passion, and the Holy Spirit, source of peace, sweetness and love, fill us with their consolation. Amen."


The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke (5:1-11)

One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding round Him and listening to the word of God, He saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then He sat down and taught the people from the boat. When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch." Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets." When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men." So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.


Heaven on earth
(Homily be Fr. E. J. Tyler)

As is the case with every scene of the Gospels, Jesus Christ is the object of attention in our Gospel passage today. It is the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The people were all crowding around him to hear the word of God and he got into Simon Peter’s boat and, seated as a Teacher, spoke to the people from there. This image of Christ teaching from the boat of Simon is full of significance. From within this boat Simon observed our Lord at his ministry and the need of the crowds for him. Jesus then directed Simon to take the boat out to deeper water and to let the nets down for a catch. In the line of the prophets, our Lord was about to give a sign. Simon, despite having been fishing all night without success, obeyed the word of Christ and immediately a huge catch was made. It was an obvious and unmistakable act of divine power effortlessly effected by the Man before him. Let us notice, though, the response of Simon Peter — a man of admirable religious instincts. His response is the true and proper response to the power displayed by Jesus Christ. It was not just wonder and awe at great power, but a sin-stricken recognition of holiness. In his famous work on The Idea of the Holy (Das Heilige, 1917), Rudolf Otto describes the experience of the divine (the numinous) as that of a mysterium tremendum et fascinans. The Holy is a terrifying and fascinating mystery. While in Otto’s account the distance of God from sin is an important element, in the response of Simon Peter to Christ’s act of power it is absolutely at the forefront. Simon sees in the Christ’s miracle a revelation of divine holiness. It is as if heaven is open before sinful man and the distance from him is made manifest. Jesus is revealed as utterly other, not merely in the degree of his power but in his distance from sin. His power reveals a holiness that in some way cannot be near to sin. All Simon can do at the sight of the catch is prostrate himself before Christ and ask that he leave him, for he is a sinner.

It must also be said that inasmuch as our Lord would say to his disciples that in seeing him they saw the Father, Christ’s power also shows the holiness of the Father. It is a revelation of heaven, erupting on the scene before Simon Peter. The All-holy Father who is in heaven is brought close to sinful man by the powerful deeds of Christ. Simon, full of a sense of his own sinfulness and moral poverty, can scarcely bear it. In this sense, Christ himself is the mysterium tremendum, all-powerful and ominous before sin. The devils cannot bear him. And yet Simon loves him dearly. In Jesus Christ, heaven is revealed and is at hand. It is close, and not far away. It is winning and irresistibly attractive, because this revelation of power is simultaneously a revelation of mercy for the one who wishes to repent. The power of Christ is holy before sin, and merciful towards the needy and repentant. Blessings and gifts come to man when Christ acts in power — and so it was that Simon’s boat was suddenly full to the brim, with the nets beginning to break up. Christ is man’s dearest Friend, the Friend who wishes man to be his friend, and not just one who is cowering with guilt before him. He is immensely fascinans, attractive to man who by nature longs for the divine. Man longs for heaven. It draws him from the depths of his soul, and here in Jesus Christ is heaven revealed as the object of the heart’s longing. And so the appeal comes from the lips of Christ to Simon who is prostrate before the Holy One. “Do not be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” Simon is called to be the friend of Jesus and his direct associate in the work of heaven: the saving of souls. And what is it to be saved? It is nothing other than to be the friend of Jesus Christ. This is the Kingdom of heaven, now and forever. The God of heaven is majesty, power and holiness — and he hates sin. Most true. But in his acts of power and holiness he is revealed as very near in his love and mercy. He does not expel. He calls to friendship.

When we address our Father who is in heaven, we are addressing the God who transcends all. He is majesty, power, utter holiness and as such is above and beyond the world and its sin. But the joy of the Gospel is that in Jesus Christ, heaven has come down to earth and is with us now. Jesus Christ is God-with-us, Emmanuel, and he dwells with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the just. Heaven is our true homeland towards which we are moving in hope while here on earth. At the same time, hidden with Christ in God, we live by love already in this homeland.


A second reflection on today’s Gospel:

"'Master,' Simon replied 'we worked hard all night long and caught nothing, but if you say so, I will pay out the nets.' And when they had done this they netted such a huge number of fish.." (Luke 5:1-11)


By God's power
(Homily by Fr. E. J. Tyler)

Man has throughout his history been very aware of his weakness and need. He gets sick and hungry, his work often lacks success, his life is beset with many uncertainties, disappointments and tragedies. And there is often little he can do about it. So he characteristically looks to God for the power to attain his goals. In today’s Gospel, Simon tells our Lord that he and his companions had caught nothing. It is a picture of the man of history. But at the word of Jesus, Simon cast out the nets once again. This time the result of his action was totally different. Simon was given a display of the power of God. The rest of his life would be lived relying on this divine power for the fulfilment of his life’s work, which was to fish for men.

All too often we forget that it is only by God’s power that we can do anything, and it is to his power that we had best appeal. In giving this sign to Simon who would be the head of his Church, Christ wished to give to him and to all of us who are members of his Church a great lesson: look to the power of God for good results in the work God wants us to do. Look to God, while doing our very best. It will be good work if we allow Christ to act in and through our own hard work. Notice this: our Lord did not himself throw out Simon’s net: Simon did that. So Simon played his part in the action, but its good effect was due to the power of Christ. “Unless the Lord build the house they labour in vain who build it” (Psalm 127:1).

There is a further point. We read in the gospel how our Lord got into Simon’s boat and taught from there. Surely this may be taken as a symbol of the presence of Christ in the barque of Peter, and that barque is the Church founded by Christ on Peter. You are Peter, he would say to Simon, on this rock I will built my Church. Peter is the representative of the invisible Shepherd who is Christ. In shaping our whole life according to the Church’s teachings coming to us in the teachings of the Pope and bishops united to him, we are being guided by Christ who teaches, seated unseen, in the barque of Simon. It is there that we have constant access to the power and the grace of God which will help us make the catch in life God means us to make. The power of God that we need for our life’s work for Christ is available in the Church of which Peter is head. Let us always listen to the Pope, the successor of Peter, who speaks on Christ’s behalf. He has been granted the power to bind and loose, and he holds in his hand the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.


A third reflection on the Gospel

"But Jesus said to Simon, 'Do not be afraid; from now on it is men you will catch.' Then bringing their boats back to land, they left everything and followed him." (Luke 5:1-11)


One’s calling
(Homily by Fr. E. J. Tyler)

Every human being feels or should feel the call to do good and to be good, arising from his natural conscience. This call of the conscience is naturally interpreted as a call to do what God wants, because God is instinctively sensed as speaking in the voice of conscience. The Christian will understand this as the call and voice of Christ. Now, Christ’s call is radical and is addressed to all who wish to come after him: ‘Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.’ This general call is to be lived out in different ways by different members of His Church. We should all be listening for that same call in our hearts. We know how to listen in to a television set, but do we know how to tune in to God’s call? Are there any guidelines to keep us from following something unreal? Yes, there are. Firstly, there are examples of genuine calls from God by those who have had them, such as those in Scripture, like the prophet Isaiah and especially the example of Simon Peter in today’s Gospel. There are also the calls received by the saints in the Church’s history. A familiarity with the calls of God to those who have responded to them will help us recognize and respond to our own calls from God.

Then there are principles to guide us in hearing our own call and making a right decision. One can sense a call to the priesthood or the religious life, or to marriage, or to the single life as being an opportunity to serve God and man in a special way. Whatever be the call we receive from God, when we find our call or find ourselves in the service of God in a particular vocation, we have arrived at our life’s journey. Simon Peter, in hearing the call of Christ to follow him and be a fisher of men, and then in accepting it, had arrived at his life’s journey. There are different ways this call is heard. It can draw a person like a magnet, as when Jesus said to Matthew, “Follow me.” Matthew got right up, left all, and followed Jesus. Another way is when a person is torn by different attractions, requiring that the issue be settled by prayer and a good life. Again, another is when a person sits down calmly and prayerfully and reasons out the meaning of his life, what he should do with it, what he thinks would please God, and then makes a decision which is in accord with his best lights. When he comes to what he thinks is the right decision, he offers it to God, and if he finds a lasting sweetness and peace of heart in this decision, he has reason to hope that it pleases God and that he has “come home”, as it were. If not, he keeps searching. He may ask himself, What would our Lady do if she were in my shoes? When I am lying on my deathbed, about to go home to God, what will I wish I had decided at this moment?

Each of us, then, has this question to answer: To what am I called? If we are already in a permanent state of life, whether of marriage or the religious life or the priesthood, the answer is that we are to offer to God our total service within that vocation we have. Holiness is found in being faithful to the duties of the state of life we have chosen, since that is what pleases God. Christ and the church need the vocations of all: priests and religious and the enormous potential of the laity, involving the whole people of God in the work of God. Christ’s lay faithful bear witness to the Gospel through their life of service in the spirit and manner of Christ. In their everyday life at home and at work, wherever, by means of their Christ-like service they are called to make the world more what God wants it to be. So then, what have I done for Christ? What am I doing for Christ? What shall I do for Christ? Can I do anything to see that people have jobs and housing, or to stop the spread of abortion, or to bring people together in friendship in my home, workplace or parish, or to influence the political process for family-oriented legislation? What can I do to teach Christian doctrine, or to improve my parish spiritually by building up this or that element in its life and making it a Eucharistic community in which Christ reigns?

Let us ponder the call of Simon Peter and appreciate that this call is addressed by Christ to each one of us. What, then, have I done for Christ to this point? What am I doing for him now? What shall I do for him in the future?

Saint Paul Miki, martyr, and his companions, martyrs (d. 1597)

Nagasaki, Japan, is familiar to Americans as the city on which the second atomic bomb was dropped, immediately killing over 37,000 people. Three and a half centuries before, 26 martyrs of Japan were crucified on a hill, now known as the Holy Mountain, overlooking Nagasaki. Among them were priests, brothers and laymen, Franciscans, Jesuits and members of the Secular Franciscan Order; there were catechists, doctors, simple artisans and servants, old men and innocent children—all united in a common faith and love for Jesus and his Church. Brother Paul Miki, a Jesuit and a native of Japan, has become the best known among the martyrs of Japan. While hanging upon a cross Paul Miki preached to the people gathered for the execution: “The sentence of judgment says these men came to Japan from the Philippines, but I did not come from any other country. I am a true Japanese. The only reason for my being killed is that I have taught the doctrine of Christ. I certainly did teach the doctrine of Christ. I thank God it is for this reason I die. I believe that I am telling only the truth before I die. I know you believe me and I want to say to you all once again: Ask Christ to help you to become happy. I obey Christ. After Christ’s example I forgive my persecutors. I do not hate them. I ask God to have pity on all, and I hope my blood will fall on my fellow men as a fruitful rain.”

When missionaries returned to Japan in the 1860s, at first they found no trace of Christianity. But after establishing themselves they found that thousands of Christians lived around Nagasaki and that they had secretly preserved the faith. Beatified in 1627, the martyrs of Japan were finally canonized in 1862.

A reflection on 1 Kings (3.4-13)

Be vigilant against temptation There is a most memorable event in the life of Solomon the son of King David. It occurred at the beginning of his reign. God appeared to him in a dream during the night and said, 'Ask what you would like me to give to you.' Solomon's answer was most pleasing to God. 'Give your servant a heart to understand how to discern between good and evil, for who could govern this people of yours that is so great?' God answered his prayer with abundance. 'I give you a heart wise and shrewd as none before you had and none will have after you.'

God endowed Solomon with immense gifts of wisdom. He was a person of great promise. But in the final analysis Solomon was a great disappointment. Not only did he overburden his people, but he abandoned God, turned to the idols of his women, and became ensnared in lust. In view of his gifts, we may surmise that he made choices that were contrary to what he clearly saw he should do. They were clear-sighted moral failures, perhaps the accumulated result of countless small infidelities. This is a great lesson. Being very gifted, spiritually gifted, will not ensure moral goodness, let alone holiness. Even having an abundance of so important a gift as wisdom will ensure nothing unless it is accompanied by humility, moral vigilance and resolve. We all have our gifts, natural and supernatural. But we must be vigilant against temptation and the occasions of sin, with a humble awareness of our weaknesses and need of God. It is on God's power that we must rely, while putting to good use in action the gifts we have been given.


The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark (6:30-34)

The apostles gathered round Jesus and reported to Him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, He said to them, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. But many who saw them leaving recognised them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So He began teaching them many things.

God and Man

(Homily by Fr. E. J. Tyler)

Let us observe in our mind’s eye the spectacle of Jesus surrounded by His disciples, who were telling Him of “all they had done and taught.” There is a marvellous bond between them. They are all in the midst of heavy and unceasing work and we read that “so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat”. They were all hungry and tired, doubtlessly including our Lord himself. We have various glimpses from the Gospels of just how tired our Lord was at times. On one occasion (John 4:6) the band reaches Jacob’s Well at Sychar. Our Lord is exhausted, and the disciples leave him resting at the Well while they go to buy provisions. On another they are out on the Lake in the midst of a heavy storm, and our Lord is in a deep sleep. In our scene today our Lord determines that they will all leave for “a quiet place and get some rest. So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.” These simple events surely remind us of the wonder of the Incarnation. The great God became truly man. It is the greatest thing in the history of the world, the premier mystery, that at a certain point in history and in a certain locale, there was a man who was the living, infinite God. We must not become used to such a thought and take it for granted. The Church confesses that Jesus Christ transcends all other figures in history and certainly all other founders of religions. He is truly God and truly man. He possesses not just a human nature, perfectly developed though it assuredly was. He is not just the greatest man of all. He is first, foremost, and only, a divine person — but with two natures. He is a divine person with a divine nature who has taken to himself a human nature as well. This human nature, this manhood which is his, is not to be in any way confused with the divine nature which is properly and in the first instance his by virtue of his being a divine person. Both his divine nature and his assumed human nature are distinct from one another and yet united in his Person — the Person of the Word. The mind marvels at the thought, but thus it was.

So it is that his weariness and his hunger as evidenced in our Gospel passage today (Mark 6: 30-34) and in various other passages are to be attributed to his divine Person. In the humanity of Jesus all things — his miracles, his sufferings and his death — must be attributed to his divine Person which acts by means of his assumed human nature. It is God the Son who is hungry and tired because it is God the Son who is this man. It is as man that God the Son is acting in these circumstances of intense work and pressure from the crowds, as in today’s Gospel. He assumed a human body animated by a rational human soul. With his human intellect Jesus learned many things by way of experience — such as that the crowds had run ahead of him to meet him when they landed on the other side. At the same time, as man, the Son of God had an intimate and immediate knowledge of God his heavenly Father. He likewise understood the secret thoughts of people and knew fully the eternal plans which he had come to reveal. He had a divine will and a human will. In his earthly life, the Son of God humanly willed all that he had divinely decided with the Father and the Holy Spirit for our salvation. The human will of Christ followed without opposition or reluctance the divine will or, in other words, it was subject to it. Jesus Christ assumed a true human body by means of which the invisible God became visible to ordinary man. This is the reason why Christ can be represented and venerated in sacred images. If the burial Shroud of Turin is to be regarded as authentic, we have on that Shroud an image of the incarnate God left to human posterity by Jesus Christ himself on rising from the dead. Moreover, Jesus Christ knew us and loved us with a human heart. In our Gospel scene today we see the very human heart of Christ being revealed. He shows deep concern for his disciples, leading them across the Lake for rest and recreation. Then on alighting, his heart is filled with compassion for the crowds and he gives himself over to their service. His heart, pierced on the Cross for our salvation, is the symbol of that infinite love with which he loves the Father and each one of us.

Let us never take for granted Jesus Christ. He is the Second Divine Person of the most holy Trinity. He is the only-begotten Son of the Father. He became man for us and our salvation, truly and fully man — and much more so, in a sense, than are we. That is to say, his humanity was full and complete. It was perfect, whereas ours is marred, wounded, crippled and wounded by sin. In this sense he was not only fully God, but fully and perfectly man. Let us be like Thomas before the risen Jesus, and bow down before him with the words, “My Lord and my God!”

Saint Agatha, virgin and martyr (d. 251?)

As in the case of Agnes, another virgin-martyr of the early Church, almost nothing is historically certain about this saint except that she was martyred in Sicily during the persecution of Emperor Decius in 251. Legend has it that Agatha, like Agnes, was arrested as a Christian, tortured and sent to a house of prostitution to be mistreated. She was preserved from being violated, and was later put to death. She is claimed as the patroness of both Palermo and Catania. The year after her death, the stilling of an eruption of Mt. Etna was attributed to her intercession. As a result, apparently, people continued to ask her prayers for protection against fire.

When Agatha was arrested, the legend says, she prayed: “Jesus Christ, Lord of all things! You see my heart, you know my desires. Possess all that I am—you alone. I am your sheep; make me worthy to overcome the devil.” And in prison: “Lord, my creator, you have protected me since I was in the cradle. You have taken me from the love of the world and given me patience to suffer. Now receive my spirit.”


The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark (6:14-29)

King Herod heard about this, for Jesus' Name had become well known. Some were saying, "John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him." Others said, "He is Elijah." And still others claimed, "He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago." But when Herod heard this, he said, "John, the man I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!" For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, whom he had married. For John had been saying to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him. Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl, "Ask me for anything you want, and I'll give it to you." And he promised her with an oath, "Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom." She went out and said to her mother, "What shall I ask for?" "The head of John the Baptist," she answered. At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: "I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter." The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John's head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. On hearing of this, John's disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.


My Freedom
(Homily by Fr. E. J. Tyler)

One of the notable features of modern Western society has been the clash of two dominant theories, a liberalism that expresses itself in capitalism, and a centralism that expresses itself in socialism. The one stresses the free initiative of individuals, while the other stresses a central authority for the protection of individuals. It could be said that one point at issue is the question of one’s environment. Liberalism hopes for an environment that gives the widest scope for personal freedom, while socialism strives to build an environment that provides the needs of all. The dangers and possibilities of both are reasonably clear, and the challenge for each is to keep everything in due balance. But let us take the case of one of the founders of modern Socialism, Robert Owen. Perhaps the greatest Christian thinker of 19th century Britain, John Henry Newman, had a brother (Charles) who abandoned Christian belief and became a socialist — more particularly, a follower of Robert Owen. Robert Owen (1771–1858) built his socialist theory on a few philosophical pillars, one of which was the denial of free will. No one, Owen thought, was responsible for his will and his own actions, because his whole character is formed independently of himself; people are products of their environment. The point I wish to highlight here is this stress on man’s environment because this stress has become common in much of modern thought. There is no doubt that environment is critically important, especially for those whose power of free and responsible choice is yet to develop — such as the young. But the exercise of personal freedom, whatever be one’s environment, is of critical importance if a person is to flourish — and our Gospel passage today (Mark 6: 14-29) illustrates this. In the case of Herod we see what happens when environment shapes human action. Herod had the advantage of frequent contact with John. Ironically, he was, we might say, in the best of environments. But what happened?

We read that, with John imprisoned, “Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him” (Mark 6:20). Herod, according to St Mark’s account, had some redeeming features, certainly more than Herodias his wife. He had something of a conscience, and recognised and had a certain respect for holiness. But consider how easily and how greatly Herod fell: he suddenly had John executed. While the event was a spiritual triumph for John the Baptist, it was a catastrophic moral fall for Herod. He had been in one environment but fell when he was in another. What brought about this fall? It was the fear of what others would think. We read that “Herod was deeply distressed but, thinking of the oaths he had sworn and of his guests, he was reluctant to break his word to her. So the king at once sent one of the bodyguard with orders to bring John's head. The man went off and beheaded him in prison” (Mark 6: 26-27). That is to say, the pressure of human respect and personal vanity in the presence of others led him to violence against a person of great holiness, one whom he knew, frequently heard, and indeed admired. Herod had before him a person of very high holiness. This shows dramatically that no matter what graces are offered, no matter how near God may be, one must exercise one’s own freedom and be vigilant against sin. A good environment is not enough to produce goodness of life. Let us take an even more serious scenario. Consider the familiarity and constant company Judas was granted with Christ himself. What an environment this was! Judas was counted as one of the personal friends of God the Son made man. He had the blessing and the training to be a direct associate in the work of Jesus Christ. How could such a person have ever gone wrong? Yet he went so terribly wrong, doing in his own way what Herod had done to John. He betrayed Jesus Christ into the hands of his executioners. He did not exercise his personal freedom against sin.

Sin can bring anyone down if it is entertained, however favoured be the environment. Sin brought down angels even in the environment of heaven itself. We must be constantly on guard against sin, this enemy ever ancient and ever near. Our power of free choice is so important. It cannot be replaced by a dependence on the right environment. Herod was in the right environment, as was Judas, as was Lucifer and the demons in the beginning. We must choose aright, choosing to be vigilant against sin and its occasions. Every day let us examine our conscience. Let us guard against sin, especially the sin we are particularly prone to commit. So then, now I begin!

St. Joseph of Leonissa (1556-1612)

Joseph avoided the safe compromises by which people sometimes undercut the gospel. Born at Leonissa in the Kingdom of Naples, Joseph joined the Capuchins in his hometown in 1573. Denying himself hearty meals and comfortable quarters, he prepared for ordination and a life of preaching. In 1587 he went to Constantinople to take care of the Christian galley slaves working under Turkish masters. Imprisoned for this work, he was warned not to resume it on his release. He did and was again imprisoned and then condemned to death. Miraculously freed, he returned to Italy where he preached to the poor and reconciled feuding families as well as warring cities which had been at odds for years. He was canonized in 1746.

In one of his sermons, Joseph says: "Every Christian must be a living book wherein one can read the teaching of the gospel. This is what St. Paul says to the Corinthians, ‘Clearly you are a letter of Christ which I have delivered, a letter written not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh in the heart’ (2 Corinthians 3:3). Our heart is the parchment; through my ministry the Holy Spirit is the writer because ‘my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe’ (Psalm 45:1)."


The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark (6:7-13 )

Calling the Twelve to him, Jesus sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits. These were his instructions: Take nothing for the journey except a staff — no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them. They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.


The Supreme work

Observe two things about the world — it is there, and it seems to be in constant danger of running down. That is to say, firstly, that the world is the great and evident Fact before us. It is there, and it suggests endless reflections on its own limited possession of the gift of being, and on how radically incapable it is to explain the very fact of itself. It stands before us as a given, while pointing aloft to the Unseen as its Source and Foundation. But there is a second thing about the world, apart from the fact of its being there. It is that it needs constant work if it is to be developed. Age after age, mankind has been setting out each morning to work so as to maintain and develop the world. This, indeed, is man’s vocation. He is called to work. Throngs without number awake from their slumber and step forth for the day’s work — some leaving for the field or the store, others remaining indoors to attend to family and house. Age after age, mankind has been at work because this heaving, throbbing, pulsating world depends on that daily work. Otherwise it will not reach its term. Work is the key to the development of the world and to the happiness of man who does the work. Now, while the world must be maintained in existence by God and sustained in its development by man, there is a radically new factor that imperils everything. At the root of the world — which is to say in the heart and soul of man — sin has been introduced. It is a terrible poison which has got into the bloodstream of the organism, into the sap of the tree, and the result is that death has been introduced and has spread. So, from the beginning, a new need has arisen and a new kind of work has had to be done. It is the work of redemption. To do this work God himself stepped forth from his home and entered the field of work in the world. He became man in order to take away the sin of the world and save it from death. Not only does he work to sustain the world; not only does he enable man to work at developing the world’s natural potential; he is engaged in the most important work of all, the work of redemption.

Thus it is that in our Gospel scene today (Mark 6:7-13), our Lord sends his disciples out on this most important of all works, the work of confronting sin and death with the Saviour. “Calling the Twelve to him, Jesus sent them out two by two and gave them authority over evil spirits.” Nowhere in the Old Testament do we read of a prophet sending out his disciples with authority over evil spirits. Evil spirits are barely mentioned, and where they are, man is not presented as possessed of power over them. In this brief sentence of our Gospel today, it is as if the fundamental condition of the world is laid bare, and the supreme work to be done is presented. The world is very vulnerable to the infestation and influence of evil spirits. This is because, in man, it has fallen into sin. It has chosen to turn from God, and as a result its shield has gone. It stands without helmet, without sword, without horse or armour. It is bereft of its original strength and is entirely vulnerable to the Prince of this world, that grand Prince who advances amid lies and smoke. The work is urgent and imperative. Man of every generation must be saved and the remedy is at hand. The remedy is the person of Jesus who has won the day by his sacrifice on Calvary. He calls his disciples to his side for the work, and our Gospel today is an early, iconic instance of it. “These were his instructions: Take nothing for the journey except a staff— no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them.” A great work was now launched and in every generation that work must be going on anew, and we are all called to it. Among all the works of life that we are asked to do, this is the greatest of all, the work of our salvation and sanctification. “They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.” In all our work in life, this work must be uppermost.

There are those whose vocation is to devote themselves exclusively to the person of Christ and bringing him to the world. The vocation of most is to serve the development of the world, the pinnacle and heart of which is man himself. They live and work directly in and for the world. But they too must be instruments of Christ bringing the world of their professional work and families into contact with the Saviour. Whatever be our work, we ought all have as our goal bringing man and the world before the feet of Jesus Christ the Saviour. In him there is life, life in abundance.

St. Blase (d. 316)

We know more about the devotion to St. Blase by Christians around the world than we know about the saint himself. His feast is observed as a holy day in some Eastern Churches. The Council of Oxford, in 1222, prohibited servile labour in England on Blase’s feast day. The Germans and Slavs hold him in special honour and for decades many United States Catholics have sought the annual St. Blase blessing for their throats. We know that Bishop Blase was martyred in his episcopal city of Sebastea, Armenia, in 316. The legendary Acts of St. Blase were written 400 years later. According to them Blase was a good bishop, working hard to encourage the spiritual and physical health of his people. Although the Edict of Toleration (311), granting freedom of worship in the Roman Empire, was already five years old, persecution still raged in Armenia. Blase was apparently forced to flee to the back country. There he lived as a hermit in solitude and prayer, but made friends with the wild animals. One day a group of hunters seeking wild animals for the amphitheatre stumbled upon Blase’s cave. They were first surprised and then frightened. The bishop was kneeling in prayer surrounded by patiently waiting wolves, lions and bears. As the hunters hauled Blase off to prison, the legend has it, a mother came with her young son who had a fish bone lodged in his throat. At Blase’s command the child was able to cough up the bone. Agricolaus, governor of Cappadocia, tried to persuade Blase to sacrifice to pagan idols. The first time Blase refused, he was beaten. The next time he was suspended from a tree and his flesh torn with iron combs or rakes. (English wool combers, who used similar iron combs, took Blase as their patron. They could easily appreciate the agony the saint underwent.) Finally he was beheaded.


First Reading (2 Samuel 24.2)

"King David said to Joab and to the senior army officers who were with him, 'Now go throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and take a census of the people; I wish to know the size of the population'..."


Recovering a sense of sin

We read in the second book of Samuel how David, at the end of many years of achievement, looked with pride and satisfaction on his kingdom. He decided to take a census. He wished to know the size of the population, but the context indicates that the reason for this was his vanity: he wished to display before himself and perhaps before many others what he had done and the glory that was now his. For this the prophet Gad told him he was to be punished by God. "So Gad went to David and told him, 'Are three years of famine to come on you in your country' he said, 'or will you flee for three months before your pursuing enemy, or would you rather have three days' pestilence in your country? Now think.." (2 Samuel 24: 13)

David's punishment for taking the census may cause surprise — it may seem out of all proportion to what David did. Why was he being punished? The reason was that he was arrogating to himself the glory due to God. God had chosen him, God had made him a king, and God had built him up. It was God's work, and David chose to regard it as his. His action was an offence against God, and this brought down the punishment of God. Thus can reading Scripture can give a sense of the reality and seriousness of sin as an offence against God. Our temptation is to ignore or deny the evil of sin, and the story of punishment for sin as described in Scripture educates us to its evil. Sin is an offence against the all-holy God, and Scripture teaches us its consequences.

Pope Pius XII once said that the sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin. The story of David will help us recover it. 'I have committed a grave sin' David said to Yahweh" (2 Samuel 24: 10). While David's sins are recounted in Scripture, so too is his repentance. Let us imitate David in his readiness to recognise his sinfulness, for this was part of his greatness.


The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark (6:1-6)

Jesus left there and went to His home town, accompanied by His disciples. When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard Him were amazed. "Where did this man get these things?" they asked. "What's this wisdom that has been given Him, that He even does miracles! Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't His sisters here with us?" And they took offence at Him. Jesus said to them, "Only in his home town, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honour." He could not do any miracles there, except lay His hands on a few sick people and heal them. And He was amazed at their lack of faith.


Faith the Foundation
(Homily by Fr. E. J. Tyler)

In reading this passage it is important that we bear in mind its context. In Mark’s account — which is probably the account of Simon Peter — this return of our Lord to his home village of Nazareth occurred well into his Galilean ministry. All Mark has had to say of Nazareth to that point is his mention in the first chapter that Jesus came from Nazareth to be baptized by John in the river Jordan. Once baptized and with John now in prison, Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, preaching the imminence of God’s Kingdom. In this account, Simon and Andrew are the first to be formally called to share in our Lord’s ministry, together with James and John. This call occurs in Galilee, and Capernaum appears to be the base of our Lord’s ministry (ch.2). An intense programme of teaching and miracles ensues in Galilee and it is with the reputation of a great prophet that our Lord returns, in chapter 6, to his own town. They had heard of the miracles and here they have among them once again their relative, friend, acquaintance. We can imagine the simplicity and modesty of our Lord as he takes up a brief abode in the town. Presumably he stayed with his mother in the family dwelling, occupying his room once again. There would have been nothing of high airs about him. His would have been the same simplicity and humility that characterized his life during the years of his childhood, youth and adulthood there, prior to his leaving for the baptism of John. He would have met his cousins — such as “James, Joseph, Judas and Simon” — and friends of the village. He would not have borne about him any studied manner of “the great man.” Our Lord was too real for anything of that, too truthful, too accessible. The marvel of the situation is that here was the great God, yet a true man. And so he entered the Synagogue and stood up to read, speaking on the text before him. The village was amazed! They had never seen the like in speech and in wisdom. It would have been the most impressive public words ever uttered in that tiny village.

That is to say, this man they knew so well suddenly manifested extraordinary qualities exceeding all their experience of him. They knew him so well, but it was now evident that they had not known him as well as they thought. There was a great mystery at hand, and the mystery was Jesus. He was far more than they had assumed. Were our Lord’s townsmen to step forward to acknowledge the new reality being thus manifested before them, or were they to refuse? We read that “many who heard him were amazed. Where did this man get these things? they asked. What's this wisdom that has been given him, that he even does miracles! Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?” (Mark 6: 1-6). They had heard of the miracles, and now they heard his inspired and heavenly words, expressing a faultless wisdom the like of which Nazareth had never witnessed. It thereupon placed them at the crossroads, and despite the manifest facts before them, we read that “they took offence at him.” They refused confidence in him. Our Lord came unto his own, and his own did not accept him. Observe just one detail, though. St Mark tells us that “many” who heard him were amazed, and reacted in this way. He does not say that this was so of “all.” Nazareth was a picture encapsulating the general pattern. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. He came unto his own and his own did not receive him — but to all who did accept him he gave the power to become children of God. The Nazarenes refused to accept in Jesus anything more than the simple and humble man with whom they had long been familiar. It looks like a common form of pride, a reluctance to acknowledge One who was revealed to be higher and more than they. Sin jostled in and pushed aside the Holy One. They refused to honour him beyond what was their comfortable custom. As our Lord sadly commented, “Only in his home town, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honour.”

Ominously, it meant that “He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.” Presumably, the few sick people were among the few who did believe in him. Our Lord “was amazed at their lack of faith” because the evidence was so manifest. There were his words of unparalleled wisdom, his existing renown for miracles, and, of course, the moral goodness in him that had all along been manifest to them and which would have been the guarantee of his present truthfulness. Our Lord was amazed at their refusal to believe. Its source was sin and its upshot was that they did not receive the blessings of heaven available in him. Let us learn from this, and resolve to make faith in Jesus Christ, who is true God and true man, the foundation of life.

The Presentation of Our Lord and Saviour in the Temple

At the end of the fourth century, a woman named Etheria made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Her journal, discovered in 1887, gives an unprecedented glimpse of liturgical life there. Among the celebrations she describes is the Epiphany (January 6), the observance of Christ’s birth, and the gala procession in honor of his Presentation in the Temple 40 days later—February 15. (Under the Mosaic Law, a woman was ritually “unclean” for 40 days after childbirth, when she was to present herself to the priests and offer sacrifice—her “purification.” Contact with anyone who had brushed against mystery—birth or death—excluded a person from Jewish worship.) This feast emphasizes Jesus’ first appearance in the Temple more than Mary’s purification. The observance spread throughout the Western Church in the fifth and sixth centuries. Because the Church in the West celebrated Jesus’ birth on December 25, the Presentation was moved to February 2, 40 days after Christmas. At the beginning of the eighth century, Pope Sergius inaugurated a candlelight procession; at the end of the same century the blessing and distribution of candles which continues to this day became part of the celebration, giving the feast its popular name: Candlemas. In Saint Luke’s account, Jesus was welcomed in the temple by two elderly people, Simeon and the widow Anna. They embody Israel in their patient expectation; they acknowledge the infant Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah. Early references to the Roman feast dub it the feast of St. Simeon, the old man who burst into a song of joy which the Church still sings at day’s end.

“Christ Himself says, ‘I am the light of the world.’ And we are the light, we ourselves, if we receive it from Him.... But how do we receive it, how do we make it shine? ...[T]he candle tells us: by burning, and being consumed in the burning. A spark of fire, a ray of love, an inevitable immolation are celebrated over that pure, straight candle, as, pouring forth its gift of light, it exhausts itself in silent sacrifice” (Paul VI).


The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke (2:22-40 or 2:22-32)

When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord), and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: a pair of doves or two young pigeons. Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for Him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took Him in his arms and praised God, saying: "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."


The Presentation of Christ
(Homily by Fr. E. J. Tyler)

There are many obvious reasons for striving to overcome illiteracy. Among those reasons is that by being literate a person has the benefit of being able to read not only practical everyday material, but excellent material which can enrich his cultural life. If this is so, then a principal benefit of being literate is that one is able thereby to read the inspired Scriptures. For the ordinary secular man, this benefit is scarcely notable, but for the person who knows that the Bible is the Book of books and that God is its author, not to be able to read it constitutes a serious lacuna in a person’s life. I say this as an introduction to some thoughts on the immense importance of Bible reading. Kierkegaard urged that a person read the Bible as one would a letter from a personal friend. Of course, it is an altogether special letter — a collection of short books of various genres, written over different centuries with very varied material. Though all these books have God as their fundamental author, they certainly vary in importance. I would like to suggest that our Gospel scene today (Saint Luke 2: 22-32) throws light on the Scriptures and how we ought approach them. To begin with, let us observe that in this Gospel scene we have surely the grandest gathering of those who embodied the purest and highest elements of the Old and New Testaments: Simeon and Anna representing so beautifully the Old Testament, Mary and Joseph as the bridge with the New, and the infant Messiah as the fulness of the promised blessing. In that singular group is represented all of God’s dealings with His chosen people and all of the Scriptures which record those dealings. Perhaps no-one else outside the little group noticed the gathering, yet that group of five represented all that the Holy Spirit had done up until the coming of Christ, and was a pointer to the salvation to come. Jesus, the long-awaited Messiah, was being presented to the Lord God. The aura of Christmas over, Calvary appears in the distance.

To begin with, the thought of this group at Christ's presentation in the temple ought inspire in us a profound love for the Old Testament, for we see in this group its products. Simeon and Anna were two of its saints, and beautiful souls they were! They lived holy lives, scrupulously and with love fulfilling their daily duty. They were led by the Spirit of God and longed with love for the Messiah. They were given the grace of seeing him and rejoiced. They embodied the spirit of the Old Testament, and I would suggest that if we wish for a key to the interpretation of the Old Testament, we have one in the image of these two souls. What they were and what they did tell us what the Old Testament is and what it is for. It points to the coming of the Messiah, and its various parts are to be read with the thought of the Messiah in mind. The climax of the lives of both Simeon and Anna was the presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple. The climax of the Old Testament was the coming of the Saviour, and Simeon and Anna point to Jesus as that Saviour. The thought of Simeon and Anna ought convey to us a deep love for the Old Testament and an insight into how it is to be read. This scene of the Presentation of the Lord also shows the deep connection between the Old and the New. The Old and the New meet in this scene, and there is displayed a deep harmony and union between the two. The same Holy Spirit who led Simeon and Anna was the same divine Spirit who formed Mary and Joseph and who brought about the Incarnation. At the same time, our Gospel scene shows us that the most important part of the Scriptures is the simplest part, the part that is most accessible to the least literate: namely, the Gospels. The four Gospels are the heart of the Bible, and are the part that all ought read most often for they reveal the One who is being presented here in the Temple. Christ is the key, the summit and the focus of the Old Testament, and the Old Testament helps us appreciate the resounding message of the New. That message is that Christ is the salvation of the nations, the light of the pagans, the deliverer of Jerusalem, and the glory of Israel.

Let us linger in this Gospel scene of Christ’s presentation in the Temple. It is full of significance, and, as I have said, it also tells us much about the meaning and structure of the Bible itself. It illustrates the grandeur of the Old Testament; it shows forth the centrality of the New; it reminds us of the unity and harmony of both, and it sets forth the Gospel story of Jesus as the high point and key to all of the Scriptures. St Jerome once wrote that "Ignorance of the Scriptures will mean ignorance of Christ." So let us love the inspired Scriptures, and most especially the Gospels.

St. Ansgar (801-865)

The "apostle of the north" (Scandinavia) had enough frustrations to become a saint—and he did. He became a Benedictine at Corbie, France, where he had been educated. Three years later, when the king of Denmark became a convert, Ansgar went to that country for three years of missionary work, without noticeable success. Sweden asked for Christian missionaries, and he went there, suffering capture by pirates and other hardships on the way. Less than two years later he was recalled, to become abbot of New Corbie (Corvey) and bishop of Hamburg. The pope made him legate for the Scandinavian missions. Funds for the northern apostolate stopped with Emperor Louis’s death. After 13 years’ work in Hamburg, Ansgar saw it burned to the ground by invading Northmen; Sweden and Denmark returned to paganism. He directed new apostolic activities in the North, travelling to Denmark and being instrumental in the conversion of another king. By the strange device of casting lots, the king of Sweden allowed the Christian missionaries to return. Ansgar’s biographers remark that he was an extraordinary preacher, a humble and ascetical priest. He was devoted to the poor and the sick, imitating the Lord in washing their feet and waiting on them at table. He died peacefully at Bremen, Germany, without achieving his wish to be a martyr. Sweden became pagan again after his death, and remained so until the coming of missionaries two centuries later.


The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark (5: 1-20)

Jesus and his disciples crossed the sea to the country of the Gerasenes. As he stepped out of the boat, immediately there came to him from the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He had been dwelling in the tombs and no one could now restrain him, not even with chains. Having been often bound with fetters and chains he had burst the chains and broken the fetters in pieces. No one could tame him. He was always day and night among the tombs in the mountains crying and cutting himself with stones. Seeing Jesus afar off he ran and reverenced him. Crying out with a loud voice he said, "What have I to do with you, Jesus the Son of the most high God? I adjure you by God that you not torment me." For he said to him, "Go out of the man, you unclean spirit." And he asked him, "What is your name?" He said to him, "My name is Legion, for we are many." He besought him repeatedly that he would not drive him away out of the country. There was there near the mountain a great herd of swine, feeding. The spirits besought him saying, "Send us into the swine that we may enter them." Jesus immediately gave them leave. The unclean spirits going out entered the swine, and the two thousand or so herd with great violence was swept headlong into the sea and there were drowned. Those who looked after them fled and told everything in the city and in the fields. The inhabitants went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus and saw the one who had been possessed sitting, clothed, and mentally recovered, they were afraid. Those who had witnessed everything recounted it to all, explaining what had happened to the possessed man and to the swine. At that, they began asking him to leave their district. When he went into the boat, the one who had been possessed began to implore Jesus that he might remain with him. But Jesus would not permit it, and told him, "Go to your house and to your friends, and tell them how great have been the things the Lord has done for you and his mercy towards you." He went his way and began to broadcast in the Decapolis the great things Jesus had done for him. Everyone marvelled.


The demons
(Homily by Fr. E. J. Tyler)

Despite the great continuity between the Old and New Testaments, there are striking differences. The New Testament is a development from the Old, but as a divine revelation it is also a leap ahead from it. Numerous examples could be given of the differences — most notably those directly connected with the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. There is no man in the Old Testament who is the direct Object and Focus of religion. All the figures of the Old Testament point, of course, to Yahweh God as the Object of religion. But in the New Testament, Jesus Christ is the Object and Focus. He is the revelation of the Father, and in seeing him we see the Father. He is the only way to the Father, and he is the Way, the Truth and the Life. But apart from the person of Jesus himself, there are other differences too. One is the open manifestation in the Gospels of the demonic world. Where in the Old Testament is to be found the equivalent of the confrontation between Christ and the demons that we read in our Gospel today? Satan appears at the beginning in the Book of Genesis (ch.3), presenting himself as a friend of the woman. He acts as a marketer of pride and rebellion, and with Eve he makes an immediate sale. He is the Deceiver who brings sin and death. But in the Old Testament he is barely mentioned. There is a mention in Zechariah 3:1-2, and again in 1 Chronicles 21:1, but apart from that the main source is the Book of Job. Satan is allowed by God to bring on Job’s afflictions and this in order to prove his fidelity to God. Beyond that book, the Old Testament is largely silent. None of the patriarchs or great prophets openly confront him and there is no formal contest with what Christ calls the Prince of this world. But once Christ appears on the scene, the battle is joined in open fashion. On the threshold of his ministry and while fasting in the wilderness, Christ is formally approached by Satan. Negotiations are brought on by the Fiend, but they break down utterly. He can gain no foothold and is sent packing. He thereupon knows that he has before him One whose like he has never seen in his long history as the black Spoiler. Wherever he goes, Christ seems to draw the demons out by his mere presence.

In this sense, the New Testament lights up the teaching of the Old on Satan. By contrast with the New Testament, the Old Testament shows by default the hiddenness of Satan. Normally he will not be seen or heard. It is Christ who forces him and his cohort out of their hiding places. This flushing out of Satan from his obscurity is one of the many things peculiar to the person and ministry of Jesus Christ. The demons can’t stand the tension of his being around. They cry out, they abuse, they plead, even though unprovoked by him. From their point of view, everything unravels when Jesus Christ approaches. So it is in our Gospel passage today (Mark 5:1-20), in which our Lord arrives in pagan territory so as to be with his disciples away from the crowds. He has calmed the storm on the way across — and I cannot help wondering whether the demons had something to do with the fury of the storm. He lands on the shore in "the country of the Gerasenes," and we read that "immediately" a man hopelessly possessed with demons ran to him from afar and grovelled before him. The demons instantly declare themselves and plead with Jesus as with One who has all power and goodness. There is nothing like this in all of the Old Testament and it reveals a fundamental feature of the New. The Gospels record a fight between Christ and Satan. Satan had quietly deceived Eve into a catastrophic course, and then had withdrawn. There in his obscurity he remained, working withal behind the scene of the world. Now, however, he has to appear because the seed of the woman, the all-holy One, has arrived to crush his head. We get the impression of panic in the demonic ranks. All they can do is abuse, put on bravado, plead and ask for consideration. So it is that in our Gospel today the demons drive the unfortunate man into the presence of Jesus and ask for consideration. Do not torment me! they (the "Legion") wail. They seem even to be playing on Christ’s goodness: they ridiculously attempt to bind our Lord by oath. I abjure you by God, do not torment me! They want to stay in the area. Send us, if need be, into the pigs! Our Lord allowed it, and as we read, the devils thereupon hurled the pigs to their death — yet another sign of their true form.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ reveals far more than does the Old Testament that we have a choice. On the one hand there is Christ, and on the other there is Satan. It is the same as it was in the beginning. The woman had a choice. She could listen to the insinuations of the Serpent, or she could listen to the word of God. So too with us. We can listen to the word of Christ, or we can listen to the whisperings of Satan. Satan is characteristically hidden — he is as he was in the Old Testament. He is rarely seen, but his presence is a very active one. Christ is present and very active too, and he is the far stronger one. Let us take our stand with Jesus, following his way to the Cross, and gain with him the victory.