Gospel Reflection For The 28th day of January in the year of Our Lord, 2024
Gospel
Mark 1:21-28
21 And they entered into Capharnaum, and forthwith upon the sabbath days going into the synagogue, he taught them. 22 And they were astonished at his doctrine. For he was teaching them as one having power, and not as the scribes. 23 And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, 24 Saying: What have we to do with thee, Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know who thou art, the Holy One of God. 25 And Jesus threatened him, saying: Speak no more, and go out of the man.
26 And the unclean spirit tearing him, and crying out with a loud voice, went out of him. 27 And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying: What thing is this? what is this new doctrine? for with power he commandeth even the unclean spirits, and they obey him. 28 And the fame of him was spread forthwith into all the country of Galilee.
To live before the time of Christ must have been very scary. Not only were demons free to roam the earth and possess people unwillingly, but the pagan religions were full of demon worship and human sacrifice. Evil men sought to rob anyone, especially travelers and foreigners who happened through their lands, and anyone could be captured and sold into slavery were his own tribe not strong. Wars were fought for pillage and conquest. Violence was a very real threat constantly, to most everyone on earth. Fallen man was reaping the fruit of the evil seeds we had sown. Then, into this darkness, fear and confusion comes our Lord.
Jesus came as God incarnate with power over all creation, evil spirits and even death. He could cure diseases, raise the dead, cast out demons and perform other miracles. Yet, He did not prevent the violence done to Him as He so easily could have. He stated that the angels would come to His rescue if only He called them, but truly He could have accomplished anything with only His word. He willingly suffered crucifixion and death for our sake.
From that moment, the world began to change. Christians could exorcise demons and fight evil through the power of God. It would take a few centuries, but soon the most powerful nations would become Christian and establish laws based on peace and human rights. Where Christianity spread, violence and wars for purely material gain and power decreased. While slavery flourished in the Muslim nations, pagan Africa, Asia and the Americas, it gradually decreased in Europe. Catholic England even opposed slavery, only to embrace the enslavement of both Africans and the Irish once they became a Protestant nation…. Is it any wonder that the Dutch were their main rivals in the slave trade? Is it any wonder that the Germans would set the world on fire twice just two centuries later? In Catholic nations, each individual was recognized as having God-given rights. No Christian could abuse his neighbor without violating God’s commandments.
Following the so called “Protestant Reformation”, which was really anything but, secularism and politics began to take the place of Catholic religion in informing man on issues of morality. By the 20th Century, man had largely returned to our pre-Christian state of barbarism… witness the world wars and communist revolutions, the Nazis and socialist of various stripes who killed more than 200 million people and have aborted millions more innocent children.
Where there is Christ, evil is bound and vanquished. Where Christ is not found, evil rules men. Only through Jesus Christ and the power giver by Him to His Church to represent Him and act in His stead on earth can mankind have any peace at all.
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Gospel passages are taken from the Douay Rheims Bible.