BY THE FINGER OF GOD!

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Lenten Weekday

By Lorenz S. Centino, Jr.

Luke 11: 14 - 23

14 Now he was casting out a demon that was dumb; when the demon had gone out, the dumb man spoke, and the people marveled. 15 But some of them said, "He casts out demons by Be-el'zebul, the prince of demons"; 16 while others, to test him, sought from him a sign from heaven. 17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. 18 And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Be-el'zebul. 19 And if I cast out demons by Be-el'zebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. 20 But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace; 22 but when one stronger than he assails him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoil. 23 He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS:

A BLESSED THURSDAY TO ALL!!!

Not all the times we do things according to our own free will. At certain times we are forced to do things because of the circumstance that we are in, especially poverty. We could also act on a certain way mislead by people who are manipulating us for something that serve their own interest. Like the family of Sally Ordinario-Villanueva, one of the three executed OFWs convicted for drug trafficking, insisted that Sally was just a housewife and was merely used by an international drug syndicate to carry a luggage containing 4.1 kilos of heroin. They would like to save her from the death penalty asking for clemency on the ground that Sally was not aware of the illegal drugs that she was carrying. If this is the case, Sally was a clear victim of manipulation and exploitation due to poverty. Sally was under the CONTROL of the EVIL FINGERS of a drug syndicate that DESTROYS and SCATTERS many HOUSEHOLDS.

In the Gospel today, Jesus was doing something that is GOOD, healing a dumb person by casting out the demon in the person, but condemned him of being associated to Beelzebul the prince of demons. Jesus was accused of doing something by the power of an EVIL ONE! But Jesus was smart enough to correct them by giving them a simple parable of a divided kingdom or household. A divided kingdom or household will never stand long. Jesus then OPENS UP their MINDS to see that it is by the FINGER of GOD that he casts out the demon. He is telling them that a MIGHTY and STRONGER MAN is in their midst assailing and overcoming the EVIL ONE.

The Gospel today is challenging us to examine ourselves by what FINGER do we accomplish the things that we planned, dreamed about and those that we have already accomplished. Is it by the finger of “BEELZEBUL” that manipulates our WEAKNESSES to do something against God? 

Jesus makes it clear in the Gospel today that there is NO NEUTRAL corner where we can stand. We can either be for JESUS or BEELZEBUL. Therefore, Jesus gives us a stern WARNING: “He who is NOT with me is AGAINST me, and he who does NOT GATHER with me SCATTERS.” Lent is a season for us to CAST OUT the beelzebuls in our lives. May our Lenten journey provide us the grace of time to reflect and make strong our resolve to only ACCOMPLISH anything by the FINGER of GOD! To do so, we need to claim first that we BELONG TO JESUS!