FREEING OURSELVES FROM OUR INNER DEMONS!

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Weekday

by Lorenz  S. Centino, Jr.

Luke 4: 31 - 37
31	And he went down to Caper'na-um, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the sabbath;
32	and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word was with authority.
33	And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon; and he cried out with a loud voice,
34	"Ah! 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."
35	But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm.
36	And they were all amazed and said to one another, "What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out."
37	And reports of him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS:

A BLESSED TUESDAY TO ALL!!!

Words, figuratively, are comparable to a double edged sword that can kill and protect thus have both favorable and unfavorable consequences. In the Bible we can list many quotations that exhort us to be watchful with our WORDS or TONGUE for it can cut and destroy like a sword. And so we find in Proverbs 21:23, for example, the urgency of being watchful as it forewarns us that “Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.” And so what St. Paul urges the Ephesians (4:29) to do also forewarns us how we should use our tongue when he said, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”

In the Gospel today, people are amazed by Jesus’ WORD for it has AUTHORITY and POWER. They witness how authoritative Jesus’ word is when he expelled out a demon out of a man by the authoritative command of his word. Jesus just rebukes the demon, “Be silent, and come out of him!” Here we can see how Jesus’ word saves or builds up and destroys at the same time. Jesus’ authoritative word liberates the man tormented by the demon and destroys the demon’s control over the man. People are really astonished by the words of Jesus as his teachings give grace to those who hears him. People who are amazed by Jesus words and teachings were transformed into becoming ambassadors of the power and blessings of his words and teachings. Reports have been spread out about what they have HEARD about Jesus’ TEACHINGS and what they have SEEN about what the word of Jesus has powerfully accomplished. Jesus would claim in some instances that by expelling out evil spirits from those who are possessed manifest that the Kingdom of God is here among us.

The Gospel today challenges us to examine the kind of RESPONSE we have when we HEAR or READ the word of God. As St. Paul said “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul and spirit, joints and marrow, as it judges the thoughts and purposes of the heart” (Heb. 4:12), do we hear and take the word of God with passion and interest or with indifference, or just inflamed with pure curiosity without any commitment and obedience? The word of God is alive and active if we allow it to pierce into our thoughts and soul to judge our plans, interests, motivations and purposes. If we only allow the word of God to pierce our spirit and soul can we only be freed from our INNER DEMONS that held us captive from doing God’s plans, interests, and purpose. Let us then allow God’s word to pierce our spirit and soul to expel out the inner demons within us so that our words too will become a bridge for building up and a channel of grace unto others.


For your personal comments, you can reach me through this email: sanolorenz@yahoo.com