Gospel: January 27, 2025
January 27, 2025 (Monday)
3rd Week in Ordinary Time
Psalter: Week 3 (Green/White)
St. Angela Merici, virgin
Ps 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4, 5-6
Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds.
1st Reading: Hebrews 9:15, 24-28
Gospel: Mark 3:22-30
Meanwhile, the teachers of the law, who had come from Jerusalem, said, “He is in the power of Beelzebul: the chief of the demons helps him to drive out demons.” Jesus called them to him, and began teaching them by means of stories, or parables. “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a nation is divided by civil war, that nation cannot stand. If a family divides itself into groups, that family will not survive. In the same way, if Satan has risen against himself and is divided, he will not stand; he is finished. No one can break into the house of a strong man in order to plunder his goods, unless he first ties up the strong man. Then indeed, he can plunder his house. Truly, I say to you, every sin will be forgiven humankind, even insults to God, however numerous. But whoever slanders the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. He carries the guilt of his sin forever.”
This was their sin when they said, “He has an unclean spirit in him.”
Reflection:
“Christ could bridge that gap between us and God.”
Christ is Mediator between God and humankind. The new Covenant or promise made with God is sealed in the blood he shed for us on the cross. Only Christ, as God and man could bridge that gap between us and God, which humanity had created through sin. The teachers of the Law in the Gospel don’t recognize this. They see Christ’s power as evil rather than divine, but Jesus explains that “if a family divides itself into groups, that family will not survive,” and so if he were evil, he would not be fighting against evil. The Saints encourage us to reflect upon our motivations and to discern whether our actions are being prompted by God or by evil. St Ignatius of Loyola, in particular, focused on the discernment of spirits, encouraging us to beware of the devil, “the enemy of human nature”, and to seek to join in Christ’s fight for goodness and right. May God grant us the wisdom to discern well so that we can see God’s hand at work in our lives and also recognize where temptation is dressed up as an “angel of light” (2 Cor 11:14).
