May the Lord give you peace in the Holy Spirit. It is 13th October 2023. We reflect on Joel 1:13-15, 2:1-2 and Luke 11:15-26.
The petals of life remind us of the fabric and creativity of the creator whether we notice or ignore it.
Recognising goodness and celebrating it in us and around always chases the presence and influence of evil in us. The more we become obsessed and picking on the shades of evil in us and others, we tend to criticise, condemn, and conflict with truth and beauty in others.
The first reading urges us to be prepared to face the day of the Lord. To face God, one needs to deal with the impact of the evil and repent seriously. We cannot exorcise evil with the power of devil and his associates.
To deal with the evil and encounter God and the day of judgement, the prophet Joel stresses us to do prayer, penance and fasting.
No neutrality in being faithful to God. Either we are for God or against God. Either we communicate with the Father of Truth or commune with the father of lies. It is all about our honesty and relationship with God.
We relate with God to recognise and deal with the evil in and around us. Jesus, the exorcist par excellence through His communion with the Father curtails and eradicates the evil in us.
We need to be on the side of Jesus and God in dealing with the evil, not any human power that promises temporary solutions to human problems.
The pascal victory of Jesus is the sure and tangible experience for us to fight against evil.
To be a saint for a day is not expected of us. We need to be consistently being good and warding off evil daily, if not the unclean, the disgusting evil spirit return to our hearts and life.
Though vulnerable and weak we may be, only by belonging and taking side with Jesus, we can fight against every form of evil. We need to recognise the limitations we have and learn to engage, convert, and committed consistently.
May the Lord help us to relate with God more than what we are today and do everything in our means to deal with evil. May you have a good day. May God bless you.