Today is the twenty-third day of our Lenten journey. Before getting into the topic, let’s finish the “flower display” we started yesterday, remembering each of the “flowers” collected from day 12 to day 22.
Day 12: Manage the gift of sexuality according to what God has ordained for our state of life, and avoid all forms of impurity.
Day 13: Walk the path of holiness as atonement for countless sins and offenses against God, unbelief, and injustices committed against people.
Day 14: Trust God in all situations, giving Him first place in our lives, remaining faithful to the sound doctrine of the Church and living according to it, and overcoming the temptations of pride by serving God and our neighbor.
Day 15: A flower of peace, believing in the omnipotence of God, who is capable of changing everything.
Day 16: Ask the Lord to grant us a heart full of trust in Him and belonging to Him without reserve.
Day 17: Beg God to grant us a new heart.
Day 18: Work on the conversion of our hearts, being willing to admit the evil that comes from within.
Day 19: Perceive our shadows and sincerely present them to God.
Day 20: Strive to obtain a pure heart so that it may be a weapon of light in the fight against evil spirits.
Day 21: Keep our hearts always ready to forgive.
Day 22: Ask the Holy Spirit for the gift of fear of the Lord.
In today’s Gospel (Lk 4:38–44), we find Jesus healing the sick, whether it was Peter’s mother‑in‑law or those suffering from various ailments. He laid His hands on them all and healed them. Demons came out of many of them. The Gospel recounts it this way:
“When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to him; and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them, and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.” (vv. 40–41)
Here it is striking that Jesus did not allow the demons to speak. This is a significant lesson for us. One might object that, after all, what they were saying was the truth. However, as we see, Jesus did not allow them to continue saying that He was the Son of God. Why is that?
Perhaps some would respond that the time had not yet come for Jesus to make this public. However, I suspect that the Lord had another predominant reason: the testimony of Jesus as the Messiah had to be proclaimed in the power of the Holy Spirit by people who had recognized Him and loved Him. Although, in this case, what the demons said seemed to be true, their words are never imbued with the joy of knowing God.
They are afraid of Jesus and, as a result, convey an image of Him that corresponds to their situation, but not to ours. Demons have definitively separated themselves from God and cannot—and do not want to—receive His mercy. This is reflected in the way they speak about Jesus.
It is important for us to understand and apply this lesson, since even among the faithful there may be a temptation to obtain “information” about the faith or other related topics from dark sources. You may also be interested in knowing what demons have said during deliverances or exorcisms and seek testimonies about it. However, you should be warned about this. It is one thing for an exorcist, who has been given this task, to perform exorcisms on possessed people and therefore has to deal with that dark world far from God, but it is quite another for us to seek it out ourselves out of curiosity.
In any case, Jesus did not allow the demons to speak and continued His mission of proclaiming the Gospel:
“And when it was day he departed and went into a lonely place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them; but he said to them, ‘I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.’ And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.” (Lk 4:42–44)
What flower can we gather from today’s meditation for our journey? To be attentive to what the Holy Spirit teaches us about faith and to proclaim the Gospel with His power, while refraining from taking in information from sources that do not flow with pure water.
Meditation on the reading of the day: https://en.elijamission.net/2022/03/24/
Meditation on the Gospel of the day: https://en.elijamission.net/2021/03/11/