Today's Gospel

What Are Your Demons?

Is there a word, or a phrase, or an idea that jumps out at you today? There's a few for me. The first one is-- the reading begins. "Now, when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons." Now, that descriptor would seem maybe unrelated to the rest of the story. It would be a form of identification if the reading had just said he appeared first to Mary, rather than to Mary Magdalene, but this, "from whom he had cast out seven demons," seems unrelated to the rest of the story. My experience has been nothing is ever unrelated when it comes to scriptures. And so this makes me think, all right, Mary Magdalene had seven demons cast out of her. It makes me think, okay, if Jesus had to cast seven demons out of me today, what would those seven demons be? It's a great exercise. Really, I challenge you to do it today. Think about it. If Jesus was going to cast out seven demons from you today, what would the seven demons be? They might not be fully in possession of you, but they're in there, they're working away, they're doing their thing. That was the first that jumped out at me. The second thing that jumped out at me is Jesus' rebuke of the disciples for their hardness-- for their unbelief, yes. But then he says, "And hardness of heart." And so again, things are related. Things in the Scriptures are not unrelated. And so Jesus is pairing unbelief and hardness of heart. I think we live in an age where there is an escalating unbelief, and we live in an age also where there's an escalating hardness of heart. And so I think so we're called to examine our own hearts and ask ourselves, "In what ways are our own hearts hardened?" How have they been hardened? How do we learn to soften them again? How do we call on God to soften them again? This hardness of heart connected to this unbelief, because very often we will ask God for more faith. And essentially, what Jesus is giving us here is a prescription. If you want more faith, don't let your heart get hardened. If you want more faith, learn to soften your heart in the ways that it has been hardened. And then, of course, the closing of the reading today is the Great Commission. Go out into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole of creation. And that's a mission that was not given exclusively to the 12. It was given to you. It was given to me. We are called to go out in the world and to preach the gospel.

And yes, in every place, in every age, in every person, in their own circumstances and situations needs to collaborate with God to determine how are they being called to preach the gospel. To whom are they being called to preach the gospel? But that is a discernment that we have to take seriously. Who is God calling you to preach the gospel to at this time in your life? He might be calling you to teach a First Communion class, teach a confirmation class, teach a marriage prep class, lead a Bible study. He might be calling you to go on mission to the other side of the world. But let's think about that Great Commission. Think about it often and ask ourselves, "Are we preaching the gospels the way He wants us to preach it to the people He wants us to preach it to? Have a great day. And remember, Be Bold. Be Catholic.