Homily Twenty-Seventh Friday of Ordinary Time (Luke 11:15-26) “Overcome Evil with Good”
Homily Twenty-Seventh Friday of Ordinary Time (Luke 11:15-26) “Overcome Evil with Good”
A story is told of a priest who gave a sermon about keeping the Lord’s day. He talked about all the things that people did on the sabbath that were inappropriate. He mentioned going out to play golf. He pointed out how people should refrain from working in their yard. He was critical of people taking their children to sports tournaments.
His parishioners took his preaching to heart and the stopped all their secular activity on Sunday. In the end they just sat around their homes bored. The men started to surf the internet and look at pornography. The women began to phone all their friends and exchange gossip. The children got on one another’s nerves and fought and argued.
What was the problem? The priest had told his people what not to do, but he had not told them what would be beneficial to do. When we take weeds out of a garden, we need to plant something in their place (flowers perhaps?). Boredom quite often leads to sloth.
Jesus speaks of driving evil spirits in a man. The man’s soul is cleansed but it is also a vacuum. Jesus says that other evil spirits enter in that are more dangerous than the ones that were there initially.
It is easy to point our problems in life. But it is harder to propose solutions. When we root out sinful activity in our life, we must replace it with virtuous activity. We then crowd out the evil. We have no time for sin.
Reflection Questions:
- Have I given up a vise that has monopolized a lot of my time? What did I do with that extra time?
- When I criticize someone for some vise do I make suggestions about a virtue they may want to practice?
Dear Parishioners,
When I was watching the vice-presidential debate the other night the last question that was asked by the moderator was from an 8th grade girl. She said that every time she turned on the television, she saw adult politicians fighting with one another and slandering each other. She asked, “How can children get along if the adults are not giving a good example?”
I think that is a challenge to me and to all grown-ups. We need to consider what kind of example we are setting in the present climate. Will our children come to see leadership as a matter of domination or do leaders serve others and build cooperation between people?
We are mentoring the next generation of leaders. Jesus was a servant leader who tried to build bridges. Hopefully, we model the same type of leadership.
May Our Lady and all the Angels and Saints watch over you today.
Fr. Mark