Daily Retreat 10/13/06

2006 Oct 13 Fri: Ordinary Weekday

Gal 3: 7-14/ Ps 110(111): 1b-2. 3-4. 5-6/ Lk 11: 15-26

 

From today’s readings: “Realize that it is those who have faith who are children of Abraham.... The Lord will remember His covenant for ever.... Then it goes and brings back seven other spirits more wicked than itself who move in and dwell there, and the last condition of that man is worse than the first.”

 

Demonic Reality Check

 

The Gospels mention many encounters Jesus had with demons, and yet, for modern people, those verses are often demeaned as hopelessly “culturally conditioned,” with the assumption that all that the ancient world ascribed to demonic influences can now be explained scientifically with the help of physics, psychology and modern medicine.

 

Clearly, previous ages did have primitive theories about phenomena beyond the scope of the science of those centuries, and bona fide advancements in human knowledge offer compelling reasons to abandon many tenets of ancient thought. Yet to completely dismiss demons as something totally unreal would betray an arrogant mindset which views itself as superior to Sacred Scripture, and such an attitude is quite incompatible with Christianity of any sort.

 

The power of Christ, however, is greater than all the might of Hell, so those who stay close to Christ need not fear anything demonic. But those who convince themselves that there are no devils, sooner or later conclude they don’t need Jesus to save them from such evil, and so their every sin becomes an invitation for more demons to move in.

Fr. Rory Pitstick
Our Lady of the Valley Parish
2511 N. Elmway
Okanogan WA 98840 USA
(509) 422-5049

"Illum oportet crescere, me autem minui." John 3:30

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