11 Oct 2024 – Friday of Week 27

11 Oct 2024 – Friday of Week 27

Optional Memorials: St John XX111, pope, 1881-1963, called the Second Vatican Council; St Canice, abbot, c 527, Derry, died in 603. Built a church in Aghaboe, Ossory, replaced centuries later by his church in Kilkenny.

1st Reading: Galatians 3:7-14

Justification is by faith, made available through the death of Christ

All those who believe are the descendants of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the Gentiles shall be blessed in you.” For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed.

For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law.” Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law; for “The one who is righteous will live by faith.” But the law does not rest on faith; on the contrary “Whoever does the works of the law will live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”;, so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Responsorial: from Psalm 111

R./: The Lord remembers his covenant for ever

I will thank the Lord with all my heart
in the meeting of the just and their assembly.
Great are the works of the Lord;
to be pondered by all who love them. (R./)

Majestic and glorious his work,
his justice stands firm for ever.
He makes us remember his wonders.
The Lord is compassion and love. (R./)

He gives food to those who fear him;
keeps his covenant ever in mind.
He has shown his might to his people
by giving them the lands of the nations. (R./)

Gospel: Luke 11:15-26

Jesus casts out devils by divine help, not by the devil’s power

Some of the people said about Jesus, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” Others, to test him, kept demanding from him a sign from heaven. But he knew what they were thinking and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself becomes a desert, and house falls on house. If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?, for you say that I cast out the demons by Beelzebul. Now if I cast out the demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your exorcists cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his castle, his property is safe. But when one stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away his armour in which he trusted and divides his plunder. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting place, but not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ When it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

The power to save

In true rabbinical style, one of Jesus’ favourite way of answering a question is by asking another. In this case he asks, “by whom do your own exorcists cast out devils?” Instead of giving instant answers, the Bible often requires a meditative attitude in God’s presence.

Jesus believed in the existence of forces of good and evil, of devils and angels. But he totally rejected the accusation that “by Beelzebul, he casts out devils!” No indeed, he replies, it is with special divine help that he faces down the power of evil. So we too cannot rely simply on our own resources against evil, but call on God for help.

Paul looks at divine help in another way, as he writes about the initiative of God in offering us eternal life. He holds that our “justification” and our invitation to share in the divine life is a benevolent gift of God, freely offered, not earned by us through obedience to a set of laws.

It is mainly in Galatians and Romans that Paul teaches his theology of justification by faith. our proper response to God is one of trust and gratitude, then followed by good actions. We must follow the example of God’s Son and let the Holy Spirit guide us. In this way, the finger of God will influence our daily lives too.

In ordinary ways

Some people put Jesus to the test by asking for a sign from heaven. They want him to perform some spectacular miracle, to prove his credentials, but are completely blind to the presence of God in the ministry of Jesus itself. Jesus declares that it is by the finger of God that he drives demons out of people. God is powerfully at work in his ministry if only people had eyes to see it. There is no need for Jesus to do a spectacular sign.

Some seem to be obsessed with the unusual and the miraculous. It would be a great pity if we fail to see how the Lord is present among us in and through the goodness of others, in and through people’s quiet prayerfulness. We can miss the deeper dimension of the everyday and the familiar. I think of the poet Joseph Mary Plunkett who wrote, “I see his blood upon the rose and in the stars the glory of his eyes.” Nature spoke to him of Christ. The best of human nature and human relationships can speak to us even more powerfully of the Lord.