Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 5, 1-20
Jesus and his disciples came to the other side of the sea,
to the territory of the Gerasenes.
When he got out of the boat,
at once a man from the tombs who had an unclean spirit met him.
The man had been dwelling among the tombs,
and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain.
In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains,
but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed,
and no one was strong enough to subdue him.
Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides
he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones.
Catching sight of Jesus from a distance,
he ran up and prostrated himself before him,
crying out in a loud voice,
“What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?
I adjure you by God, do not torment me!”
(He had been saying to him, “Unclean spirit, come out of the man!”)
He asked him, “What is your name?”
He replied, “Legion is my name. There are many of us.”
And he pleaded earnestly with him
not to drive them away from that territory.
Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside.
And they pleaded with him,
“Send us into the swine. Let us enter them.”
And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine.
The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea,
where they were drowned.
The swineherds ran away and reported the incident in the town
and throughout the countryside.
And people came out to see what had happened.
As they approached Jesus,
they caught sight of the man who had been possessed by Legion,
sitting there clothed and in his right mind.
And they were seized with fear.
Those who witnessed the incident explained to them what had happened
to the possessed man and to the swine.
Then they began to beg him to leave their district.
As he was getting into the boat,
the man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with him.
But Jesus would not permit him but told him instead,
“Go home to your family and announce to them
all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.”
Then the man went off and began to proclaim in the Decapolis
what Jesus had done for him; and all were amazed.
God of Life
1. Cemetery. This represents a person who lives in isolation, or even worse, one who lives in the past, clinging to his memories, which are lifeless. Please don’t get me wrong: I don’t want to touch a sore spot when I refer to the cemetery. I mean a person who is isolated and is constantly going back to the past, turning back to things that are no longer there and that cannot exist in the present or the future. A brother who borrowed money and didn’t return it and you still haven’t forgiven him. A husband who cheated on you or a wife who betrayed you and to this day you distrust everyone because of what happened in the past. Many things may make you lead your life as if in a cemetery. They make you feel torn and conflicted, so the wounds from the past still don’t heal. Are you isolated and living amongst tombs? Living in a place where there is no future, no life, where you don’t want to create things, generate life?
2. Take control. When you have been wounded in life, apart from living in the past, you don’t let anyone else live either. It’s as if you have not been able to deserve happiness or fulfil yourself, so then no one can, and you make sure that the lives of those around you go your way. You neither live nor let live. You use rampant criticism to attack whoever comes to mind and say things without measuring the consequences. You become envious and you no longer control your tongue or your attitudes.
3. Go home. The mission of going to each area or region corresponds to all of us. Today Jesus reminds you that you have to evangelize in your home and those close to you. Sometimes we believe that to spread the Gospel we have to be a priest or a nun, but no, it’s in everyday life that you can bring God’s love to others. A few days ago, a friend called me in distress saying that he had failed God because since he was a child he had felt the desire to be a priest, but for one reason or another he was not and today he has his family. I told him clearly, “God chose you to evangelize that small part of the Church which is your family”. Because through baptism we are children of God and priests, we are mediators. Therefore, my friend, when you worry every day about your family and pray for them, you evangelize. When you struggle in life for your family, you evangelize. When you care for your marriage, you evangelize. When you educate your child, you evangelize. When you have to take care of your elderly parents, you evangelize. It is not by doing extraordinary things that you show God’s love to others, but rather by doing tiny, ordinary things, in which God’s love illuminates you and others – that’s how your life becomes extraordinary.
Remember that something good is on the way!
God bless you and be with you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
