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Gospel: Mark: 1: 21-28
Jesus came to Capernaum with his followers,
and on the sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught.
The people were astonished at his teaching,
for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.
In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit;
he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are–the Holy One of God!”
Jesus rebuked him and said, “Quiet! Come out of him!”
The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him.
All were amazed and asked one another,
“What is this?
A new teaching with authority.
He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.”
His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.
The Gospel of the Lord.
***
The synagogue was a holy place.
Why, then, is there a man with an unclean spirit present?
It seems he’s out of place.
***
Or is he?
***
Perhaps he was a conflicted man, both a believer and a sinner – a man who knew he was under the power of something stronger than himself and wanted to be set free.
Maybe he entered the synagogue that day praying for a cure.
Jesus was exactly the person he needed to meet.
***
At times we all need Jesus to cast something unclean out of us – a temptation, a particular sin, a grudge, or a habit.
While he doesn’t cast them out immediately, Jesus uproots these unholy things from our lives through prayer, and when possible, Eucharist.
Slowly, he’s transforming us into the saints we’re destined to be.
As Saint Paul reminds us, “God, who has begun this good work within us, will bring it to fulfillment.”
***
