Beware of the Legion

I’M referring to that episode in the gospel where Christ

was accosted by a man possessed by many devils who called themselves,

Legion, precisely because they were many. (cfr. Mk 5,1-20)

            It is said that the possessed man was so unwieldy that no

chain nor fetters nor man was strong enough to control him. And that

was because he was so dominated by many devils that nothing and no one

could help him. Only Christ could.

            That gospel story somehow demonstrates what can happen to

us individually or collectively as a society. If we are not careful,

we can allow the devil to enter and possess us. And things can get

worse when, God forbid, a demonic infestation can occur.

            We should always be wary of the devils and be ready to

handle them properly. They exist. And their only purpose in their

existence is to do evil, to go against God and to everyone and

everything that God loves. They were originally good angels who

rebelled against God upon their creation.

            Being pure spirits and therefore are free and intelligent

beings, the devils misused their intelligence and freedom by choosing

to replace God upon their creation. That choice has plunged them,

being pure spirits, into an irreversible eternal state of enmity

against God and against everything else that comes from God and is

still with God.

            Many if not all the temptations that come our way

originate or are being orchestrated by devils. The proper attitude we

should have when temptations come is to reject these temptations

immediately, never giving them a chance to advance in their plot by

dialoguing with them, and to go to God immediately.

            Let’s remember that when temptations come, it is because

we have let down our guard. It means that our union with God has

loosened, if not completely broken, often without even our noticing

it.

            Thus, when temptations come, we really should intensify

our prayers and presence of God, since with God can we resist them. We

should also submit our body to some severe discipline because when

tempted the body easily falls and drags our spirit with it.

            And given the way the world is now, we can readily say

that the devil is having a heyday. That’s because with all the

developments we are having today, we often are easily intoxicated by

them and we become quite worldly, a perfect condition for the devils

to pull their tricks.

            That is why we have a lot of disorders around—people into

addictions, violence, terrorism, suicide, envy, greed, laziness,

pride, vanity, etc.

            We should try our best not to be swallowed by the worldly

allure of these developments. While these developments are good and

serve a good purpose, we have to see to it that they are always

offered to God. Their use should be an expression of our belief, love

and thanksgiving to God. Otherwise, they can only take us away from

God.

            In fact, we have to figure out how these new developments

play in the abiding providence of God over us. They just cannot be

allowed to flow according to worldly laws and values. That is why we

have to spend time praying and asking God for enlightenment and

strength.

            There is also a need for constant purification, since we

cannot deny that in spite of our good efforts, we cannot avoid some

moral and spiritual dirt. Not only should we rectify our intentions

constantly. We should also purify our thoughts, memory and

imagination, our feelings and passions, and our senses.

            From time to time, we may have to have recourse to some

extraordinary corporal mortifications like fasting, abstinence,

denying ourselves some comfort, etc., since the body really needs to

be properly subdued.

            Lastly, regular and frequent recourse to the sacraments of

confession and the Holy Eucharist would do a lot of wonders for us.

Christ as front and center

THAT is how it should be in our life. We should always

keep the centrality of Christ in our life. He is everything to us. In

the readings of the 4th Sunday of Easter (May 3), this truth of our

faith is highlighted.

            “The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want,”

says the responsorial psalm. The second reading from 1 Peter 2 tells

us to follow Christ who was patient in his suffering and bore all our

sins. And the gospel has Christ saying, “I am the gate for the

sheep…whoever enters through me will be saved…” (Jn 10)

            We need to develop the instinct of always looking for

Christ, making him alive in our life and patterning our life after

his. This business of always looking for Christ is a basic duty of

ours, a grave responsibility, in fact. Without him, we would just be

on our own, relying simply on our own light and powers that, no matter

how excellent, can never accomplish our real ultimate need of our own

salvation, our own perfection as a person and as a child of God.

            We need to look for Christ so we can find him, and in

finding him, we can start to love and serve him which is what we are

expected to do to be ‘another Christ.’ This has basis on what Christ

himself said: “Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will

find. Knock and the door will be opened to you…” (Mt 7,7)

            And finding him means that we make Christ alive in our

life. He is not just a historical figure. Let’s remember that before

he went up to heaven, he promised the coming of the Holy Spirit who

would bring to us everything that Christ did and said. More than that,

the Holy Spirit brings Christ alive in us.

            We just have to exercise our faith to the hilt. With it we

enter into a reality that goes beyond what we simply can see and touch

and understand. With it we can feel at home even with the mysteries

which, by the way, abound in our life since we are not confined only

to the sensible and material realities. Our world includes the

spiritual and the supernatural.

            Exercising our faith means constantly dealing with the

Holy Spirit. Dealing with the Holy Spirit involves certain

requirements, like deepening our knowledge of the truths of our faith

by meditating on the gospel, studying the catechism, following the

teachings of the Pope, etc.

            It also involves constant spiritual struggle against our

weaknesses, temptations and sins. It certainly involves developing

virtues so that we gradually can be more perceptive of the promptings

of the Holy Spirit.

            And being more aware of Christ in our life, we can start

patterning our life to his. For this, we need to know very well the

life of Christ. We have to try to discern what Christ is telling us in

each event of his life, what he is trying to teach us with his words,

deeds, reactions.

            We have to know what his mission was here on earth, for

that also should be our mission. We have to expect to experience what

Christ also experienced, although in different ways and forms.

            We have to have the very mind of Christ, the very identity

of his, to such an extent that with St. Paul, we can say, “It is no

longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (Gal 2,20)

            When we make our plans for our life, let us be more active

in conforming our plans with the spirit, will and ways of Christ.

That’s because, even if we fail to consciously conform our plans to

his, Christ on his part will shape it just the same according to the

plan he has for each one us.

Inside and outside the box

THE box can symbolize many things. In this particular

piece, it symbolizes mainly our togetherness, our unity, our being one

human family. Yes, we belong to one big box, the box of humanity.

            We can also say that inside that one big, original box,

there are many other smaller boxes that can indicate the race we

belong to, our nationality, and other distinctions. Still there are

other smaller boxes that indicate the kind of profession or opinions

we share, or anything that we share in common.

            It’s in these smaller boxes that we can have our

differences and even our conflicts, especially in the area of

opinions, politics, fashion, etc. That is something to be expected and

should not be considered “a priori” as bad.

            These differences and conflicts can be good, and we should

try our best to make them work for the good of all by making them

complement each other, thereby enriching everyone somehow.

  

            Thus, it is good that we stay inside our boxes as much as

possible without, of course, allowing ourselves to be boxed in when it

is necessary for us to open ourselves to the other different and even

conflicting boxes.

            Yes, for the sake of privacy we can have our own space,

our own shell, but we should not allow these private spaces and shells

to imprison us. Just like when we are developed as a fetus inside the

womb of our mothers, we cannot stay there indefinitely. We have to get

out of it.

            This is when we have to acquire the nose to smell the

distinction between when we should be inside our specific boxes and

when we can and should be outside them. Offhand, I believe that we

should be inside our specific boxes most of the time.

            To be outside our boxes should be something exceptional

and should be pursued with the appropriate reason that hopefully would

redound to the good of all or at least of the majority. In the end,

what should push us to go outside is what our conscience, our intimate

dialogue with God, would tell us.

            We need to get out of our boxes from time to time if only

to avoid routine and complacency. Staying inside our boxes can give

rise to simply doing things out of compliance which is already a good

reason to be inside. But for our boxes to grow, to improve, to be more

enriched, we need to get out of it to get inputs from outside that can

be helpful. Let’s be wary of the danger of in-breeding.

            That is why we need from time to time to think out of the

box, for example. This way our systems and procedures can be improved,

and the problems and difficulties encountered there can be resolved

with greater probability.

            Let’s remember that there will always be new things and

new challenges to tackle. The world is always evolving even if it

remains basically the same. We just cannot meet them effectively by

doing the same things inside our own boxes.

            Even in the issue of fidelity to one’s vocation or to

one’s commitments as in marriage, for example, there is always need to

think out of the box from time to time to keep that fidelity going and

growing, adapting to the new challenges of the times. We just cannot

be doing the same things blindly or mindlessly. That’s the formula for

infidelity and death.

            In the end, to think out of the box is a matter of being

vitally united with the Holy Spirit. He will always be leading us to

where we should be. He never allows us to get boxed in or imprisoned

in our own world.

            Thus, Christ said: “Do not be amazed that I said, ‘You

must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes. You hear its

sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going.

So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (Jn 3,7-8)