MONDAY OF THE FOURTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME - Gospel (Mk 5:1-20) - THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE

“Unclean spirit, come out of the man!” (Mk 5:8)

FIRST READING - 11:32-40

A reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Hebrews

Brothers and sisters:

What more shall I say?

I have not time to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah,

of David and Samuel and the prophets,

who by faith conquered kingdoms,

did what was righteous, obtained the promises;

they closed the mouths of lions, put out raging fires,

escaped the devouring sword;

out of weakness they were made powerful, became strong in battle,

and turned back foreign invaders.

Women received back their dead through resurrection.

Some were tortured and would not accept deliverance,

in order to obtain a better resurrection.

Others endured mockery, scourging, even chains and imprisonment.

They were stoned, sawed in two, put to death at sword’s point;

they went about in skins of sheep or goats,

needy, afflicted, tormented.

The world was not worthy of them.

They wandered about in deserts and on mountains,

in caves and in crevices in the earth.

Yet all these, though approved because of their faith,

did not receive what had been promised.

God had foreseen something better for us,

so that without us they should not be made perfect.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY - Mark 5:1-20

From the Gospel according to Mark

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.

MONDAY OF THE FOURTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME - Gospel (Mk 5:1-20)

THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE

Dear People of God,

Today's Word of God recounts a true event: Jesus cast out a demon from a man whose body and soul were imprisoned by Satan.

Those who are possessed by Satan will be led into the darkness, into the dirtiest places; they will be taken away from the purest and cleanest living environments.

It is God the Father who is the Almighty. He sees everything in this world, and He sees that humans are greatly falling into the temptations of Satan.

Therefore, the purpose of God's coming to the world is to save humanity, to fight Satan to win back souls, and to help humanity escape from the imprisonment of Satan.

Jesus' main work is preaching the Kingdom of Heaven, calling people to repentance, casting out demons, and healing the sick and sinners.

As in today's Word of God, God has freed one of His children from the captivity of Satan, who had imprisoned him for a long time and led him into the darkest and dirtiest places.

God the Father also reveals to all mankind that: Satan is a fallen angel, a spiritual creature created by Him; but they disobeyed His will, they turned against Him, by tempting humans to commit sins to displease Him

Therefore, God's powerful hand was shown: He came into the world to drive Satan out of mankind and help humans return to purity with God the Father.

Furthermore, God the Father reveals to mankind that when Satan saw Jesus Christ, the Son of the Almighty God present in this world, they had to prostrate themselves before Jesus and call on the holy name of God.

This showed that: the power and authority of the Supreme God has full authority over Satan.

God the Father also calls on everyone that when any of our souls fall into Satan's trap, we must abandon them and return to God the Father; come to God to ask Him to dispel them, to free us from Satan's control, to return to being a normal person, to live in harmony with our brothers and sisters, to honor, respect, and worship God as the Only One.

Today's Word of God also reveals that after Jesus freed the young man from Satan's captivity, He called on him to return to his village and testify to people how God healed and loved him.

Today, God also calls on all those who have been healed by God in both soul and body, as well as those who have been exorcised by God, to know to praise God and also to go out and bear witness to the love, power and mercy of God the Father right here on earth, by calling everyone to repent and share God's love for humanity with everyone so that from there, God the Father may also save the souls of our brothers and sisters who are imprisoned by Satan.

It is only then can we fulfill the duty that God the Father calls and entrusts us with right here on earth.

And today, God revealed that He will save the fallen angel creature who knows to repent and return to Him. This is an infinitely great grace for all creatures created by God in this universe.

Humanity must cooperate in this plan with the determination to obey God with a heart filled with love for Him and all of His creations, as God loves mankind and all creatures.

Thanks be to God. Amen.