Saint Blaise, Bishop and Martyr (Optional Memorial)

What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? 

It is natural for us to want to focus on the love of Jesus, basking in it the way a flower turns toward the sun.   There is nothing wrong with this, and in fact, it’s something we should do often.   But that doesn’t mean we should avoid thinking about the devil or his influence in the world.

The danger of pushing to the side any thoughts about Satan is that we risk falling into his most clever trap:   believing that he isn’t real.   And it seems that his strategy is working.   In a recent survey conducted in the United States, only 17 percent of Catholics believed that Satan is “a living being.”   By contrast, 83 percent chose to call him only a “symbol of evil.”

We have only to turn to the Bible to see evidence of Satan and his demons—and of God’s power over them.   In today’s Gospel story (Mark 5:1-20), the Gerasene people watched Jesus cast out a legion of demons from a possessed man.   It must have been terrifying for the townspeople to see the dramatic transformation of the town’s most dangerous citizen, as well as two thousand pigs charging into the sea.

On one hand, their reaction seems unfathomable considering the good that Jesus had just done.   But we shouldn’t judge the townspeople too harshly.   They saw something that most of us never will.   In an ironic twist, they saw the power of Satan and tried to push Jesus aside, while the possessed man saw the power of God and wanted to follow Jesus.

Although demon possession is rare, Satan finds more subtle ways to influence us.   As he did with the Gerasene townspeople, he can prey on our fear.   He can tempt us to do wrong or use our apathy to subtly steer us away from God.   But whatever obstacles he may place in our path, we have the Holy Spirit living in us.   The devil may be powerful, but Jesus is in charge.   The change he brings to our lives probably won’t be as sudden and dramatic as it was for the demon-possessed man.   But it will be just as real.

“Jesus, give me greater confidence in your power to defeat sin and the devil.”

2 Samuel 15:13-14, 30; 16:5-13
Psalm 3:2-7