THE POWER OF EVIL

January 28, 2024

Jesus was very aware of the power of evil that can be around us.
Jesus named the spirit whatever that meant.
This gave him power over the spirit.
He knew evil when he met it and he overcame it, with love, power and with kindness for this man.

In Jesus the good and the evil of the world met.

 

One big evil in us is the ‘it’s mine’. We learn it from childhood. We take the plate of cakes or a packet of sweets and say “all mine”. We normally get over this but not always. We need the conversion from it’s mine to it’s ours. That’s the Christian way. The environment is not ours, but for us. We have no right to kill off livelihood all over the world for our paper, our oil and our greed. Any abuse of people is the ‘you are mine’ syndrome. Nobody owns anyone in this earth and we belong only to God in a free way.

Evil will never win out to the end. It has been conquered on the Cross, with love.

Somehow this man was possessed. Evil came into him and maybe it was not his fault. He left clean and whole, with a kindness in his heart he would never forget. The people were amazed not just at Jesus but at the change in the man who had been possessed.

What are evil desires in myself?
For control of others, for greed, for whatever leads me away from love.
Imagine the light of God filling the darkness in me.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil
.

Fr Donal Neary, S.J.