Word to the Wise
Friday, October 10, 2008 - Friday in the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
[Galatians 3:7-14 and Luke 11:15-26]When an unclean spirit goes out of someone, it roams through arid regions searching for rest but, finding none, it says, 'I shall return to my home from which I came.' But upons returning,it finds it swept clean and put in order. then it goes and brings back seven other spirits more wicked than itself who move in and dwell there, and the last condition of that person is worse than the first.
There's an old Latin expression, Corruptio optimi pessimus! It means that the corruption of someone very good is one of the worst things that can happen. Yet, upon conversion we are all in the ranks of the best. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is one way to assure that. However, we know very well that the feeling of having swept our spiritual house clean can mean that the old temptations seem to come back in greater force than ever. It's a bit like trying to maintain the house in the state that it is in after "spring cleaning" over a long period of time. It takes a lot of effort! We can become "comfortable" with our demons - a kind of moral "live and let live" - until we discover they have relatives and friends who take advantage of our casual spiritual "housekeeping" and we find ourselves worse off than before the "spring cleaning!" I think Jesus' words are a challenge to us to "stay in shape" or to keep our spiritual/moral house tidy! This passage occurs in the context of Jesus' command over demons. We cannot expect the Lord to maintain our house for us. He will get rid of the demons, but we have to do our part about keeping the demons away! AMEN
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