[Sundaycommunity] Even the Demons obey him --reflection Sunday gospel reading.

[Sheila Barrrett]

Dear Art, THANKYOU so much for your reflection today. We tuned into  (  on line) the Mass from the Dominican Priory at Oxford. There was an excellent homily by Father Lawrence Lew OP on today’s Gospel.Should you want to hear it put the following into Google.
blackfriars oxford mass today
We think you will find it interesting. 
We certainly found it enlightening. With our very best wishes and thanks, 
Sheila and Rob 
(England!) 

Sent from my iPhone

> On 28 Jan 2024, at 07:40, Arthur Blomme via Sundaycommunity <sundaycommunity at lists.integralshift.ca> wrote:
> 
> 
> Hi y' all 
> 
> This is my reflection on Jan 27 Sunday gospel.  
> 
> Art
> 
> 
> 
> He commands even the demons and they obey him.
> 
> Arthur Blomme 24-01-24
> 
>  
> 
> In this Sunday's gospel according to Mark, Jesus begins his journey to Jerusalem by casting out the unclean spirit in the temple at Capernaum.  This event has little meaning in our society today. Ours is a technocratic worldview characterized by a mechanistic view of science coupled with a world view that makes the material so much more important than mind and spirit. For the most part our society considers the Demonic to be a fictional superstition. This kind of thinking obscures the horrendous reality of evil in our midst.
> 
> In contrast the worldview of early Christianity was unified and holistic. Matter, mind and spirit are part of a continuum that is as a whole, real and important.  In this worldview, the casting out of demons was a much more meaningful part of Marks Gospel story than perhaps we experience today. For the early readers of Mark's Gospel demonic evil was a very real consideration.
> 
> In this Sunday's gospel reading, it is apparent that the demon is separate from the humanity of the individual possessed by the unclean spirit.  The unclean spirit was a nonhuman being. For the early Christian, humanity was created in the image and likeness of a loving God. To be human is to have compassion, to know good from evil and have a conscience. We speak of barbarous events as inhumane, non human.
> 
> Our thinking of psychopathy is similar to the thinking of demons in Mark's gospel.  Psychopaths have no conscience or compassion.  We sometimes speak of psychopaths as inhumane. Like the demonic, psychopathy thrives in the shadows.  When we shine the light of truth on psychopathy the power of the psychopath is diminished.  
> 
> Early Christianity saw the demonic in the social institutions. St. Mark's version of the crucifixion tells the story of how all the major political institutions of his day: the high priest, the Herodians (Roman proxys), the scribes, the pharisees and the zealots (Judas Iscariot) conspired to crucify Jesus.
> 
> Institutions are not human and they have a life of their own. When acting on behalf of these institutions it is easy to go with the flow and set aside one's compassion and humanity to serve the ends of the institution.  This is how we can become possessed by the institution and participate in its psycopathy.  When good people do nothing the psychopathy of the institution prevails.
> 
> The psychopathy of war is so well hidden by the false stories we are being told by a mainstream media.  We often fail to recognize the atrocious evil of war. There is the adage: “The first victim of war is the truth”. Now we are in perpetual war and the stories justifying atrocities are so thin. The stories being told about war cannot fool all of humanity.  The dominant narrative can no longer contain the truth of these demonic acts.
> 
> Attesting to this point is the demonic genocide and the ethnic cleansing of Gaza. Last week South Africa invoked the World Court of Justice to indict Israel for genocide in Gaza.  In the opening statement South Africa sites Netanyahu's use of ancient Jewish scripture to assert his intention to slaughter every man woman and child of Moab (Palestine).
> 
> Despite the overwhelming evidence that this slaughter of men, women and children is taking place our Canadian government joins with other Western leaders to claim that there is no genocide in Gaza. Clearly our western leaders are possessed by an unclean spirit. They have no compassion for our Palestinian brothers and sisters. They have lost all sense of their humanity.
> 
> The genocide of the Palestinian people is only the obvious, the tip of the iceburg. If we push back further the veils of deception, we can uncover so many more demonic atrocities perpetrated by our demon possessed national and world leaders. It is our fear that keeps these demons in the shadows.
> 
> The good news is that we have no need to fear the power of demons or psychopaths. When the unclean spirit encounters the Light of the Universal Christ: ... the unclean spirit convulsed and with a loud cry came out of him.  All were amazed and asked one another, “What is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him.”(Mk. 1:26-27)
> 
> This is our faith.  Christ is resurrected and victorious over death and the demonic psychopathy of war and avarice.
> 
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