How naive was I Lord that being forgiven with guilt removed I didn’t see the need to make restitution; do penance. It all seemed arbitrary!
I now see the wisdom and beauty of Your call to repentance in which penance complements and completes it. If done properly by working towards and through it in love and deep reflection, it helps eradicate the hold of sins and addictions to some. Otherwise the next time we fall, we may never get up or it may prove very much more difficult.
Let me never forget that Sin is never a private affair. It hurts and damages relationships, it breaks Communion with You and with one another. Lord Jesus in Your mercy strengthen me against all temptations to Sin. With You on my side what evil can ever hope to prevail? Let me always remain in Communion with You physically and/or spiritually. Let me always walk in Your light and on the narrow path. And let me lead others to do likewise. Amen.
FIRST READING
Joel 1:13–15; 2:1–2
GOSPEL
Luke 11:15–26
When Jesus had driven out a demon, some of the crowd said:
“By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons.” Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven. But he knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house. And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons. If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own people drive them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man fully armed guards his palace, his possessions are safe. But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him, he takes away the armor on which he relied and distributes the spoils. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
“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 upon 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 man is worse than the first.”
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