We must not only resist evil, but we must detest it with all our heart, mind, and soul. For we must be filled with living water, which brings streams of justice and integrity.
Otherwise, like the swine consumed by the demoniacs, we will be driven to our destruction.
For evil cannot be reined in. If not cut away, it will grow and overwhelm us.
Let us always call upon the Lord to help us. Lord Jesus, cover me with Your precious blood, that I may be purified, sanctified, and protected from all evil. Amen.
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First reading
Amos 5:14-15,21-24
Seek good and not evil so that you may live
Seek good and not evil
so that you may live,
and that the Lord, God of Hosts, may really be with you as you claim he is.
Hate evil, love good,
maintain justice at the city gate, and it may be that the Lord, God of Hosts, will take pity on the remnant of Joseph.
I hate and despise your feasts, I take no pleasure in your solemn festivals.
When you offer me holocaust, I reject your oblation, and refuse to look at your sacrifices of fattened cattle.
Let me have no more of the din of your chanting, no more of your strumming on harps.
But let justice flow like water, and integrity like an unfailing stream.
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Gospel
Matthew 8:28-34
The Gadarene swine
When Jesus reached the country of the Gadarenes on the other side of the lake, two demoniacs came towards him out of the tombs – creatures so fierce that no one could pass that way. They stood there shouting, ‘What do you want with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torture us before the time?’ Now some distance away there was a large herd of pigs feeding, and the devils pleaded with Jesus, ‘If you cast us out, send us into the herd of pigs.’ And he said to them, ‘Go then’, and they came out and made for the pigs; and at that the whole herd charged down the cliff into the lake and perished in the water. The swineherds ran off and made for the town, where they told the whole story, including what had happened to the demoniacs. At this the whole town set out to meet Jesus; and as soon as they saw him they implored him to leave the neighbourhood.
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