Keep the Floor Clean

Oct. 11: Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Today’s Magnificat says: “The most difficult part of ongoing conversion is admitting that we really are sinners and allowing God to see and forgive us as we are, with all our weaknesses showing, especially the ones over which we seem to have no control.”

Or, if you prefer meme format—

Reading 1

Gal 3:7-14

Brothers and sisters: Realize that it is those who have faith who are children of Abraham. Scripture, which saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, foretold the good news to Abraham, saying, Through you shall all the nations be blessed.

Consequently, those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham who had faith. For all who depend on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, Cursed be everyone who does not persevere in doing all the things written in the book of the law. And that no one is justified before God by the law is clear, for the one who is righteous by faith will live. But the law does not depend on faith; rather, the one who does these things will live by them. Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might be extended to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

All Jews revered Abraham, and yet he obviously didn’t obey the Mosaic Law, 1,000 years before Moses was born. Furthermore, everyone who tries to follow the Law fails at some point or other.

So, no one can be justified and live by the Law alone. That’s why we need Jesus.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 111:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6

R. (5) The Lord will remember his covenant for ever.
I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart
in the company and assembly of the just.
Great are the works of the LORD,
exquisite in all their delights.
R. The Lord will remember his covenant for ever.
Majesty and glory are his work,
and his justice endures forever.
He has won renown for his wondrous deeds;
gracious and merciful is the LORD.
R. The Lord will remember his covenant for ever.
He has given food to those who fear him;
he will forever be mindful of his covenant.
He has made known to his people the power of his works,
giving them the inheritance of the nations.
R. The Lord will remember his covenant for ever.

As Paul reminded us in the first reading, God’s covenant with Abraham doesn’t stop with the Jews. It extends, through Jesus, to all the nations.

Alleluia

Jn 12:31b-32

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The prince of this world will now be cast out,
and when I am lifted up from the earth
I will draw all to myself, says the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

The “prince of this world” is Satan; Jesus is the king of heaven. Which is why he has the authority to do what we see in the Gospel—

Gospel

Lk 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.”

Jesus expels the demons, but that’s, once again, not the end of the story. When God blesses us, we can’t just move on with our lives, like we deserve it, like we earned it. That kind of pride leaves an emptiness in our soul.

We need to fill it up, to keep the demons out. And the only thing that does the trick, the only thing that’s big enough to fill your entire soul, is God.