Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Monday of the 7th week in ordinary time, February 24, 2025

Delivered by Father Peter Tukan, SDB from Salesian Don Bosco Gerak in the Diocese of Labuan Bajo, Indonesia. Sirach 1: 1-10; Rs psalm 93: 1ab.1ac-2.5; Mark 9: 14-29EXORCISM The theme for our meditation today is: Exorcism. Therewas a person who came from the village or local station to see the parishpriest. The distance of the station to the central parish is about 20kilometers. The man walked for three hours. He was finally able to meet theparish priest and had the opportunity to speak to him about his spiritual lifeand that of his family.  In the talk, he had a revelation that the means usedby Christians to cast out demons is prayer. When he asked about what prayershould be used to cast out demons, the answer he got was the Prayer of the LordJesus. The scriptures explain that "Our Father" is the prayer ofJesus Himself that He has taught us.  In addition, the scriptures also illustrate that theLord Jesus' prayer can be seen from His prayerful attitude, namely looking up,saying the name "Father", saying blessings, giving thanks and prayingfor those whom His Father in heaven had entrusted to serve. In today's Gospelreading, Jesus' action to cast out demons is by reprimanding, commanding, andcasting out evil spirits. This kind of action is also a prayer that isexpressed in a firm attitude, demanding and resisting strongly. So the prayer to cast out evil spirits is actually theprayer and action of Jesus Himself. It could be that the apostles who wereunable to cast out the evil spirit that caused a person to be blind and deaf,did not use Jesus' prayer and firm attitude toward evil spirits. They may givein or give up because it seems that the deeds of evil spirits were much morepowerful and terrifying. Or they could choose to use their own power which inthe end they were unable to exorcise the evil spirit. The assumption of the apostles' incompetence maydescribe our general situation when there was person among us who was possessedby the evil spirit, for example in one of our brothers or sisters. Manyinstances of that kind show that family members and friends who were around thepossessed person had difficulty and were not able to face a demonic behavior.They then asked the priest to perform an exorcism. It is true, a priest has the authority to cast outdemons. But if on the occasion a priest is unable to attend and makes anexorcism to the possessed person, one or more Christians can do so. The mainrequirement is that they must pray and act in the name of the Lord JesusChrist. They are required to use decisive measures like Jesus Christ didagainst evil spirits.Let us pray. In the name of the Father... O Lord Jesus,enable us with Your power that we can cast out evil spirits that threaten ourlives. Our Father who art in heaven ... In the name of the Father...