UNCLEAN SPIRITS

A SERMON FOR THE 3RD SUNDAY IN LENT

Today has been declared a National Day of Prayer.  For once though, the American people do not have to be told to pray.  In the face of peril our thoughts turn naturally to God.  When there’s little we can do beyond washing our hands to protect ourselves from a potentially fatal bug, at some point something in our human nature makes us realize that the created things around us aren’t worth anything at all, and we turn toward God.  He is our protector, our salvation and our hope. 

And so we have a national day of prayer.  Who should we be praying for?  Not only for ourselves and our loved ones, but for the most vulnerable around us, those who are elderly, or who have medical conditions that make them prone to infection.  We pray for all those who are already suffering from disease and sickness, and for their families on whom they depend, or who depend on them and love them.  We pray for the souls of those who are dying, and for the repose of the souls of those who have already succumbed.  We should not forget to pray for each other, all our neighbors far and wide, who share our anxieties and live in fear, who find themselves isolated and in need of help.  For our doctors and medical staff who devote themselves, tirelessly and selflessly, to the care of the sick, placing themselves in harm’s way.  For all those who have to leave their homes and loved ones to maintain law and order, to keep our homes supplied with water and electricity, who deliver food and the other necessities of life.  For all these and others known only to God, we pray today and commit them to the loving care of the divine Healer.

Our Gospel today deals with the question of demons, and how we must cast them out.  Demons work the same way as a virus.  Instead of spreading sickness, however, they roam about the world seeking the ruin of souls, sowing moral evil and depravity, infecting people with lies, hatred and division.  Like a virus, it starts out small—just a quirky idea in somebody’s head.  Karl Marx was one of these men who had a virus-like idea.  It tried to appeal to the masses, promising them free stuff that would be taken from the rich upper classes who didn’t deserve it.  This kind of Marxist and Socialist ideology is now rising again in popularity among the same kind of people who have already had their beliefs infected—like a virus that gets into their system, it starts small but quickly builds up into something far more serious.  From climate change, open borders and the gradual suppression of free speech it transmutes into gender denial, gay rights, and eventually the total abolition of God.  Some ideas are more deadly than others, but they all work together, infecting the minds of our people and turning them away from God.

These demons must all be cast out.  But if we try to do so in the name of Beelzebub, another demon, then our exorcism won’t work.  We will simply be a house divided.  For example, we cannot drive out socialism with an unbridled capitalism that exploits the working man just to make a very few very rich.  Pope Leo XIII, over a century ago, proposed a Catholic approach to social and economic politics that would cast out the demons of socialism very nicely if only the world would adopt it.  The Church has the right answers too when we’re discussing the other vexing questions of the day.  Truth comes from God, not from the will of the majority.  Just because a country has a referendum to legalize abortion or same-sex marriage does not make these horrors any more legal or moral in the eyes of God.  Rather, it is just a sign that a majority of the people has been infected.

The present crisis is an opportunity.  There are no atheists in fox holes, and we certainly seem to be in a bit of a fox hole right now.  So many people are turning to God right now.  They seek protection and help in their need.  As we join our prayers to theirs, it’s a good time to extend a helping hand, and set aside any differences we may have.  People who were once hostile are more receptive to those little acts of kindness.  Their vulnerability, their weakness, is something God can use to create unity out of division.  There are even signs of growing bipartisan cooperation in Congress.  Help foster this spirit of unity with charity and truth.  Look for ways to help your neighbor, and in doing so, you will be helping to cast out their other demons—replacing hatred with love, lies with truth, and Beelzebub with the finger of God.