A Word for the 23rd Sunday After Pentecost (25)

«Then Jesus asked» (the demon-possessed man) «saying: what is your name? He said: legion, because many demons had entered him. And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss» (Lk 8:30-31).

You heard today, my brothers, the Gospel account of Jesus Christ’s healing of the demon-possessed man, how the Lord cast out of him an entire legion of demons, that is, six thousand: for a Roman legion contained that many. See how many evil spirits gathered together to torment a single person, by God’s permission, of course, for some sins of his own. This demon-possessed man is, brothers, an image of the whole human race, tormented by the devil. This torment differs infinitely in its forms, but is fierce in all of them. Take whatever passion of a person you like, whatever sin or vice you please: at times it becomes extremely tormenting, brazenly demanding its own satisfaction; it wars against, does violence to, tyrannizes, and not infrequently kills both soul and body; especially in our own evil and difficult time, one need not go far for examples of this kind: suicides and murders abound everywhere; let us recall, for example, the countless tyrannies of sin over drunkards, over those madly, that is, carnally, infatuated, over the stingy and the money-loving, over the wrathful, the irritable, the envious, the willful, the suspicious, and so on, and so on. How many torments the devil works in people; how he mocks people subject to sin, slaves of sin—but not the true slaves of God, who serve Him continually with a pure heart, over whom he has no power; but how many are there of these true slaves of God, living not for themselves, not for the flesh and the world, but for God and for their neighbors? And, of course, in such tormenting of us by the devil, it is not God who is to blame, but we ourselves, we sinners, slaves of sin and of the devil. And here the Lord shows us, plainly and clearly, in this demon-possessed man, how cruel, how tormenting, how ruinous sin is, and the devil, the author of every sin, and to whom we must have recourse in order to be delivered from the torment of sin. Now, let every sinner think of himself, of the death-bearing dominion of sin within himself, and strive to break off his own alliance with sin; by this he will deliver himself from its temporal and eternal torment—yes, eternal too: for sin does not tyrannize a person only for a time, but will torment him forever, if he does not sincerely repent here, abandon sin, and change his own heart and his own life. But someone among you will say that it is extremely difficult to be delivered from sin, from sinful inclinations, from the habit of sin, and so we all remain entangled in sins, and tormented by sins, our whole life long. It is true that this is extremely difficult, but, with God’s help, everything becomes both easy and manageable. Only take a firm resolve not to commit sin. The Holy Church, possessing every grace, every gracious power, is always ready to help you, and will surely help you, if you have recourse to her. For this the Lord gave her all His own authority, all His own power. Who, then, forbids you to have recourse to her powerful protection? The Lord is always the same (Hebr 13:8), now as then; even now He continually casts out, from people who repent without ceasing, hosts of sins, and casts out demons, who work their cunning against people in various ways. It was for this that the Lord came to earth, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Glory to His mercy! See here: for how many years did the demons torment this unfortunate man, out of whom, as you heard, the Lord cast a full six thousand demons—and what did they gain in the end? The accursed ones went out of the man, and the man was saved—and not only for a time, but forever: for, of course, after this, the Lord made him a vessel of grace, and he ended his days in peace and virtue, well pleasing to God. So too will the Lord deliver us from the tormenting and the mockery of the devil, if we have recourse to Him, our merciful Savior, with faith and in repentance. How many sinners has He saved, in ancient generations and in our own! How many are being saved without ceasing! How many vessels of the devil have become vessels of God, in whom the Lord has taken up His dwelling forever! And the works of the devil are being destroyed: fornicators and harlots, having truly repented, enter the kingdom of God, leaving behind them the proud, the self-styled righteous. Woe only to the unbelieving, the unrepentant, and to those who despise the Church; but for the believing and repentant, it is well; they will not perish, and, sooner or later, will be delivered from the sins that trip and torment them. To God our Savior be glory forever and ever. Amen.