THE REALM OF THE SPIRIT. (Homily for August 30, 2016. Tuesday of the 22nd Week in Ordinary Time.)

Bible Study: 1st Corinthians 2, 10 to 16 and Luke 4, 31 to 37.


Yesterday, St. Paul tells the Corinthians that the secret of his success as a preacher was not due to his natural intelligence or human wisdom but by the special intervention of the Spirit of God working in him. Today he goes further to explain to us how this Spirit of God works in human beings. The spirit is like a sixth sense or an extra set of eyes which enables us to penetrate deep realities and see things far beyond the sight of ordinary people. The spirit helps us to understand what God is thinking, different from what the world is thinking. When we are under the influence of the Spirit, we are able to talk with words that human wisdom cannot provide, words that no one amount of training and university degrees can supply.

A person who lacks the Holy Spirit cannot comprehend holy things. He simply laughs at things we would consider serious and he seeks only rational explanation to events which actually have deep spiritual connotations. For instance, when Jesus was talking about having to suffer, be beaten and die on the cross, it sounded very stupid to Peter because Peter was still in the natural, he had not yet received the Spirit. No wonder, Jesus said: “Get Behind me Satan.” This is a good way to speak to a person who is not spiritually inclined.

Nonetheless, there are different kinds of spiritual possession. One can be possessed with the Spirit of God or with the Spirit of Satan. In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus encountered a man who was possessed by an unclean demon right inside the Synagogue.

What has light and darkness got to do with each other? What brought a man possessed by the spirit of Satan into the House of God? The truth is that today, there are many Christians who come to Church but are heavily possessed by demonic spirits. Their mission is to direct the Children of God away from God. Their mission is to win friends with God’s children and lure them into the satanic trap of sinfulness. They operate by causing distraction either through their sensual dressing or by making noise and running commentary inside the Church.

The possessed man was in the synagogue to disturb and when he saw Jesus, he immediately become terrible uncomfortable. The more we live above sin and grow in our spiritual life, the greater threats we become to persons possessed by demons. By merely seeing us alone, they begin to cringe and run for hiding. We would be cowards if we go about being scared to death of demons. They should be the one scared of us! But the question is: “What type of Spirit do I possess?”

Let Us Pray:
Lord Jesus, send down your Spirit on me. Give me a deeper understanding of things spiritual and power to overpower demonic forces. Amen.

Good morning. Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you.


Fr. Abu

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