THE DAILY GOSPEL

July 1, 2015 (Wednesday)

Ps 34:7-8, 10-11, 12-13 The Lord hears the cry of the poor.

13th Week in Ordinary Time Psalter: Week 1/(Green/White)

Bl. Junipero Serra, priest 1st Reading: Gen 21:5,8-20a

Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. The child grew and on the day Isaac was weaned, Abraham held a great feast. Sarah saw the child that Hagar, the Egyptian had borne to Abraham, mocking her son and she said to Abraham, “Send this slave girl and her son away; the child of this slave must not share the inheritance with my son, Isaac.”

This matter distressed Abraham because it concerned his son, but God said to him, “Don’t be worried about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to Sarah and do whatever she says, because the race, which is called by your name, will spring from Isaac. But from the son of your servant I will also form a nation, for he too is your offspring.”

Abraham rose early next morning and gave bread and a skin bag of water to Hagar. He put the child on her back and sent her away. She went off and wandered in the desert of Beersheba. When there was no more water in the skin, she pushed the boy under one of the bushes, and then went and sat down about a hundred yards away, for she thought, “I cannot bear to see my son die.”

But as she sat there, the child began to wail. God heard him and the Angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said, “What is the matter, Hagar? Don’t be afraid. Godhas heard the boy crying. Get up, pick the boy up and hold him safely, for I will make him into a great nation.” God then opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the skin and gave the boy a drink.

God was with the boy. Gospel: Mt 8:28-34

When Jesus reached Gadara, on the other side, he was met by two men, possessed by devils, who came out from the tombs. They were so fierce that no one dared to pass that way. They cried out, “Son of God, leave us alone! Have you come here to torment us before the time?”

Some distance away there was a large herd of pigs feeding. So the demons begged him, “If you drive us out, send us into that herd of pigs.” Jesus ordered them, “Go!” So the demons left the men and went into the pigs. The whole herd rushed down the cliff into the lake and was drowned.

The men in charge of the pigs ran off to the town, where they told the whole story; and also what had happened to the men possessed with the demons. The whole town went out to meet Jesus; and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region. Reflection:

Picture a vicious dog, barking and snarling at you, pouncing at you on its most ferocious “attack mode”—but securely chained to an iron ring. This means, of course, that as long as you do not come within reach of it, you are perfectly safe, and it is completely powerless to harm you.

Satan and his minions are like chained dogs. In fact, the Bible tells us in symbolic language that Satan is indeed “tied up for a thousand years” (Rev 20:2), that is, until practically the end of the world, except for a short period of freedom then. But, for the time being, he and his minions are powerless over us, as long as we keep away from them (no dabbling in the occult, no séances with a medium, no Ouija board, no tarot cards—all of which are an invitation to evil spirits) and stay close to Jesus. For they are mortally afraid of Jesus, as we can see in today’s gospel reading. Their power is no match for his. A single word for his, “Go!” and they scamper away in panic.

All this shows that, contrary to popular belief, Satan is in no way the counterpart or analog of God in the spiritual world, because he is only a creature, a fallen angel. His real counterpart is the archangel Michael who, as the Bible describes it, kicks Satan out of Heaven (Rev 2:7-9). A comforting thought.

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