Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sunday Mass - Jan 28, 2018 - Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fr. Scott Donahue
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Homily Video

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Homily Transcript

If you are like me, and I think in some ways we all are very similar, when we hear the word demon, all sorts of images are conjured in our minds and in our thought processes. A demon, what does that invoke in our thinking? Some of you may relate back to … often I think of that movie, that famous movie The Exorcist, where a demon was exorcized from the young girl. Demons. There’s a translation to the word demon that simply means human weakness. A demon is a human weakness. A demon is a brokenness that we have, and all of us have demons. We all experience brokenness in life. It’s part and parcel of our human nature to have weakness, to have fault and failing. I think of the young people who are entrusted to our care here at Mercy Home for Boys and Girls, kids who come from some pretty difficult life experiences. Some of what they’ve experienced in life has created brokenness and hurt and darkness in their lives. They’re entrusted to us. With the best therapeutic care and love and support and education, we bring them hope and we bring them healing. All of us have demons.

In the gospel today, it’s a different kind of demon, though. Jesus is teaching in the synagogue, and the demon that is in the man who shouts out, “I know who you are,” recognizes the goodness of God in the person of Jesus. The cry out is perhaps a cry for the compassion and for the healing of Jesus. Whatever the circumstances that took place in that synagogue, Jesus recognized what was there before him. As Jesus always does, he responds with compassion and with kindness. He rebukes the demon, tells the demon to get out, and the demon obeys the holy word of God. Jesus brings healing and he brings hope into the man who was possessed with the weakness. We at Mercy Home for Boys and Girls do that for our young people. We do it for one another. We come to the table of the lord to celebrate Eucharist with grateful hearts for the ways in which the lord shows his compassion and love for us, who heals us and brings hope and forgiveness into our lives.

Readings

First Reading:

Deuteronomy 18:15-20

Second Reading:

1 Corinthians 7:32-35

Gospel:

Matthew 1:21-28 (71)

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