Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Although Pope Francis released an encyclical this past Sunday, today’s readings have led me to his previous writing: an apostolic exhortation from 2018, Gaudete et Exsultate (Rejoice and Be Glad). It may seem odd that I am drawing on a document entitled Rejoice and Be Glad to help us reflect on a gospel passage (Luke 11:15-26) that deals with demons and unclean spirits. But Francis specifically refers to the end of today’s gospel in a chapter entitled “Spiritual Combat, Vigilance and Discernment,” noting that the Christian life is “a constant battle.” I invite you to continue with me here to learn more about what he (and Jesus) has to say.
First, the connection with rejoicing and being glad -- Francis points out that the spiritual battle is “sweet, for it allows us to rejoice each time the Lord triumphs in our lives.” (158)
And part of that “battle” is the challenge to be more aware of the risk of self-deception. In today’s gospel passage, we hear about the “unclean spirit” that leaves a person and then returns to find his/her soul (or life) “swept clean and put in order” only to have that spirit “bring back seven other spirits more wicked” to dwell there.
Pope Francis refers to this passage in cautioning against the “comfortable and self-satisfied form of blindness” and other “subtle forms of self-centeredness”(165) that may arise when we become convinced that our life is now in order. For as his writing also reminds us, “if we become careless, the false promises of evil will easily seduce us.”(162)
So, how do we combat this sort of spiritual blindness? According to Francis and the tradition of our Catholic faith, at least in part through the gift of discernment. We can ask the Holy Spirit to grant us this gift and then seek to develop it “through prayer, reflection, reading and good counsel.” (166) He further reminds us that prayerful discernment requires a willingness to listen “to the Lord and to others, and to reality itself, which always challenges us in new ways.” Continuing, Francis adds, “Only if we are prepared to listen, do we have the freedom to set aside our own partial or insufficient ideas, our usual habits and way of seeing things. In this way, we become truly open to accepting a call that can shatter our security, but lead to a better life.” (172)
There is much more in Francis’ Rejoice and Be Glad that I would love to share, but obviously don’t have room for in this reflection. It is available, however, to read online through the vatican website: www.vatican.va (be sure to click English, unless you can read Italian!)
This week, let us pray for one another to be graced with the gift of discernment -- holy listening -- and rejoice with one another each time the Lord triumphs in our lives.
- Eileen Miller