To win the battle of our spiritual life we must seek complete and perfect union with the Supreme Captain, making use of all the elements He places at our disposal.
Gospel of 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time
2 1 “And they went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught. 22 And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.
23 And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; 24 and he cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.’ 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent and come out of him!’ 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, ‘What is this? A new teaching! With authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.’ 28 And at once His fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee” (Mk 1:21-28).
I – The Battle of Our Spiritual Life
One of the most compelling meditations proposed by St. Ignatius in his famous Spiritual Exercises is that of the “Two Standards”. In it, the founder of the Company of Jesus presents the spiritual life as a battlefield where two armies clash: that of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Supreme Capitain and Lord, and that of Satan, mortal enemy of human nature.
It is impossible to take a neutral position before these antagonistic and clearly defined commanders. “Christ calls and desires all men under his standard; and Lucifer, on the contrary, under his.”1 There is no third option; it is necessary to make a choice.
The peculiar dominion of the devil
What are the characteristics of the leader of the wicked? In the Gospel of St. John, Our Lord qualifies him as “a liar and the father of lies.” “He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (Jn 8:44).
Incapable of acting directly over man’s intelligence and will, the devil seeks to dominate souls through an external influence aimed at progressively clouding the reasoning until the distinction between good and evil is obscured. Through the masterful use of psychological resources he seeks to fill hearts with desires that lead them increasingly into sin. With each sin committed, the sinner’s will is weakened, his intelligence loses lucidity, leaving him more vulnerable to his master.
Now, this arrogant dictator has no power to penetrate within the soul, not even that of a possessed person—in such cases his dominion extends only to the body. His action is like a thief stealing a car, who takes control of the steering wheel and forces the owner into the passenger seat: he has control of the vehicle, but not the owner’s intelligence or will.
Christ lives in souls in a state of grace
On the opposite extreme of the battlefield is Our Lord. Contrary to the “father of lies” who longs to enslave rational creatures for all eternity in hell, Christ desires our salvation.
The Supreme Commander of the good makes frequent use of external influences to guide those who belong to Him. However, in contrast with the devil, He can act within souls through efficacious grace, before which the will and intelligence submit without offering obstacles.2 Because “as clay in the hand of the potter—for all his ways are as He pleases—so men are in the hand of Him who made them” (Sir 33:13).
The devil’s presence is always outside of the soul. And even when, in the case of possession, the conscious life of the possessed is suspended, he can never invade it, because “only God has the privilege of penetrating within the very essence of the soul and establishing his dwelling place in it, by virtue of being the Creator.”3
Sanctified by grace, the soul is inhabited by and infused with the very life of the Blessed Trinity, through the Word Incarnate. St. Paul justly affirms: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loves me and gave Himself for me” (Gal 2:20).
Infinitely unequal combat
Under this prism, the combat described by St. Ignatius appears infinitely disparate: the dictator of evil only gains power over the intelligence and will of creatures to the degree that they open the doors of the soul to him; Our Lord, in contrast, causes us “both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil 2:13).
Indeed, Christ can act in our interior “so effectively that He infallibly begets God’s design, without, however, compromising the freedom of the soul that adheres to grace, and while assisting it in an independent and simultaneously infallible way.”4 This occurred with St. Paul on the way to Damascus (cf. Acts 9:1-6): he was instantly converted by God’s initiative; a grace created by Him.
Therefore, to win the battle of our spiritual life, we should seek complete and perfect union with the Supreme Captain, making use of all the elements that He places at our disposal. For only by participating in the divine life can we definitively vanquish the cunning assaults of the “father of lies.”
II – The Living Doctrine of the Divine Master
In the episode recalled in the liturgy of this fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time we reflect on an encounter between the two standards in the synagogue of Capernaum. On one hand we see the Divine Master preaching the Good News for the first time; on the other the “evil spirit”, in possession of the body of one of the bystanders.
The duty of interpreting and adapting the Law
21 “And they went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught.”
According to the custom of Jewish worship, being “the Sabbath”, Our Lord and his first disciples were obliged to go to the synagogue to hear the Scriptures. However, the Gospel is clear that Jesus went not merely to listen, but mainly to teach.
Preaching in the synagogue was not an activity undertaken by just anyone. It required formation in one of the rabbinical schools, and a proven capacity to interpret the Law and the Prophets according to its established principles. The doctors of the synagogues transmitted their knowledge garnered from renowned teachers such as Shamai or Hillel, avoiding personal criteria which could spark diverse doctrine.
In the time of Deuteronomy, it was the priests’ responsibility to teach and explain the Law, and this custom endured for many centuries. Nevertheless, after the Babylonian Exile a new category of men, the Scribes, was dedicated to this duty. The first to receive this name, in the sense of “teacher of the Law”, was Ezra, of priestly lineage (cf. Ez 7:1-6), however many others would receive the same title, without belonging to Aaron’s race.
Preaching of the teachers of the Law
In Our Lord’s time, the Scribes formed a separate class. In their office of transmitting and interpreting the Law from generation to generation, they had gradually adjusted certain precepts from Sacred Scripture to the point of creating norms foreign to the spirit of the Mosaic precepts. But they posed before the people as wise men, or hakamim, and deflected criticism by insinuating that undermining the words of religious leaders was a sin as serious as despising the word of God.5
The pith of their preaching was the same as the Divine Master’s, because their ministry was to transmit and interpret Sacred Scripture, whose ultimate author was He Himself. However, in giving into their evil inclinations, they had distorted revealed doctrine to their own liking, as Professors Robert and Tricot explain: “Through a subtle casuistry, they adapted certain prescriptions of the Law to the needs of the time or the weakness of men; while on other occasions, using clever artifices or exegetic ruses, they created obligations foreign to the letter and the spirit of the Law.”6
These errors became ingrained over time. In their decadence, the Scribes sought to obscure the true doctrine from the people, to avoid the unmasking of the manipulations made at the whim of their vices. This robbed their preaching of authority, since the word of one who does not live what he teaches has no impact.
Jesus taught “as one who had authority”
22 “And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.”
Jesus did not present Himself as the disciple of any rabbi in beginning his preaching. To his audience He appeared as “the carpenter’s son” (Mt 13:55). Yet He displayed unparalleled knowledge of Sacred Letters, and taught a new doctrine, ex auctoritate propria. In face of the prevalent deviations of the times, He hoisted the standard of Truth, whose substance was He Himself, knowing exactly what to say and do to attract and elevate the people. Even at the outset of his public life, his presence and word contradicted the gamut of erroneous standards of the epoch.
St. Jerome explains that as the Creator of all things, He acted not as teacher, but as Lord. “He did not speak based on superior authority, but on his own authority. He acted thus because his very essence said what was affirmed beforehand by means of the prophets. ‘I, who spoke by means of them, am He who is present with you here.’”7
It would be inappropriate to question where the Eternal and Incarnate Wisdom had studied. As the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, He possessed divine knowledge from all eternity. He knew absolutely everything: both the universe of created beings—past, present and future—and the infinite world of possible creatures.
Furthermore, His soul having been created in the beatific vision, He also had the knowledge proper to angels and blessed souls who contemplate God face to face. In Jesus, beatific knowledge was joined with infused knowledge, a privilege granted to the angels at creation, to all departed souls, and, by a special gift, to some chosen souls during their earthly lives—to whom the Son of Man could not be inferior. This gave him a profound knowledge, superior to any other man, of all created things, of the natural truths and the mysteries of grace.
Finally, Jesus also possessed natural knowledge, acquired progressively by means of the agent intellect during the course of his earthly life. For this He required no teacher, since He used this type of knowledge only to confer the notions of his natural intellect which, as God, He possessed from all eternity.8
Supremely beautiful and perfect creature
An author of the last century affirms that the Divine Master was not “a philosopher in the Greek sense, nor even a rabbi in the Hebraic style. He spoke directly to souls with the intention, more than convincing them, of conquering them and introducing them into the profound and overflowing stream of his religious life.”9
Thus, in addition to his teaching, his presence itself awakened admiration. His countenance could not be more perfect. His hair, lips, eyebrows and ears were of an unequalled beauty. His gaze scrutinized the audience in a gentle, calm, firm, penetrating and attractive manner, inspiring enthusiasm. A magnificent and communicative voice of extraordinary timbre and inflection, accompanied the movement of the hands, which, in turn, were perfectly proportioned and unpretentious, with neither exaggeration nor timidity. His carriage, his way of sitting or of turning his head, were unimaginably beautiful.
Seeking to express something of Jesus’ ineffable beauty, St. Augustine proclaims: “He is beautiful in heaven, beautiful on earth; beautiful in the womb, beautiful in his parents’ arms, beautiful in his miracles, beautiful in his scourging, beautiful in inviting to life, beautiful in not fearing death; beautiful in surrendering his soul, beautiful in reclaiming it; beautiful on the Cross, beautiful in the tomb, beautiful in heaven. Listen to the canticle with understanding, and let not the weakness of the flesh draw your eyes from the splendour of that beauty.”10
III – A Clash Between God and the Devil
The “dictator of the enemies”11 could not be indifferent to Jesus’ preaching. Rather, he felt very put out by it, since the exposition of truth always thwarts his plans of leading men to hell. This Teacher, whose divine power He still did not know, had magnificently preached the purest doctrine. At his voice, hearts were drawn from sin and minds were opened to the supernatural.
Even though he had not been directly informed, the “father of lies” was unable to contain his consternation. He expressed it by the lips of a possessed man, who rudely questioned the Redeemer. He would have gained more by remaining silent…
The wily and variable tactics of the devil
23 ”And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; 24 and he cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.’”
The personification of vulgarity, the devil did not come forward to speak to Our Lord but shouted from afar, in order to be heard by all, to provoke confusion. An expert in the exploitation of human misery, he called Him Jesus of Nazareth, pointing out that He came from a small, “insignificant and unknown”12 city.
Yet the Divine Master remained unmoved. Having neither vanity nor social airs He did not regret having chosen that city, in his infinite Wisdom, to be his home with Mary and Joseph.
Seeing his first attempt foiled, the evil spirit changed tactics, seeking to create a climate of hostility toward Our Lord in the synagogue. Perhaps onlookers saw the possessed man as merely ill, and his asking Jesus “have you come to destroy us?”, painted him as a pitiable unfortunate, placing Our Lord in the role of a tyrant, come to mistreat him.
Seeing this bid to make himself the object of commiseration also frustrated, the “father of lies” went to the opposite extreme. Unable to discredit Jesus, he threw the most audacious praise at Him, calling Him “the Holy One of God”. He hoped, by this new manoeuvre, to gild Our Lord with a halo of glory, unfitting for the moment, in order to tempt Him to pride. In exalting Him He also aimed to arouse envy and hatred against Him.
A new invective and a new failure. As St. John Chrysostom comments, “the Truth did not wish to have the witness of unclean spirits.”13 Christ teaches us here, once and for all, that we must never believe in the demons, “however they may proclaim the truth.”14
Absolute authority of Our Lord over all things
25 “But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent and come out of him!’ 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.”
Maldonado affirms that among the Jews there were exorcists “who had the secret art of expelling demons inherited from Solomon, as Josephus narrates.”15 St. Luke mentions them in the Acts of the Apostles (19:13-14) and Jesus says they were sons of the Pharisees (Mt 12:27; Lk 11:19). However, they carried out their office at the cost of mammoth effort, in ceremonies that lasted hours, and at times several days.
In this passage, Our Lord simply says: “Be silent and come out of him!” He must have spoken these words with all serenity and dignity, because Christ does not need to make any effort to impose his will. He reigns in an absolute manner over all things.
The Divine Master begins by commanding the evil spirit to be silent. In saying “be silent”, He denies him the ministry of the word which is the exclusive privilege of those whom God loves. Soon after, He orders him to come out of the man. The devil immediately finds himself obliged to obey.
Christ, however, wanted to make it clear before all that the man was not sick, but possessed. The violence with which the evil spirit convulsed him upon leaving and the loud cry that he gave confirmed the diabolical presence and the compulsion under which he left that body.
“Do not debate with your enemy, do not even answer him with a single word”
Finally, analysis of the tactics employed in this episode by the “father of lies” prompts us to take a lesson for our spiritual life: with their goal of dragging us down the path of perdition, the evil spirits are always seeking to draw us into confabulation with them, through the most varied strategies. Being angels, they grasp everything by intuition; they are extremely astute and incomparably more intelligent than man.
What, then, should be our attitude toward them in times of temptation?
It will serve us nothing at these moments to have learned the art of debate, to raise good arguments, or to have studied psychology. The only correct reaction when attacked by the devil is to ignore him, to pray, to redirect the thought and imagination, and to ask Our Lord that, as with the possessed man, He order the devil to flee from us.
The great moralist St. Alphonsus Marie Liguori gives this advice. “As soon as we perceive that a suspicious thought has come to our mind, we should reject it at the same instant, so to speak, slamming the door on its nose, and denying it entry into our thoughts, without concerning ourselves with discovering what it means or intends. It is necessary to expel these evil suggestions without delay, just as a man shakes off the sparks that fall upon his clothes.”16
And St. Francis de Sales, in his famous work Introduction to the Devout Life, gives the same suggestion: “Do not debate with your enemy, do not even reply one word to him. […] When assailed by temptation, the devout soul should not lose time in discussion nor arguments.”17
“And at once His fame spread everywhere…”
27 “And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, ‘What is this? A new teaching! With authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.’ 28 And at once His fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.”
The reaction of onlookers reveals how this episode favoured their understanding of the One before them. In other words, in wanting to harm the Divine Saviour, the demon ended up doing Him a service.
IV – God is Always Stronger
Therefore, when trial afflicts us, or temptation torments us, we should be certain that the “supreme and true Captain of the good”18 is at our side, ready to intervene at the right moment for his glory and our spiritual benefit.
The Jesus who awaits us today in Holy Communion is the same Jesus who expelled the demon in Capernaum and performed numerous miracles in Galilee. Under the veil of the sacred species is hidden the majestic figure of the “fairest of the sons of men” (Ps 45:2), whose omnipotence the devil cannot resist. ◊
Notas
