Dear Friends in Christ,

Today, Christ addresses us with His forceful cry, without doubts and with authority: “Quiet! Come out of him!” (Mk 1:25). He speaks to the spirits that live within us and prevent us from being free, as God has created and desired us to be.

Perhaps you may know that the first rule the founders of religious orders set up when establishing community life, is often that of silence: in a house where prayer is needed, silence and contemplation must reign. As the adage goes: “Noise makes no good, good makes no noise.” This is why Christ commands that evil spirit to be silent, because its duty is to surrender to the Word, who “became flesh and made His dwelling among us.” (John 1:14) The evil spirits have no option but to obey the command of our Lord.

But it is true that with the admiration we feel for the Lord, a sense of sufficiency can also mix in, so much so that we may come to think, as Saint Augustine said in his own confessions: “Lord, give me chastity and continence, but not yet!” The temptation is to postpone our own conversion until later because it does not fit with our personal plans at the moment. We want to do things on our timetable, on our schedule, perhaps because we can be in charge. We say, “I want to come back to Mass, and I will come back to Mass....but, it will be next month.”

The call to radical following of Jesus Christ is for the here and now, to make His Kingdom a reality in our lives, which struggles to make its way among us. He knows our lukewarmness, knows that we do not decidedly commit ourselves to live according to the Gospel; we want to procrastinate, to get by, to live, without stridency and without a sense of urgency. Many times, for us “tomorrow” is the day of salvation, but the Scriptures remind us, “Behold, now is the day of salvation.” (II Cor 6:2)

Evil cannot coexist with good. Holy life does not allow sin. Jesus Christ says: “No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other or be devoted to one and despise the other.” (Matthew 6:24). Let us take refuge in the holy tree of the Cross and let its shadow be cast over our lives; and let Him comfort us, make us understand the purpose of our existence, and grant us a life worthy of being children of God.

All the best…in Christ,

Father Wilson

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