Daily Mass Gospel Reflection- The Authoritative Voice

Word on Fire Ministry ^ | 1.11.22 | Aux. Bishop R. Barron

[MurphsLaw]

First Week in Ordinary Time

Mark 1:21-28

Friends, today’s Gospel finds Jesus encountering a man with an unclean spirit in the synagogue at Capernaum. Isn’t it interesting that the first unclean spirit that Jesus confronts is in the holy place, the place of worship? And what marks this man? Though he is a single person, an individual, he speaks in the plural: "What do you have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?"

The diabolic is, literally, a scattering power: diabalein. Sin separates us from one another—sunde, related to sundering—but it also divides us interiorly, setting one part of the self against another. We’ve all experienced this: our minds are divided, our wills are split, and our emotions militate against our deepest convictions.

The authoritative voice of Jesus brings the man back to himself. And friends, this is precisely the effect that Jesus’ voice has had up and down the ages. When you allow his word to reach deep down within you, you get knitted back together. When Jesus becomes the clear center of your life, then your mind, your will, your emotions, your private life, your public life—all of it—finds its harmonious place around that center.

[MurphsLaw]

+++Jesus came to Capernaum with his
followers,
and on the sabbath he entered the
synagogue and taught.
The people were astonished at his
teaching,
for he taught them as one having
authority and not as the scribes.
In their synagogue was a man with an
unclean spirit;
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!”
Jesus rebuked him and said, “Quiet!
Come out of him!”
The unclean spirit convulsed him and
with a loud cry came out of him.
All were amazed and asked one another,
“What is this?
A new teaching with authority.
He commands even the unclean spirits
and they obey him.”
His fame spread everywhere
throughout the whole region of
Galilee.+++

[ebb tide]

Isn’t it interesting that the first unclean spirit that Jesus confronts is in the holy place, the place of worship?

Similar to confronting Bergoglio in St. Peter's Basilica while worshipping his Pachamama idol.