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How Can a Demon, Driven Out, Return With Seven More? A Meditation on a Puzzling Parable By: Msgr. Charles PopeThe Gospel for the Third Sunday of Lent in the Extraordinary Form features the puzzling parable about the cast-out demon who returns with seven other demons. What is most puzzling is that finding the house (soul) “swept and clean” brings further trouble. One would think a house that is swept and clean is a good thing.How can we understand this parable? As is often the case, recourse to both the subtleties of the Greek text and the context can help us.For reference, here...

Archdiocese of Washington A Picture of the Transformed Human Person – A Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Lent By: Msgr. Charles PopeThe first reading today contains the Ten Commandments and thereby communicates a brief but sweeping summary of the Christian and biblical moral vision. Too often, there is a tendency to reduce the Christian moral vision merely to a set of rules. And it is a sad fact that many resent the the Church for her “rules” because of this reductionist notion of our moral vision.To be fair, EVERY group and activity has rules. If you join a bowling league...