“Renewed Day by Day” By Rev. Paul Berghout (@FatherPB)

“Renewed Day by Day” By Rev. Paul Berghout

Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Then the LORD God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, you shall be banned from all the animals and from all the wild creatures; on your belly shall you crawl, and dirt shall you eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers;

he will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel."  Genesis 3:14-15

Therefore, we are not discouraged; rather, although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Summoning them, he began to speak to them in parables, "How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand; that is the end of him. But no one can enter a strong man's house to plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder the house. Mark 2:23-27

Piety

Small Deeps
(From Edwina Gateley, There Was No Path So I Trod One (1996, 2013)

We are too complicated.
We seek God here, there and everywhere.
We seek God in holy places, in books,
in rules, regulations, rites and rituals.
We seek God in pomp and glory and ceremony,
in relics and statues
and visions and shrines.
We seek God in Popes and Fathers and saints.
Ah, like lost bewildered children,
we seek outside the God
who waits to be found
in the small deeps
of the human heart.

 Study

The scribes wrongfully attribute Jesus’ power to the sorcery of Satan. It was tantamount to an accusation of witchcraft.

The background is that it was commonly held back then that weaker demons could be exorcised by more powerful ones. Jesus points out that this is a contradiction because Satan’s house is not divided. The reality is that demons hate each other but form alliances. Satan does not oppose himself.

In Jesus’ analogy, most see “the strong man” as Satan and Jesus is the one who ties him up.  So, Jesus is the plunderer who loots that demon’s house of sin and wickedness.  To me, that sounds like a video game where players gain rewards to improve their hero’s character and use an arsenal of (good) weapons to defeat evil. However, others see the strong man as an ordinary person who is overtaken by sin and so is bound-up, and robbed of grace by Satan.  Let’s consider both interpretations.

Being Bound Up by Evil Influences 

Think of today’s digital culture-specific illnesses on the internet. The original Latin word “addictus” means “one who has been given up or made over as a servant to his creditor.”

According to St. Augustine, God made us for Himself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Him. Despite this reality, due to the effects of Original Sin and our own brokenness, we are attracted and may become attached to many things in life that serve as false, cheap substitutes for the only thing that satisfies: union with God. To a greater or lesser extent, we all suffer from addictions or unhealthy attachments, which distract us away from God. These attachments serve to “dull” the ache in our heart, which in reality aches for His presence and union with Him. The things that we are attached to may become false idols to us. We may engage in painful, unhealthy, and/or sinful patterns because of our unhealthy attachments and our fears.

A more wholesome way of thinking is vitally important to our mental health, our relationship with God, and our spiritual growth. Unfortunately, due to the disorder caused by original sin (which we heard in our First Reading) and our own personal learning, we do not always think in the healthiest and most helpful ways. Unconstructive thinking typically regards ourselves, the world, others, the future, God, and the spiritual life. When we think unhelpful thoughts, the enemy of our salvation may exploit our psychological weaknesses in various ways.

Of course with circumspection and prudence, we can’t be too ready to believe that the devil is involved in everything, still the enemy has a hand in many sins, and the whole basis of Christian life is the mystery of Christ’s deliverance of people from sin, and from the influence of the devil, with his cunningness. Saint Angela Merici once said, “consider that the devil does not sleep but seeks our ruin in a thousand ways.”

e.g. an example of faulty thinking: A recent study out of Georgia State University explains that habitual street offenders exploit the absolvitory tenets of religious doctrine, neutralizing their fear of offending God, which allows them to continue a life of illegal activities. Basically, the attitude is, “We already live in hell, as long as you ask for forgiveness, Jesus has to give it to you.” So, there no contrition; no conversion; no metanoia.

Regarding Jesus Binding the Strong Man

Someone once asked an English General, famous for the victories he had won on the battlefield, “General, which side gains the victory in any battle?” This man responded, “The side that advances."

Consider Dawn Weiss.  Her life was falling apart. Dawn, a recovering alcoholic, moved to Tennessee after the California earthquake of 1994. She got a job as a waitress and enrolled in school. However, Dawn never confronted the stress of the earthquake experience, the stress of moving, and the stress of leaving loved ones. One night, she felt ready to give up. She prayed for help but didn’t feel any better. That night, Dawn decided that after work she would go out drinking. 

When Dawn got to work, she noticed that every single customer in the restaurant was wearing a button that read, “I am a friend of Bill W.” Bill W. is the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, and this slogan helps AA members discreetly recognize one another. To Dawn’s surprise, there was a huge Alcoholics Anonymous convention in town that weekend. All the customers at her restaurant that night were attending it. After Dawn revealed her own struggle with addiction, a group of customers offered to stay with her all night and protect her from drinking. Dawn had prayed for help, and God sent her a whole convention of people who understood her problem.

It all began when Dawn prayed for help even though she did not feel warm and fuzzy when she did so.

Action

Is there an area of our life or our thinking where we feel that we are spiritually bound, and we know it isn’t good?  Our freedom is accomplished through God’s grace and through doing our own “part” cognitively, emotionally, and behaviorally by identifying and changing our own unhealthy or unhelpful thinking.  We must ‘disappropriate,’ reject, and correct any thoughts that may be temptations from the enemy of our salvation, and acting against our unhealthy or unhelpful behaviors. Amen.