Homily: February 21, 2022, Monday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time.

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For readings:  https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022122.cfm

“This kind can only come out through prayer.”

The disciples of Jesus failed to drive out the mute spirit possessing the boy. They had used Jesus’ name in other occasions, and it worked, but not this time.

My papa was a quiet man, he did not like gossips and told us stories only if they were true and concerned our family. One incident he told us, happened in 1980 in our family farm.

January through February was the peak period for harvesting black pepper, coffee and cardamom. We would engage more workers during that period for our farm. At that time, one Hindu lady killed herself and apparently her spirit possessed her relative who was working in our farm. This worker began behaving exactly like the deceased woman.

Another worker at that time, who was very active in the charismatic movement in our parish, took upon herself to pray over the possessed woman. She confidently called out: “In the name of Jesus, I command you to come out of her!”

It worked! The spirit came out and the woman became her normal self again. But something else happened. The charismatic woman started behaving like the deceased woman! The spirit had taken possession of her instead. Finally, she had to go to an exorcist for help.

What went wrong?

Every follower of Jesus can use His name to heal and cast our demons. But how many of us can claim to be true followers of Christ? Simply by belonging to a faith community, declaring we believe and attending prayer sessions superficially are not enough. To be successful in our fight against the evil one we need these: faith, prayer and humility.

Faith to firmly believe our Lord is God and has power over evil. Prayer is keeping connected with God all the time, relying on His strength in all situations. Humility is to know that we are nothing without God and it is His will we serve, not our own agenda.

It is easy to go around claiming to be Jesus’ disciples, but St. James challenged, “Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show his works by a good life in the humility that comes from wisdom.”

This humility means not having ‘bitter jealousy nor selfish ambition in our hearts’. Whether it be casting out demons, carrying out works of mercy, serving church ministry or building our family of faith, we serve God only, not man and not self. Amen.

Fr. Nivin Scaria

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