Memorial of Saint Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs |
| Mark 6:7–13 |
Friends, in today’s Gospel, we find Jesus sending out the Twelve on mission and giving them authority over the unclean spirits. In the sixties and seventies, it was common, even in seminaries, to dismiss such talk as primitive superstition—or perhaps to modernize it and make it a literary device, using symbolic language evocative of the struggle with evil in the abstract. But that approach just does not do justice to the Bible. The biblical authors knew all about the world of fallen or morally compromised spirits. Imagine a truly wicked person who is also very smart, talented, and enterprising. Now raise that person to a far higher pitch of ontological perfection, and you will have some idea of what a devil is like. Jesus, through his death and Resurrection, has won victory over these dark forces. And he has entrusted to his Church the means to apply this victory. These are the sacraments (especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation), the Bible, personal prayer, the Rosary, etc. Jesus sent out the Twelve to battle dark spirits. He still empowers his Church to do the same. Don’t be reluctant to use the weapons—and the healing balms—that he has given. Bishop Robert Barron |
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