Basics of our Faith: We believe in One God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, visible and invisible We believe in One Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, truly God and truly Man, only Son of the Father, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father We believe that we are redeemed by the oblation, sacrifice and satisfaction once for all made by our Lord Jesus We believe He rules in Heaven and will come again to judge the quick and the dead and that of His Kingdom there shall be no end We believe in the Holy Ghost, giver of life, who spoke by the Prophets We believe that the Church is the Body of Christ We believe that the sacraments are the visible and outward sign of their effective and inward grace We believe that we will be raised again and, if faithful and true to our Lord and His Word, we shall be saved
7 March, AD 2010 Third Sunday in Lent “Who is the Strong Man” INFSHG+  When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: but when a stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted.  (St. Luke 11:21)  As we live our lives and go about our daily routines and business, every now and again we come up against some challenge. At first it looks like a barrier. Whether we were expecting to do so or not, we have come up against something we have not encountered before. Because it’s a new thing to us, we don’t have the skills, knowledge or tools to overcome the challenge. It might be something physical, like a machine we are obliged to keep in working order but which we don’t understand. It might be something mental, a problem in physics, math or finance. It might be emotional, a unexpectedly complex situation where feelings are raw or hurt and which people are looking to us to resolve. Whatever the problem, here we are at a new level. Now, we have the choice of standing there, held up by this new challenge and unable to see it as anything other than an impenetrable barrier. We could default and give the challenge over to someone else. That would relieve the distress we might be feeling, that sense of inadequacy one can’t escape when confronted by what looks to be impossible. It would also leave the challenge unmet: the challenge would be the ‘stronger man’. In today’s passage from St. Luke’s Gospel, our Lord addresses this very issue directly. He is cleansing a bedeviled man who cannot speak because of demonic possession. He almost casually dismisses the demon, who seems to simply evaporate. No real question can be raised here about who is the ‘stronger man’. We remember that our Lord has already been tested severely, surviving 40 days’ fast and the wiles of Satan himself. He exercises His power over the spiritual realm to rescue the bedeviled man and release his tongue. It can be supposed that this might be a subtle satanic plot to seduce people into thinking that Jesus is Lord only because Satan has put him up to be his satrap or perhaps a viceroy, and apparently that is exactly what at least some of the watching people decide is the case. Others take the opportunity to ask this obviously spiritually powerful man to explicitly show them that He is divine, as if what He just did was not exactly that kind of demonstration. The gift of speech and freedom from demonic possession is a sign of the power of heaven over the forces of Hell and darkness. Our Lord does not allow either of these taunts to upset Him. He recognizes that many of the onlookers have just looked right past the sign He has given them, so He explains it. The first illustration is to dispose of the suggestion that this is some kind of satanic plot. Nothing would be more subversive to the hell-bound project than to give light to those who cannot see and wisdom to those who have not known. The truth is all of a piece and nothing true contradicts anything else that is true. The devil is Prince of Lies and father to every liar among us. Everything he says is a contradiction intending to confuse. If Jesus gives speech, that is, the true Word that enlightens every mind and opens every heart to God, then the project of delusion and confusion is destroyed. If Jesus were working for the devil, then what He has just done could not be better calculated to undermine the devil’s purposes. Whatever authority the devil might think he can achieve will be sapped by the life, light and knowledge that is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So, the suggestion is ridiculous and cannot stand even for a moment. The question about the sign from heaven needs more consideration. Granting that the devil is in no way the source of our Lord’s power and healing grace, the question remains as to what is being taught. Now, to we who watch this drama from afar and long after, we see clearly: Jesus demonstrates His power and superiority over the fallen spirits. By this sign, this shmeion, the correct order of the universe beyond our senses is clearly established. What the observers may have missed and which we should be careful not to miss is that this is not the only order of strength on display. We know nothing of the bedeviled man. His name is not recorded, we don’t know where he came from nor where he goes. He might well end up a disciple, but that is never established. But one thing we know absolutely: the devil which possessed him was clearly stronger than he was. The man, for all that he might well have been mighty in heart, mind, soul and body, was utterly unequal to the task of repelling this foul spirit obsessed with keeping him silent and ignorant. That is what we have to remember here because we are like that man. We have our native human strengths and they go a long way to fulfilling our daily needs. We can draw upon reserves and often achieve startling triumphs. We ordinary folk are sometimes capable of extraordinary deeds. This is true even before we consider our relation to God, our Lord Jesus or the spirits, whether good or foul. What we are not usually equal to is the power of the spirits to confound us spiritually and overwhelm our natural defenses. They are not blinded by bodies as we are. They are not distracted by the physical needs of life. They can focus and dedicate themselves, bringing deep spiritual skills to the task of befuddling us. This is the challenge we face, the one that looks like a barrier when we first encounter it. So, we have to marshal what powers we have to focus ourselves against the power of the demons. We have to remember that they will often fool us into thinking that what they suggest is what we ourselves were thinking. They will misdirect us and help us convince ourselves that the sins they tempt us to are more satisfying than they can ever truly be. There will not be a trick or ruse they will not employ. And, we will ultimately fall to their trickery, if we rely just on ourselves. That is not only because we are spiritually weak and they are strong, but that we are not a constant standard against which to test the temptations. We are not the Word that never changes. So we need to retreat to that Word and seek the Man who really is stronger, the Man who made the blind see, the lame walk and the dumb to speak. We retreat to the Word Jesus Christ and when we turn again to spiritual battle, we use His Word and His perfect Person as the yardstick to measure the temptations and suggestions the demons give us. Every word you need for the spiritual wars the demons will try to engage you in is available to you, in Holy Scripture. The insight to understand the words of Scripture are available to you through the Holy Spirit. The spiritual nourishment you need to summon the strength to seek the unchanging Word, to listen to the indwelling Spirit and to rightly understand the words of Scripture are available to you through the Holy Eucharist, the very Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. So never hesitate to reach out to grasp and hold the words of Scripture. Always come to the holy altar, to be fed by the grace of Christ in the Eucharist. Be ever ready to be still and know that the Holy Spirit, which is God dwelling within you, will always speak the quiet true word of faith and wisdom. And always, always, always humble yourself to be lead by and filled with the stronger man, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who was, who is and who always will be our redeemer from sin, our savior from damnation and our king in glory. +And now, unto God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost be ascribed all might and majesty, power, dominion and glory, both to-day and on all days, world without end. Amen.