Fr. Rick’s Two Minute Homily for Monday – 01-31-2022

Monday 4th Week in Ordinary Time 2022 

Mark 5:1-20 https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/013122.cfm  

ALONE AND HELPLESS

People handle pain in different ways. Some have acute pain and never goes away, and they seek out a doctor. Others wait until the last minute, and the pain becomes a crisis. Beyond the crisis is someone who finds no relief in anything and becomes a lonely soul.

No matter how much family and friends reach out to them, they are alone and helpless.

This was the man in today’s gospel who had a legion of demons inside of him. The line that caught my attention was,” He was always crying out and bruising himself with stones.” Crying out – people suffering from addictions come to mind. Alcohol, drugs, even physical and mental abuse are cries for help. The pain of loneliness and helplessness aggravates the pain. So, to dull the pain, they abuse themselves or others with “bad” medicines (drugs, etc.) that feed their illness.

It is easy to recognize this behavior in someone else. It is not so easy to acknowledge the pain that never goes away in ourselves. It, too, is followed by behaviors that are not healthy for us and others. A visit with a doctor or a priest can help us come to terms with our difficulties. Jesus is in that doctor or priest you visit, waiting to fill your loneliness with His love for you and people who genuinely love you. It is the merciful love of Jesus that unbinds the shackles in our minds and hearts. 

Call that doctor. Call that counselor. Call that priest. If you are a victim of abuse, you need to make a call as well. Everything created, good and bad, submits to the merciful love of Jesus. “They (the people) caught sight of the man who had been possessed by Legion, sitting there clothed and in his right mind.”

IGNITE THE FIRE 

Fr. Rick Pilger, IC 

www.bscchurch.com