“THE FINGER OF GOD IN YOUR EARS AND ON YOUR TONGUE”
Saint Luke 11: 14-28
Reminiscere: 19 March Anno Domini 2017
Father Jay Watson SSP
Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. And yes, to be sure, your sinful and fallen “old nature” can lose itself in the world and in your ego-driven vanity and pride, but you are lost with the assaults of foreign agency—you are lured away and made lost by Satan and his minions. It isn’t that hell will be loud with the noises of the earthly prison…which are not all howlings and sobbings, but also intelligible curses and imprecations; but that hell will be so loud with the roar of nothingness and metaphysical loneliness that the noise will itself be an ultimate silence. No sensible and articulate sounds; no merciful and tender words spoken; no prayers. All will be dumb and mute. To save you the sheep, the Good Shepherd confronts the wolf—He slays the wolf. The Desert Ranger, The Wilderness Prophet destroys the fiery serpent by letting Himself be bit by its venomous fangs. The man possessed had his Matins and Vespers petition versicle answered by Messias’ response: “O Lord open Thou my lips and my mouth will show forth Thy praise.” The imp scuttled back to cockroach hell while the man formerly dumb now “spake.” He too like the Hebrew Prophets before him was a prophet of Christ’s New Testament and he also “spake by the Holy Ghost.” This sign of heaven declared Jesus to be God, the God/Man Redeemer. This sign showed that the Nazarene was the very finger of God—the marker, inscriber, angel, and speaker of The Blessed Trinity.
As Caiaphas once spoke truth by The Holy Ghost, so too here, the enemies of God speak truth when they name the demonic foe Beelzebub. The devil is only that kind of lord…lord of the flies…the flies of rot and decay—evil’s excrement. Jesus is The Lord of Light and Life. The Word of God in the Face, Flesh, Blood, and Words of Jesus drives out and “casteth out devils.” When the daystar from on high breaks the early morning ray, the darkness simply vanishes away in its un-realness and lack of substantiality. Devils are creatures like fungi, bacteria, and ticks. Jesus is un-create God of God of the same substance as The Father and The Spirit. We shouldn’t so much laugh at Satan for his infinite ignorance (or the slowness of the people) as we should guard our own hearts and minds by Christ and His Word that we might not be tempted and lured away. For the devil’s walk is easy, sugar-coated, pleasant, and filled with false friends. The Lenten way of Jesus is narrow, steep, rock-strewn with trials, and painfully lonely at times. Eschew the poisonous blood of the tick, the venom of the ancient serpent: Repent. Drink the Blood of The Lamb which is source of Immortality and Eternity.
The unknown and nameless woman in the crowd that day was an actual person, a real fellow Saint of all of you; you’ll meet her soon in Heaven. But she also is a picture, or a “type” of you all collectively—The Holy Church. She as a “mini-Mary” properly acknowledges the great role that The Virgin plays in Salvation history. The Virgin is indeed a necessary player and “means” of God’s Incarnation, earthly education, and human growth and development. Gabriel is correct that she is blessed among women. And Elisabeth is correct that the “fruit of her womb” is most blessed. And the unknown woman in the crowd is correct that blessed are the breasts of God’s Mother that suckled Him with life giving milk even as He would later nourish her, the “12,” all of you, and the entire Church Catholic on the true milk of the Word and The true Blood of God. Thus, Christ Himself in reply to the woman says: “YES.” Of course, Saint Mary is worthy of most high praise, honor, and veneration. She is the Saint of Saints—singularly unique. But, Christ goes on from the lesser to the greater, from the great to the superlative: “Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it.” Jesus is speaking right now to you with these ever resonating, echoing, and present words. He gives you His Word and you hear. He feeds you His Word and you sup and dine. He IS THE WORD and He keeps you forgiven, loosed, and in peace to life everlasting.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of The Holy Ghost
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