Deacon Mike Dalessandro
“Quiet! Come out of him!”
Words from today’s gospel, according to Mark.
Today, Jesus flexes his muscles for us.
He does it, quite literally, to astonish us.
So we ponder.
The Second Person of the Holy Trinity.
The God of the Universe.
The One who was present at Creation.
The One who has power over everything.
Everything is under the power of this Holy One of God. He made it all and he commands it all.
He doesn’t lay hands on this spirit.
He doesn’t physically wrestle.
He doesn’t use created matter to sacramentalize the event.
He speaks his word.
And it’s more than enough.
He is indeed the “stronger one” that the Baptist spoke about.
But with us, his strength is made manifest through his patience.
He controls all of Creation, but he chooses not to control us.
He commands us, but doesn’t control us.
With us, he quietly waits.
The pinnacle of his Creation, made less than that angel, still higher in dignity.
What an honor that God would give us this lofty status.
Sometimes, it’s more than enough just to ponder
