We have witnessed to wrangles and fights and sometimes we ourselves were involved in them. Perhaps, we needed physical strength and at times power of influence to have upperhand of the situation at that time. However, it sounds weird and strange to hear about spiritual warfare. Are we at bay with spiritual forces? The readings of the day bring us to the fact that we are at the edge with spiritual forces that make their every effort to destroy us. The readings also reassures us that we can overcome them.
In the first reading, Paul reminds the Christians that they are at warfare with the evil forces, thus they need to arm themselves against these forces with truth, faith, integrity, and word of God. They will help us to overcome the evil forces. Paul also exhorts people to rely on God to fight the evil forces rather than on their own strength.
In the gospel, Jesus reveals his destiny that by his resurrection he will overcome the devil and overthrow the dominion of the same. Jesus has overcome the evil forces for us by his passion, death and resurrection.
Jesus also refers to Jerusalem as the place of his final destiny. Jerusalem stands for the central point of the earth as people believed. That's why Jerusalem has an important place in the OT for people looked up to it because God resided here in Jerusalem temple.
My dear friends, the coming of Jesus amid us had a purpose that was to overcome the evil and overthrow the dominion of it. He has indeed actualized this purpose but the benifits of this grace is not yet appropriated by us. We, in our daily life, experience and face evil forces of injustice, greed, theft, murder, rape, deprivation etc. but these evils are the outcomes of the spiritual evil forces that are harboured in us. It's because these evil forces reside in our hearts, the evil is permeated everywhere.
We can overcome them, if we overcome evil forces in us by giving place to God in us. We can overcome them by the life of truth, faith, integrity, and by the power of word of God because the evil forces permeate evil but goodness negates evil and where there is goodness God resides there, and where there is God no evil can stand. Let's make every effort to root out evil from our life and our society at large.
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