WHAT TRULY CONQUERS EVIL?

Monday in the 7th Week of the Ordinary Time
Mark 9:14-29

Holiness is the perfection of charity. The more loving we are, the more holy we are. Holiness is not the result of kneeling the whole day inside the church. Sore knees, not holiness is what you get from kneeling the whole day inside the church. Holiness is the fruit of loving prayer and loving deeds combined.

When we are holy, the devil is afraid of us. Of course, he continues to tempt us so that we may fall into sin and be unholy. But strip the devil of his mask and you will see a frightened monster, cowing in the presence of a holy man.

This is the experience of Jesus, the Holy One of God. The Gospel today paints this picture in dramatic strokes. Not obtaining what he expected from the apostles, a father brought his son who was possessed by an evil spirit to Jesus. The moment the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the boy into convulsions, and, falling to the ground, the possessed foamed at the mouth. The evil spirit wanted to frighten Jesus and the people around Him. But no fear conquers a truly holy man. Holiness rather conquers all fear. Love conquers all. And holiness is the perfection of love.

The apostles failed to free the boy from demonic possession because their holiness was not equal to the strong force of the evil spirit. They yet had to learn what true holiness meant. They yet had to be perfected in love. Their love had to become perfected still.

If we want to free the world from evil, we must strive to be holy. We have to continue loving until our love is made perfect. The reason why there is so much evil in the world is because there is not enough love in the world. Because there is so much insincerity in our love, there is little holiness around us. Because there is little holiness around us there is so much evil in the world

Let us love and we will be holy. Let us be holy by loving. No matter how small our corner in this world, provided we keep on loving, there will always be a corner in this world where evil cannot thrive. Each day, let us conquer evil. Each day, let us love. Each day, let us be holy.