The Spirit of Evil

The Spirit of Evil

In today's Gospel Jesus encunters the Spirit of Evil within a man in the synagogue. Sometimes thw Spirit of Evil is embedded in personalities. Someimes it lurks in institutions, as in Nazi Germany.

And sometimes it can lurk beneath the surface in people we consider "the Good Guys, as when videos showed U.S, Border Patrol agents kicking over bottles of water that had been left in the desert for famished migrants.

Cruelty is the devil's handmaid.

In the famous Screwtape Letters, Satan is depicted as quite clever.

So the Spirit of Evil can appear in uniforms which are quite fashionable, smart, attractive, whether it is the Gestapo or the U.S. Border Patrol.

Evil can even be glamorous!

That is why when we renew our Baptismal promise at Easter we are called upon to:

Reject THE GLAMOUR OF EVIL.

Any of us can be beguiled by evil masquerading as "the Good."

The German people were beguiled by Hitler when he proclaimed them as "The Master Race!

The Italians were beguiled by Mussolini proclaiming:

"I shall make Italy Great again!"

And what of us?

And so we pray:

Our Father

Deliver us from evil.

Deliver us from the glamour of evil.

Deliver us from deception.

Deliver us from propoganda.

Deliver us from bombast.

Deliver us from Satan,

"The father of all Lies."

Amen

 

 

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