＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

１Corinthians 2:10b-16

God has revealed it to us, through his Spirit,

Because the Spirit probes everything, even the depth of God. who, but his own spirit, knows the secrets of a person? Similarly, no one, but the Spirit of God, knows the secrets of God.

We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God and, through him, we understand what God, in his goodness, has given us.

So we speak of this, not in terms inspired by human wisdom, but in a language taught by the Spirit, explaining a spiritual wisdom to spiritual persons. The one who remains on the psychological level does not understand the things of the Spirit.

They are foolishness for him; and he does not understand, because they require a spiritual experience. On the other hand, the spiritual person judges everything, but no one judges him. Who has known the mind of God so as to teach him? But we have the mind of Christ.

 

Ps 145:8-9, 10-11, 12-13ab, 13cd-14

The Lord is just in all his ways.

 

 ＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

Luke 4:31-37

Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee, and began teaching the people at the sabbath meetings. They were astonished at the way he taught them, for his word was spoken with authority.  In the synagogue there was a man possessed by an evil spirit who shouted in a loud voice, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth?

Have you come to destroy us? I recognize you: you are the Holy One of God.” Then Jesus said to him sharply, “Be silent and leave this man!” The evil spirit then threw the man down in front of them and came out of him without doing him harm.

 Amazement seized all these people and they said to one another, “What does this mean? He commands the evil spirits with authority and power. He orders, and you see how they come out!” And news about Je­sus spread through­out the surrounding area.

 

Gospel Reflection：

St. Thomas Aquinas writes that to beat an enemy, one has to know him. To overcome demons, one has to identify them. Oftentimes, however, we stop at just knowing the works of the devil, not try to beat him.

We are loaded every day with information about acts of terror. There are massacres of innocent students in broad daylight. We hear of men, women, and children stacked in boats by human traffickers.

There are drug syndicates preying on poor and desperate drug users. There is wanton destruction of our environment. After watching these information on television, we switch off and have a good sleep.

We have become accustomed to sleeping with the enemy as long as he does not directly attack us. we cannot not singularly beat the devil as Jesus did. It takes a Church or concerted vigilance and effort to drive the devil away.