Today’s gospel always used to puzzle me. Not the part about Beelzebub—or the blasphemy of the Phari- sees—that they would accuse Jesus of being in league with the devil—no I always puzzled over the lines about
When the unclean spirit had left a man, that unclean spirit would seek rest: and not finding it return to the very soul from which he had been exorcised. But he returns and finds that soul all swept and cleaned. Then Jesus tells us that the demon then brings into that unfortunate soul with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and entering in they dwell there. And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.
And my puzzlement was this—if the person’s soul that had been afflicted by this devil—was now clean and pure—by virtue of the exorcism—how is it that this devil finds the state of the soul now even more desirable than it was before? How is it that the devil now delights in the purity and cleanliness of the soul? Shouldn’t he be repelled by the soul’s new state and know that he is not welcome there?
We need to treat the soul as we treat our bodies
Well I think the problem is that I always confused cleanliness with holiness. I would confound purity (in the sense of sterility) with virtue. And what Our Blessed Lord is teaching us is that if the world of the supernatural is real—if it is not a construct of our imaginations as the Modernists would hold—then we need to take care of that soul— actively, really and truly. We need to treat the soul as we treat our bodies—and nourish our souls as we would nourish our bodies—and fill our souls with good things just as we fill our bodies with good things.
You see—we can neglect the soul. We can begin to ignore it and sidestep it—and go about our lives as if that soul were not really real.
But Our Lord is clear—The world of the supernatural is real—so real in fact that you could actually count the number of souls in the world. You see, each soul is the real genuine spiritual principle in a person—by which that person lives and breathes and has an identity.
Our Lord is teaching us that man is composed of body and soul; and the soul—which is immaterial and has no weight or mass—is nonetheless so important to us that without the soul we are dead—but with it we are living human beings whose lives on earth are on a trajectory to heaven.
If Our Lord is saying anything in this Gospel it is that the human soul must be cared for—and explicitly so. Care of our souls—taking care of our spiritual lives—is not automatic. It does not just happen. If we are to be saved (yes that is a gift from God and we do not deserve it) we must co-operate with that grace. In that sense we merit our salvation and we must do what we must do to nurture the grace in our souls.
Get back to the parable—if I was ever confused about what Jesus meant when He says that the devil went back to the now-clean soul and tortured him even more than before—it is because I confused emptiness with grace. I thought that just being without sin was all that God was asking of us. No. He is asking more. He is asking that we be holy.
When we walk out of the confessional and—this is particularly pertinent during Lent—and our souls have been absolved and forgiven and no longer are burdened or sullied or stained—and we feel light and relieved and happy for once—that is not enough.
We cannot ignore the state of our souls until the next confession.
Yes we receive forgiveness and we receive the special sacramental grace that is tailored to our needs and our weaknesses. If we tend towards impatience and fits of anger—the grace of God helps right there. If we are bound by a habit of impurity—or the internet—God’s grace is there for us precisely as we need it.
However—if the soul is as real as our body (and we know it is) and if God’s grace is as real as our sins (and we know it is) then we need to think about what we will do to grow in grace and increase our holiness and strengthen our soul—right there on that Saturday—at the very moment we have gone to confession. We cannot ignore the state of our souls until the next confession.
It is not enough to walk out of that confessional, do the three Hail Mary’s of a penance and think that is all we need.
Because then we are confusing cleanliness
with virtue—emptiness with grace. If we are to understand Our Blessed Lord’s parable we must realize that everyone of us in our lives need a program of prayer and sacrament and sacrifice in order to fill up the recesses of the soul. And we fill our soul with grace and goodness and virtues by means of a regular regimen of prayer and penance in our lives. A program as real as the soul is real.
It begins with the Word of God. If you do not have a Bible at home—Buy one—and start reading it. Read the psalms. Read the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. A psalm per day—a Gospel chapter per day. You will not believe how much closer to God and to Jesus you will begin to grow.
Do you have a rosary? But it is on your rear view mirror? Or in your dresser drawer? Pull it out and say it every day. You need to talk to His Mother as if to your own mother. You need her help in filling up the empty corners of this life. If you don’t fill your souls with her and her Son, then there is someone else who will be very happy to take up his abode in your heart.
And yes, pray your holy cards and holy books and novenas and devotions. They are beautiful expressions of love and faith.
Do you eat and drink? Even in Lent—as if there is no tomorrow? Give it up. Put yourself on His cross. Suffer with Him—just a little bit. Let your sacrifice enable you to sacrifice for others. Let your sacrifice help you to be kinder when you would rather snap—to be peaceful when you would rather
make war—to be purer when you would rather give in.
Go to Mass—even daily Mass if it is at all possible. We have (by the grace of God) two Masses here at Saint Odilo. Other churches might have a more convenient time, but to receive Our Lord, His Body and Blood, in Holy Communion—there is nothing that could fill our souls more completely than that.
This is what it means to practice the faith—to do the exercises by which we will fill our souls not with empti- ness—but with God.
“And neither do you have holiness.”
If we do not do prayers and sacraments and sacrifice, then the only thing we will be able to say at the end of our lives to God is “Lord—you have nothing to blame me for. I can think of no sins.” And maybe Our Lord might say to us in response “And neither do you have holiness.”
When Jesus tells us that the last state of that man will worse than the first—I have the feeling that this is what Jesus is talking about.