226. Seventh Monday of Ordinary Time
Meditations no. 99 (unofficial computer-aided translation)
Helping one another to overcome the dumb devil.
The Son of God conquered many devils on earth: the sad devil of the flesh, who clips the wings of love; the devil of selfishness, who blinds peopleâs eyes to anything outside themselves; the subtle devil of lukewarmness, who turns the sweetness of divine things into bitterness. Todayâs Gospel invites us to consider a sick person who is aware of his illness, but who does nothing to cure himself. The dumb devil of pride has sealed his lips, and he is incapable of asking for help.
The Gospel scene conjures up a number of images. A young boy lies on the ground, and a crowd gathers round him. Jesusâ disciples are also there, and the scribes and Pharisees are arguing with them. Everyone wants to help. But in the eyes of the boy there are no tears; he shows no desire to be cured, no faith. Beside him is his father, who loves him dearly. Teacher, he says to Jesus, I brought my son to you, for he has a dumb spirit ⌠I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they were not able} His words show that he is still somewhat short of faith: If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. But Jesus does not hold this against him. The father is not asking on his own behalf, but on behalf of his son.
My children, our Father says, if someone insists on walking in the gutter, you have to help them get back onto the pavement. While respecting their freedom, you need to show them affection and charity, and help them by means of your prayer and mortification. And our Father adds: In caring for that brother or sister of yours, you have a clear aim: to bring them back to their senses, making them see Godâs goodness and helping them achieve true repentance. Point out to them the danger to their own salvation and the harm they will do to many souls; persuade them that itâs not the moment to make a hasty decision that they will regret forever. You must show them understanding, find excuses for them, and allow them to see the charity with which we treat them.
Since it is quite common for a person going through this crisis not to be sincere, we have to treat them with great affection and supernatural outlook, so that they open up their heart completely to their Directors and are humble and docile. This is the sure way to help them persevere, with Godâs grace, which will never be lacking.
If we ever see one of our brothers or sisters in these sad circumstances, we must immediately go to God on their behalf and ask for their cure. You have to pray hard and get others to pray and offer mortifications so that our Lord may grant them light and help them retrace their steps. Christ makes this miracle depend on our faith. All things are possible to him who believes, he tells the boyâs father. And at once the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, âI believe; help my unbeliefâ You see, my children, faith is not only to be preached, it is also to be practised. Put yourself before our Lord, like the father of the possessed boy, and tell him slowly, with all the longing of your heart: Credo, Domine! Lord, I believe! Adiuva incredulitatem meam! But help me to believe more and better.
Since our prayer stems from charity and we have been asking on behalf of our brother or sister, Christ will listen to us. You dumb and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again ⌠Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up, and he arose.
Sincerity keeps the dumb devil at bay.
The Evangelist points out that the spirit possessing the boy was dumb and deaf. It was a devil that prevented him from hearing, and also from saying what was happening to him. Our Father has put us on our guard against an extremely dangerous temptation: that of allowing our hearts to remain in darkness when something is not going as it should. If something is worrying us, we should mention it and so guard against the âdumb devilâ. If you say everything, whether big or small, you will always conquer. You wonât conquer if you donât speak. The reason is clear. A person who remains silent is keeping a secret with Satan, and itâs not a good thing to have Satan for a friend.
To prevent the dumb devil from gaining possession of our soul, we need to be sincere at all times: heroically sincere if necessary. In the first place, we need to be sincere with God. This is difficult, because people tend towards anonymity. Those who hold positions of importance in public life often receive piles of anonymous letters. Similarly, before God, many people want to remain anonymous, and avoid any personal encounter in their prayer or their examination of conscience.
We also need to be sincere with ourselves, so that we get to know ourselves as we really are, with all our capacity for evil, and without being alarmed at our own weaknesses. We have come to the Work to be saints, and we shouldnât be surprised to discover that we are a long way from being so. And so we acknowledge our weaknesses, without trying to gloss over them in a self-righteous way, and this helps us avoid pride, which is so terribly blinding and makes us see everything the wrong way round. My children, be sincere with yourselves, be objective.
Also, be sincere and simple with those in the Work who have the task of directing and forming us, so that they can guide us and help us effectively, through their affection, firmness, and understanding. Be refined, but at the same time be âbrutalâ in your sincerity. And our Father goes on to say: Donât make any concession to yourself without mentioning it. You must say everything. Otherwise, things become complicated, and what started off as something trivial ends up being enormous. Remember the story of the gypsy who went to confession and said, âFather, I accuse myself of stealing a halter⌠and there was a mule attached to it, and attached to that was another halter, and another muleâŚâ - and so on, until he ended up with twenty mules. My children, thatâs the way things often happen. As soon as you give in to the halter, everything else follows, and all sorts of things come along that make us ashamed.
If we are brutally sincere and do what our Father advises, the dumb devil will never get a foothold in our lives. Even though our faults may be serious, the person who goes to the âGood Shepherdâ and speaks clearly finds the remedy. There is always a solution, even if we have made a very serious mistake! If we open our heart sincerely to that brother or sister with whom we speak regularly, and go to the priest designated for that purpose, we will be in a position to return to the fight once more with renewed energy.
Never being ashamed to open our hearts in the weekly chat.
We all have feet of clay, our Father comments, and any despicable thing that anyone else might do, I am perfectly capable of doing myself. I only have the strength that you give me, the strength that God gives me through your prayers. And the same is true for you all. Hence the absolute need to be sincere in our weekly chat, so that we can overcome our pride and let ourselves be helped. Every soul needs on outlet, St Teresa said. Our outlet is, on the one hand, confession to our brother - to my son, the priest; and on the other, our weekly chat with the Director or the person designated by the Director.
We should make use of the Confidence as soon as we notice the first symptoms of sickness. We should speak out, the moment the temptation comes to us - the moment the thought even crosses our mind - of keeping silent about something, and of thinking it unimportant and not worth bringing to spiritual direction. In this temptation we should recognize the voice of the dumb devil, luring our minds and wills into a state of slumber. The only way to keep him at bay is to speak out at once. My children, speak clearly, before the trouble arises. Only those who keep quiet and refuse to open up their hearts lose their way. Many people feel no shame in recounting to a group of their friends, and even exaggerating, the disgraceful things they have done. So are we going to be ashamed of saying something to our brother or sister who loves and understands us? If we should ever fall, letâs speak up clearly and show the wound, so that it can be cured and treated to prevent any infection setting in. It might hurt, of course, but any surgical operation will.
We may think that weâre not going to be properly understood, or that weâre going to he thought badly of, because of the foolish thing weâve done. Many other similar thoughts may come to mind, and the more we think about them the more confused our minds become, the more uneasy our souls feel. Then is the moment to cry out like the father in the Gospel: Help my unbelief. That is how we put the dumb devil to flight, enabling us to open our hearts to the Directors without fear. Fear is a tremendous temptation that sows disunity and removes every possibility of defence from the soul that allows it.
We have to banish the false fear that Satan tries to instil in us. There is no sin, however great, our Father reminds us, that I cannot commit, if I lack Godâs grace. When something happens that you wouldnât like to be known, run to the person who can help you, to the Good Shepherd, and mention it immediately. It makes sense. Suppose someone is carrying a large stone on his shoulder, and in his pockets he has some lightweight pebbles ⌠When he reaches his destination, heâs not going to take out the pebbles one by one from his pockets, while he keeps the large stone on his shoulder. My children, itâs the same for us. What we have to get rid of first is the thing that weighs most. To act otherwise would be foolish; it would be the start of insincerity.
We resolve today to say everything we need to in Confession and the weekly chat, without beating about the bush, without sweetening the pill, which at times is a childish thing to do. Then you will go forward, holier than ever. You will be happy, our Father tells us, and you will have no worries. We have the unfailing help of the Blessed Virgin; and by being truly sincere with God, with yourself, and with the people who look after your formation, you will attain, within the limits of your possibilities and by virtue of Godâs grace, your perfection as a Christian, your perfection as a human being, and perseverance in good works.