He gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases

26 SEPTEMBER (Lk 9,1-6)

The victory of the kingdom of God against the kingdom of darkness cannot only be invisible, it must also be visible. It is in history that the kingdoms of God and Satan are built and history is visibility. All those who think about an invisible salvation: of the soul and spirit, with no visible salvation, of history, of time, and of the body; are quite wrong. Moses visibly fought Pharaoh and visibly defeated him.

But the Lord said, “I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers, so I know well what they are suffering. 4 Therefore I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the country of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. So indeed the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have truly noted that the Egyptians are oppressing them. Come, now! I will send you to Pharaoh to lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of Egypt?” He answered, “I will be with you; and this shall be your proof that it is I who have sent you: when you bring my people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this very mountain.” “But,” said Moses to God, “when I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ if they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what am I to tell them?” God replied, “I am who am.” Then he added, “This is what you shall tell the Israelites: I AM sent me to you.” God spoke further to Moses, “Thus shall you say to the Israelites: The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. “This is my name forever; this is my title for all generations. ” But,” objected Moses, “suppose they will not believe me, nor listen to my plea? For they may say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.'” The Lord therefore asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he answered. The Lord then said, “Throw it on the ground.” When he threw it on the ground it was changed into a serpent, and Moses shied away from it. “Now, put out your hand,” the Lord said to him, “and take hold of its tail.” So he put out his hand and laid hold of it, and it became a staff in his hand. “This will take place so that they may believe,” he continued, “that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, did appear to you.” Again the Lord said to him, “Put your hand in your bosom.” He put it in his bosom, and when he withdrew it, to his surprise his hand was leprous, like snow. The Lord then said, “Now, put your hand back in your bosom.” Moses put his hand back in his bosom, and when he withdrew it, to his surprise it was again like the rest of his body. “If they will not believe you, nor heed the message of the first sign, they should believe the message of the second. And if they will not believe even these two signs, nor heed your plea, take some water from the river and pour it on the dry land. The water you take from the river will become blood on the dry land.” (Cf. Ex 3,1-4,9).

Every day, the Christian is also called to fight his battle against his Pharaoh. He must attack him visibly and must visibly it overcome him. It is clear that no man might ever defeat the pharaoh, who is the mightiest force existing in nature. No man with his own strength might eliminate, defeat, and cancel him. He might do it only with the power of God, by his grace, with his powerful light, with signs and wonders that the Lord gives him to operate. Only God might give the Christian the power to defeat Satan in a visible manner. Without these divine powers working in him, a Christian will succumb, will be defeated, removed from the battlefield.

He summoned the Twelve and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal (the sick). He said to them, “Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money, and let no one take a second tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there and leave from there. And as for those who do not welcome you, when you leave that town, shake the dust from your feet in testimony against them.” Then they set out and went from village to village proclaiming the good news and curing diseases everywhere.

The disciple of Jesus must go into the world with a new spiritual strength: his freedom, humility, faith, total reliance and handing over in the hands of his God and Lord. Without this new spiritual strength, no power to cast out demons will work in him. Never might he operate because the power is given from time to time only to him who lives with God and for Him, who makes of things of this world a means and not an end.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels, Saints make us humble and full of faith.