SEND US INTO THE HERD OF SWINE

Am 5,14-15.21-24; Ps 49; Mt 8,28-34
4 JULY
Jesus knows that by allowing the impure spirits to enter into the pigs, he would have been turned away from the territory and his mission in that region would have found obstacles from the inhabitants of the place. Why then does he let a bunch of pigs to be drowned in the lake? The reason is to be found in his person. He is the Eternal God, the Only Son of the Father, comes to our earth and for the salvation of man let himself be nailed by Satan and his satellites on the cross. He gives his body to the Father, making it a holocaust of redemption and eternal salvation for humanity. Now, if before the salvation of a man, God himself annihilates himself, annuls himself, can there exist on earth anything that can be spared? The whole universe is not worth a soul. If on the one hand we have a man to redeem and on the other all the material reality to be saved, man has absolute priority. The man is saved, everything is saved. Man is lost, everything is lost. Every man must apply this law of redemption both for himself and for every other person. It is a universal law. Jesus puts it as the law of his sequel. The salvation of the soul is worth the loss of the personal body.

Brother will hand over brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to another. Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. No disciple is above his teacher, no slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, for the slave that he become like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of his household! “Therefore do not be afraid of them. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father (Mt 10,21-33). Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life? (Mt 16,24-26).

Now everyone knows that the salvation of a man is worth the gift of his own life, it is worth his martyrdom, consequently it is also valid the end of a mission in a particular place. For similar choices it is necessary to have the heart of the Father and the eyes of the Holy Spirit.

When he came to the other side, to the territory of the Gadarenes, two demoniacs who were coming from the tombs met him. They were so savage that no one could travel by that road. They cried out, “What have you to do with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the appointed time?” Some distance away a herd of many swine was feeding. The demons pleaded with him, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of swine.” And he said to them, “Go then!” They came out and entered the swine, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea where they drowned. The swineherds ran away, and when they came to the town they reported everything, including what had happened to the demoniacs. Thereupon the whole town came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him they begged him to leave their district.

The teaching of Jesus is a stern warning to the man who sacrifices man, preferring to him things or even animals. Man comes from the heart of the Father and is worth as much as Christ Jesus Crucified. His value is eternal. Creation is not worth a man.

Wise Virgin, Angels and Saints, teach every man the truth about man.