The authority of love

Good News ReflectionTuesday of the 22nd Week in Ordinary TimeSeptember 1, 2009
Today's Saint: GilesPray for the handicapped and street people:http://wordbytes.org/saints/DailyPrayers/Giles.htm
Today's Readings:1 Thes 5:1-6, 9-11Ps 27:1, 4, 13-14Luke 4:31-37http://www.usccb.org/nab/090109.shtmlUSCCB Podcast of the Readings:http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/09_09_01.mp3
The authority of love
Today's Gospel reading tells us how powerful Christ's authority was – and still is. Why do you think he could cast out that demon? Because he was God? Ahhh, but he hadn't yet defeated Satan by sacrificing himself on the cross and conquering death. At this point in salvation history, Jesus had only defeated Satan on a personal level (remember how he faced temptations in the desert).
Was it because the demon-possessed man was ready to repent from the sins that had attracted the evil spirit? There's no indication of this. Jesus often drove demons out of UNCONVERTED people. So, where did he get his authority?
Simply put, the Father gave it to him. And then Jesus passed it on to his disciples (see Luke 10:19), which now includes you!
Authority was one of the temptations that Satan had offered to Jesus in Luke 4:5-8. Obviously, there are two kinds of authority: good and evil. Good authority is based on love. Jesus didn't cast out demons because he could. He did it because he cared.
Demons hate love. They can't stand being around it. That's why they're always fighting against it. What loving relationship are you in that's under attack? When we persistently choose to love despite everything that goes wrong, we drive away demons.
Perfect love contains all the power of God, because he IS love. Perfect love means caring so completely about others that we're willing to go to the cross for them. A wounded marriage, for example, is healed when both spouses make sacrifices for each other, which drives out the spirit of division. But this is not fun nor is it easy! Many of us try to get around it by relying solely on prayers such as "St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle...."
Overcoming evil requires more than prayer. It requires personal sacrifice.
Wicked authority seeks to make the self more important. It controls others, it oppresses others, it ignores the needs and wants of others, it rejects opportunities to serve others, it neglects to empower others to use their own God-given authority.
Whenever we intercede for others and pray for help, we can rely on our Savior's authority, but we must not suppose that he's going to do anything other than what is most loving for everyone. This usually means no quick fix, but as we use the time to grow stronger in our ability to love others unconditionally and sacrificially, we get lots of opportunities to learn how to overcome evil with love. In this way, Jesus passes his authority on to us.
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