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Vigils Reading
February 17
THE BEGINNING OF
CHRIST’S PUBLIC MINISTRY
From “The Lord” by Fr Romano Guardini
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What a privilege it must have been to see the Lord at the beginning of his
public ministry as he carried holiness into the crowds. How clearly he spoke to
the souls of men! Pressed forward by the elan of the Spirit, he reached out to
people with both hands. The Holy Spirit swept the kingdom of God forward and
the human spirit was shaken to its foundations. The accounts of these first
events are vibrant with spiritual power. Thus Saint Mark: And they were
astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one having authority,
and not as the scribes. They were astonished, literally shaken out of themselves.
Such was the divine power that poured from his words. Jesus’ sentences were
not merely correct as were those of the scribes, they were the words of one
having authority. His speech stirred, it tore the spirit from its security, the heart
from its rest; it commanded and created. It was impossible to hear and ignore.
Saint Mark’s account continues with a description of the casting out of an
unclean spirit. Obviously we have here a case of “possession.” The Lord’s
acceptance of the inevitable struggle with satanic powers belongs to the kernel
of his messianic consciousness. He knows that he has been sent not only to bear
witness to the truth, to establish contact between God and man, but also to
break the power of those forces which oppose the divine will. He is to penetrate
Satan’s artificial darkness with the ray of God’s truth, to dispel the cramp of
egoism and the brittleness of hate with God’s love, to conquer evil’s
destructiveness with God’s constructive strength. The murkiness and confusion
which Satan creates in people’s groping hearts are to be clarified by the holy
purity of the Most High. Thus Jesus stands squarely against the powers of
darkness; he strives to enter into the ensnared human souls – to bring light to
their consciences, quicken their hearts, and liberate their powers for good.