The multitude of sin.

We witness that many people struggle to live a worthy and profoundly religious life even today. We see that more than in the past, many are taking the time to attend Mass more regularly on weekdays, and they are also taking the Eucharist with them. On the other hand, a growing number of those publicly ridicule everything to do with God and consider themselves clever and wise even though they do not understand it.

They are the ones who would smile even today when listening to the Gospel. The Gospel tells of a man who is healed of an unclean spirit. Surprising are the words of the unclean spirit who says: “My name is Regiment, for we are many.” (Mk 5:9).

The events that follow only confirm these words of the devil. Jesus allowed them to enter the pigs grazing nearby, and they collapsed into the sea. There were about two thousand of them. What this passage is trying to tell us is this: The power of evil is great, but Jesus has an even greater ability to destroy evil because he is the Son of God. We see this in other places when he says to the woman, “Great is your sins, but go and sin no more.” (Jn. 8:11). She was forgiven much because she loved them much. This passage is also meant to alert us to the multitude of sins.

Proverbs says that sin makes sin worse. We are often persuaded that if one is not careful, one sin follows another as if a sack of them had been torn open. It is necessary for us, then, when an offense against God occurs, to get our relationship with Him in order as soon as possible and not to put things off until later or to make light of things.

One’s conscience may become dulled, or one may fall into an undesirable habit, which will not add to one’s joy, quite the contrary. We must take seriously not only the seriousness of sin but also its number, for this is what the doctrine of the Sacrament of Reconciliation also leads us to do, to say at the sacrament not only the sin, especially all grave sins, but also the number of them. We must realize the impact that one grave sin has on our salvation, and all the more so must we recognize the multitude of serious evils.

This is what the gospel is meant to bring to our attention. The man who typifies the condition of every man after sin is possessed by a multitude of devils, tempters. Mark says of this man that he ran opposite Jesus out of the tomb because he was living in these unworthy places, and even the chains did not help him, which means that he has lost all self-control, that he can no longer command himself, he is all in the hands of the tempter. But there will come times when even such an unfortunate man will realize his pitiful condition. We see this in his conversation with Jesus, to whom he says: “I adjure you by God, do not torment me!” (Mk 5:7).

One can encounter Jesus in many ways: whether it is an encounter with a person who lives in sanctifying grace or whether one comes into contact with a religious object and experiences pain, outright agony, at the thought of God. He sees what he has lost and what an unhappy state he has fallen into. But he has no strength to go back.

But we are to prevent this condition:
– by frequent holy confession
– by examining conscience
– by abandoning the near occasion of sin
– but we also must pray for hardened and unrepentant sinners. They can no longer help themselves.

Let us remember that our prayer is never in vain. Even if the remedy is not immediately visible, let us not be discouraged. In such a case, the words of the Lord Jesus are especially true: “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent have taken possession of it.” (Mt 11:12).

Let us, therefore, conquer not only for ourselves but also for our brothers and sisters who need the grace of forgiveness, tears of repentance, and the power of improvement. We will then rejoice like the healed man of today’s Gospel. He wanted to follow Jesus, but Jesus gave him other advice: “Go home to your own and tell them how great things the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.” (Mk 5:19).

Every return to Jesus should only make us glad. We should not behave as the owners of the pigs behaved. They saw only their material decline, and so they begged Jesus to depart from them. They fear for their other possessions…, perhaps. Let this story lead us to think that even many sins are a great evil.

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