Endemoniados

 

Evangelio

Mc 5, 1-20

En aquel tiempo, después de atravesar el lago de Genesaret, Jesús y sus discípulos llegaron a la otra orilla, a la región de los gerasenos. Apenas desembarcó Jesús, vino corriendo desde el cementerio un hombre poseído por un espíritu inmundo, que vivía en los sepulcros. Ya ni con cadenas podían sujetarlo; a veces habían intentado sujetarlo con argollas y cadenas, pero él rompía las cadenas y destrozaba las argollas; nadie tenía fuerzas para dominarlo. Se pasaba días y noches en los sepulcros o en el monte, gritando y golpeándose con piedras. 

Cuando aquel hombre vio de lejos a Jesús, se echó a correr, vino a postrarse ante él y gritó a voz en cuello: “¿Qué quieres tú conmigo, Jesús, Hijo de Dios altísimo? Te ruego por Dios que no me atormentes”. 

Dijo esto porque Jesús le había mandado al espíritu inmundo que saliera de aquel hombre. Entonces le preguntó Jesús: “¿Cómo te llamas?” Le respondió: “Me llamo Legión, porque somos muchos”. Y le rogaba con insistencia que no los expulsara de aquella comarca. 

Había allí una gran piara de cerdos, que andaban comiendo en la falda del monte. Los espíritus le rogaban a Jesús: “Déjanos salir de aquí para meternos en esos cerdos”. Y él se lo permitió. Los espíritus inmundos salieron del hombre y se metieron en los cerdos; y todos los cerdos, unos dos mil, se precipitaron por el acantilado hacia el lago y se ahogaron. 

Los que cuidaban los cerdos salieron huyendo y contaron lo sucedido, en el pueblo y en el campo. La gente fue a ver lo que había pasado. Se acercaron a Jesús y vieron al antes endemoniado, ahora en su sano juicio, sentado y vestido. Entonces tuvieron miedo. Y los que habían visto todo, les contaron lo que le había ocurrido al endemoniado y lo de los cerdos. Ellos comenzaron a rogarle a Jesús que se marchara de su comarca. 

Mientras Jesús se embarcaba, el endemoniado le suplicaba que lo admitiera en su compañía, pero él no se lo permitió y le dijo: “Vete a tu casa a vivir con tu familia y cuéntales lo misericordioso que ha sido el Señor contigo”. Y aquel hombre se alejó de ahí y se puso a proclamar por la región de Decápolis lo que Jesús había hecho por él. Y todos los que lo oían se admiraban. 

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Gospel

Mk 5:1-20

Jesus and his disciples came to the other side of the sea,
to the territory of the Gerasenes.
When he got out of the boat,
at once a man from the tombs who had an unclean spirit met him.
The man had been dwelling among the tombs,
and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain.
In fact, he had frequently been bound with shackles and chains,
but the chains had been pulled apart by him and the shackles smashed,
and no one was strong enough to subdue him.
Night and day among the tombs and on the hillsides
he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones.
Catching sight of Jesus from a distance,
he ran up and prostrated himself before him,
crying out in a loud voice,
“What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?
I adjure you by God, do not torment me!”
(He had been saying to him, “Unclean spirit, come out of the man!”)
He asked him, “What is your name?”

He  replied, “Legion is my name.  There are many of us.”
And he pleaded earnestly with him
not to drive them away from that territory.

Now a large herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside.
And they pleaded with him,
“Send us into the swine.  Let us enter them.”
And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine.
The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea,
where they were drowned.
The swineherds ran away and reported the incident in the town
and throughout the countryside.
And people came out to see what had happened.
As they approached Jesus,
they caught sight of the man who had been possessed by Legion,
sitting there clothed and in his right mind.
And they were seized with fear.
Those who witnessed the incident explained to them what had happened
to the possessed man and to the swine.
Then they began to beg him to leave their district.
As he was getting into the boat,
the man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with him.
But Jesus would not permit him but told him instead,
“Go home to your family and announce to them 
all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.”
Then the man went off and began to proclaim in the Decapolis
what Jesus had done for him; and all were amazed.
 

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Meditacion:

El Evangelio de hoy nos sorprende y hasta da un poco de temor.

Jesus encuentra un endemoniado. Nadie habia podido con El, no se sujetaba ni con cadenas y vivia exiliado de la vida comunitaria en el cementerio, alejado de todo el pueblo.

Nos podemos imaginar alguien asi, violento, solitario, alguien que en nuestros dias sin duda estaria en un manicomio, fuertemente sedado y bajo control.

Este hombre, apenas divisa a Jesus, vino a implorarle que se aleje de El, no queria saber nada de Jesus y su curacion.

Jesus (en un acto que no volvera a hacer) le pregunta por su nombre y lo manda a salir de ese hombre, pasando todos estos demonios a un monton de cerdos que estaban cerca.

Cuantas veces nosotros mismos somos como este endemoniado que no queremos saber nada de Jesus porque tenemos miedo de perder nuestros bienes materiales!

Muchas veces no queremos donar algo de dinero o tiempo para nuestras parroquias alegando que estamos muy ocupados o que no tenemos cuando es Dios el que nos da todo!

Preferimos dejar de lado a Dios, no asomarnos a nuestra propia salvacion por los cambios que causara en nuestra vida!

Y cuando finalmente nos dejamos llenar de ese amor maravilloso de Dios nos encontramos con algo mucho mas importante y mas duradero que los bienes materiales.

Aceptar el amor de Dios es encontrar el mas preciado de los bienes.

Y ocurre lo que ocurrio al final de este Evangelio, sales a proclamar la sencilla alegria del amor de Dios, que se viste de muchos colores, que viene en muchas formas distinta, que es posible encontrar en cada uno de nuestros hermanos.

Hoy es lunes, comienzo de la cuarta semana de tiempo ordinario; en poquito mas, ya comenzaremos la curesma.

Salgamos hoy a aceptar el amor de Dios en cada detalle. Amen

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Today's Gospel surprises us and is even a little scary.

Jesus meets a demoniac. No one had been able to beat him, he was not even attached to chains and he lived in exile from community life in the cemetery, away from all the people.

We can imagine someone like that, violent, lonely, someone who in our days would undoubtedly be in a madhouse, heavily sedated and under control.

This man, barely seeing Jesus, came to implore him to get away from Him, he did not want to know anything about Jesus and his healing.

Jesus (in an act that he will not do again) asks him for his name and sends him out of that man, passing all these demons to a pile of pigs that were nearby.

How many times are we ourselves like this demoniac that we don't want to know anything about Jesus because we are afraid of losing our material goods!

Many times we do not want to donate some money or time for our parishes claiming that we are too busy or that we do not have when it is God who gives us everything!

We prefer to put God aside, not look to our own salvation for the changes it will cause in our life!

And when we finally let ourselves be filled with that wonderful love of God, we find something much more important and more lasting than material goods.

To accept the love of God is to find the most precious of goods.

And what happened at the end of this Gospel happens, you go out to proclaim the simple joy of God's love, which is dressed in many colors, which comes in many different forms, which can be found in each of our brothers.

Today is Monday, the beginning of the fourth week in ordinary time; in a little bit more, we will begin the curesma.

Let's go out today to accept God's love in every detail. Amen