The Gospel of Saint Matthew presents a fairly graphic account of the real effects of demons around us. It would be a false interpretation of this Gospel to consider Jesus’ action, or the story itself, as purely symbolic. Indeed, if demons were merely myth, Jesus would have had the moral obligation to stand clearly against such ideas. Instead, Jesus gives us a teaching on what the demons are capable of doing and what they are permitted to do. Swine represent what is filthy in the animal world. Demons seek out what is filthy, and so if they are obliged to leave one place, they seek out another place of filth. Spiritually, filth corresponds to vice, and vice is the place where the evil spirits like to take up residence. These two men, possessed of demons, live in the place of death: the tombs. Vice, like virtue, is a stable disposition – in other words, it is habitual and more difficult to change. The demons like to re-enforce and strengthen our vices so that we may be convinced they are impossible to overcome after we have made valiant attempts. Jesus shows us that it is possible to overcome these spirits by simply casting them out. Jesus even teaches us to cast out the demons in His name.
Tuesday of the Twelfth Week in Ordinary Time
St. Augustine gives us a very strange principle to understand the phrase of Jesus about not casting our pearl before swine. “We must be careful not to reveal anything to one who cannot bear it, for it is better that one make a search for what is concealed than assail or despise what is revealed.” How are we to understand this in the context of Evangelization. Jesus gives us the image of the Word of God that is almost and seemingly carelessly scattered everywhere: good soil, rocky soil, the road, etc. He contrasts this image with the pearl: something valuable that ought not be given away easily. When we are sent to bring the good news to people, it is the Word of God itself that we should sow liberally. We ought not distribute as liberally how the Word has become a treasure in our hearts personally. If we reveal to others how suffering and toil with the Word have caused it to become the treasure of our hearts, they may reject it and – because it exposes our vulnerability – injure us in the process. The Word of God is different, it is God Himself who speaks and if we communicate that Word to others, He Himself bears the brunt of any insult or rejection. Pearls are reserved for those who already believe but struggle and find it difficult.