Gospel of the Day

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Mark 5:1–20

At that time, Jesus and his disciples came to the other side of the sea, to the region of the Gerasenes.
As soon as he stepped out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit came out from the tombs to meet him. He lived among the tombs, and no one could restrain him, not even with chains. Many times he had been bound with shackles and chains, but he tore the chains apart and broke the shackles in pieces, and no one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day he would cry out among the tombs and in the mountains and bruise himself with stones.

When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and knelt before him, crying out in a loud voice:
‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name, do not torment me!’
For Jesus had been saying to him, ‘Come out of this man, unclean spirit!’

Then Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?’
He replied, ‘My name is Legion, for we are many.’
And he begged Jesus repeatedly not to send them out of the region.

Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The unclean spirits begged him, ‘Send us into the pigs, that we may enter them.’
Jesus granted their request. Then the unclean spirits came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd—about two thousand in number—rushed down the steep bank into the sea and were drowned.

The herdsmen fled and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people came to see what had happened. They approached Jesus and saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. Those who had witnessed the event described what had happened to the demoniac and to the pigs. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.

As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed begged to go with him. But Jesus did not permit him and said,
‘Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.’

So the man went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and all the people were amazed.

Not Just the Superficial

At first, the Gerasenes focused only on the “exterior” consequences of Jesus’ actions—the swineherds lost two thousand pigs, which led to Jesus being asked to leave their land.

Then Jesus presented them with a greater miracle, sending the man who had been freed from the legion of unclean spirits to testify about the true work of God and the arrival of His Kingdom among them.

The Gerasenes, seeing the once-possessed man—who had been under demonic control for so long—finally believed.

When we experience the Lord in our lives, let us not remain on the surface. Instead, let us delve deeper and see the Gospel reflected in our own experiences. In doing so, we may come to believe and even be sent to proclaim it.

Applying It to Married Life

Lorena: Today, Marino, I had a dream in which Jesus and I were being persecuted, and we hid together so that we would not be seen.
Marino: Wow! What a strange dream. Have you prayed about it to see if God was trying to send you a message, Lorena?
Lorena: No, but you’re right—I should pray about it.

(A few days later)
Lorena: Now I understand what the Lord was telling me through the dream and what He wants from me.
Marino: And what is that?
Lorena: That when I am pursued by temptations, He wants me to take refuge in the love of His Heart. And that same love of His is what unites you and me, Marino.
Marino: I love your dreams…

Mother,

The Lord is always at work in our lives. May we see His providential hand in everything and everyone. Praise be to God!