1st Week in Ordinary Time (II) : Tuesday 13th January 2026

Exorcism is always a fascinating topic of discussion. With so many representations of it in pop culture, one thing is clear – there are many who believe in the existence of evil and that evil can cause harm anytime they want. Scripture tells us otherwise. In the opening scenes of the Book of Job, we see Satan asking permission from God to test Job. Without God’s permission, the devil cannot harm us. In the Gospel today, we see the evil spirits fearing the authority of Jesus, the Son of God.

The key word here is authority. This is why the people of Jesus’ time were astonished by Him – because His teaching was something new and authoritative. This tells us that people like the Scribes and Pharisees only teach and act with human authority and not divine authority.

It is only with God’s authority that we can do many things. This is why we should never attempt to do anything on our own because it may backfire on us. We should never dabble in areas or things that are beyond our ability. It is a hard lesson to learn and sometimes, only when it is too late, that we come to our senses.

PRAYER:  Let us pray for the gift of discernment to do what is right in our daily lives.