Monday 30 January 2023

Today is Monday the 30th of January, in the 4th week of Ordinary time.

IAmSon sings, ‘Always With Me’, a song for anxiety. ‘You are always with me’. As you begin praying today, can you let these words take root in you?


I can make through the day
When you're with me on the way
In my heart and mind you'll stay
I can make it through the night
When I'm clinging to your light
You will make the darkness bright
For you are always, always with me
For you are always, always with me
In the calm and in the storm
When it seems I'm all alone
It's your hand I find to hold
In each hour of unrest
When it seems I've nothing left
You speak peace in every breath
For you are always, always with me
For you are always, always with me
In the morning, in the evening
When I'm waking, when I'm sleeping
When I'm arriving, when I'm leaving
You will have me in your keeping
Even from my mother’s womb
Never hidden from your view
I was always known to you
When I fade away in death
You will catch my final breath
You will take me to my rest
For you are always, always with me
For you are always, always with me

Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Mark.


Mark 5:1-20

They came to the other side of the lake, to the country of the Gerasenes. And when he had stepped out of the boat, immediately a man out of the tombs with an unclean spirit met him. He lived among the tombs; and no one could restrain him anymore, even with a chain; for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always howling and bruising himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him; and he shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.’ For he had said to him, ‘Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!’ Then Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He replied, ‘My name is Legion; for we are many.’ He begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now there on the hillside a great herd of swine was feeding; and the unclean spirits begged him, ‘Send us into the swine; let us enter them.’ So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the lake, and were drowned in the lake.

The swineherds ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came to see what it was that had happened. They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion; and they were afraid. Those who had seen what had happened to the demoniac and to the swine reported it. Then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighbourhood. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him. But Jesus refused, and said to him, ‘Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy he has shown you.’ And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.

Today, we will enter imaginatively into this scene. Begin by laying the scene out before you in your mind…

A man battered and bruised physically, mentally, and spiritually. Living among the tombs. A place for the dead. How do you picture the place? What can you see as you look around you?


Can you picture the man? Look closely… what is his skin like? His hair, nails, the cloth that he might be wearing? His speech, the way he moves? What is your reaction to him?


Hear Jesus ask, “what is your name?” Can you hear the tone of his voice? Could that be a question you put to someone who confronts you in distress?


Consider the conversation with the evil spirits. Somehow this is Jesus’ territory, would you agree? He knows what to do…This is the Son of God. A seemingly overwhelming situation made simple by the clear instructions from Jesus who takes command and makes sublime order out of terrifying chaos… what do you notice as you see this moment in your mind?

Now, let’s consider the transformation in the man, now released. He’s “sitting there, clothed, in his right mind”. Take your time picturing him, sitting there…


Jesus has made the difference. He longs to stay with Jesus but Jesus gives him clear instructions to go home and tell his friends “how much the Lord has done for you.” Which the man does. And the gospel is spread. How do you imagine him telling people the story in his new state?

As you consider these scenes, what do you want to say to this Jesus, the healer, the restorer of order from chaos? Talk with him in these closing moments.


Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.