+ RWS 479 January 29, 2012
4th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Gospel: Mark 1: 21-28
23 In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit; 24 he cried out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are—the Holy One of God!"
Unclean spirits at work
By Bishop Precioso D. Cantillas, SDB, DD
The fearful complaint of the presence of Jesus by the man with an unclean spirit in the gospel incident cited above reminds me of a very common and pervasive situation in the world today and even at the work place and among workers—the lack of awareness of God’s presence and His loving will to save everyone, or, the apparent dominance of temporal and material things over those that are spiritual. There is the so-called “tyranny of relativism” where things are considered not on absolute truths but on what suits personal and/or individual preferences.
Those who consider the workers more like tools and machineries for the production of goods, and who subsequently prefer greater profits than the greater welfare of the workers and their dependents—are like the man with an unclean spirit who fights against what Jesus came to earth for, which is to save mankind from all kinds of bondage, both in body and in spirit. Likewise, the workers who do not see beyond their work and the material benefits thereof and do not make extra effort to inform and form themselves about the reality of God and their dependence on Him, are “silently”, and perhaps, unconsciously objecting to God’s active concern on His creatures and on the world which He has created. Extraordinary sighting of demonic presence at the work place or scary manifestations of the evil spirits’ possession of workers may not be reported, but, there are certainly a lot of situations and things which point to the presence of the evil spirit in the world of work.
I believe that every worker should also beware of the presence of evil in the workplace and the various faces or forms it manifests. Recognizing one’s sins, mistakes and wrongdoings—one’s alliance with evil—is the first step to fearing the Lord and eventually crying for His mercy and forgiveness, thus, perfecting not only one’s work, but also one’s life.
Evil spirits in the workplace
By Teresa R. Tunay, OCDS
Some years back I witnessed an exorcism at a construction site—a big hotel near Roxas Boulevard. The owners of the building asked for it as they believed evil spirits were lurking, victimizing workers in a series of accidents, the worst of which was when a worker walked into a floorless elevator and naturally plunged to a grim death. The exorcism rite was nothing like we see in the movies involving an exorcist battling the devil possessing a person. This was an interreligious thing where “prayer warriors” holed out in a glass walled room on the ground floor prayed the rosary the whole night, while a select group of exorcists conducted a kabbala-based ritual several storeys up.
There to observe and write about the ritual, I was allowed to see the preparation, and was given enough information about what was to happen, but for my own protection I was told to stay with the prayer warriors during the ritual itself. (By the way, the prayer warriors’ room was encircled in salt, a substance believed to shield one against evil spirits, and we inside that room were warned not to look outside the glass walls lest we see someone we know but who’s actually an evil spirit in disguise wanting to come in). So, the exorcists had Latin prayers written inside a huge circle of salt where the exorcists were to sit during the ritual. While kabbala is Jewish, the exorcists used some Catholic saints’ images, the crucifix, holy water, and lots of candles burning.
My point in telling you about this is: we need not wait for workers to die mysterious deaths in order to believe that there are evil spirits in the workplace. Just as benevolent spirits are everywhere, so are malignant ones. We could even be possessed by an unclean spirit, sad to say, without knowing, or admitting, that we are. As long as we refuse to know ourselves to recognize that we could be enslaved by evil spirits, we will be cooperating with them in corrupting the workplace. The spirit of pride, of anger, of lust, of sloth, of envy, et al—are they not present in us? How are we freed from them? As the gospel says—Jesus commands the unclean spirits and they obey Him! Take a hint.
