Have you come to destroy us?

Interestingly, part of me can empathize with the demon in today’s Gospel who asks of Jesus “have you come to destroy us?” There’s a small, fear-based part of me that has felt the same way. When I felt the first tug towards a call to religious life, at least part of my reaction involved this voice of despair. “Why me? Why this now? Do you want to ruin everything I’ve done?”

I’ve come to understand this loud and reactionary voice is always tied to some temporary aspect of my identity to which I am attached; to my false self. Through prayerful discernment I’ve come to realize this voice, though often loudest, is motivated by fear. In a way, the urgency of the voice makes sense. Jesus has come to destroy it and its false authority, as part of my personal growth and liberation.

 —Br. Mark Mackey, SJ, is a Jesuit Brother of the Midwest Province in First Studies at Loyola University Chicago.

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