Possession (Mark 1: 29-39)

The Gospel for today is a nice segue to the Gospel from yesterday (despite the fact that one is from Mark 6 and the other one is from Mark 1). Like yesterday's Gospel, the crowds go to where Jesus was and bring to him all those who were sick.

While listening to the readings at mass yesterday, I was drawn by the Psalms which spoke of the Lord who heals the brokenhearted and the passages in the Gospel which speak of those possessed by demons. While listening to those passages, I remembered Saul and his own episode of "possession" which lasted until he died. Saul's torment began with a song comparing him to David and from there, he started plotting David's death. If Jesus were around during Saul's time, maybe Saul might have been cured of his demon.

There is a passage in the Gospel where Jesus' apostles are not able to heal a man possessed by a demon and Jesus says this kind of possession can only be cured by prayer. I think it is worth our while to bring ourselves (and our friends?) to the Lord and ask that he heal us from all the "demons" that torment us.