His power over all

This Sunday’s Gospel reading from Mark 1:21–28 offers us a powerful message of hope and liberation that resonates profoundly even today. It recounts Jesus’ teaching with unprecedented authority in the Capernaum synagogue, astonishing all who heard Him.

Suddenly, a man with an unclean spirit cries out, recognising Jesus as the Holy One of God. With a simple rebuke, Jesus casts the evil spirit out, freeing the man from its grasp.

This episode underscores for us Jesus’ supreme power over the forces of darkness and evil—the power of God’s light breaking through. Just as Jesus freed this man, so too does He continue freeing us from sin, oppression, and despair in our lives.

In his letter Verbum Domini, Pope Benedict XVI stresses how God’s Word sheds light on the human journey, stirring our conscience to look deeper at how we live.

Jesus calls us to confront evil courageously, and through our actions, bear witness to the Gospel—the message forever fresh and renewing. The proclamation of the Word of God brings freedom and invites us to acknowledge the Creator by contemplating His creation.

Today’s world often resists this message; secularism and eroded faith present formidable challenges, as Pope John Paul II acknowledged in his visit to the Parish of St Andrew Avellino in Rome in 1997. He also highlighted the challenge of the modern world’s resistance to the idea of God becoming man.

The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church also emphasises the importance of proclaiming the Gospel in every age. It quotes St Paul’s exhortation to Timothy to preach the Word, to be urgent in season and out of season, and to fulfil the ministry of an evangelist.

This emphasis on proclaiming the Gospel is rooted in the Church’s understanding that the Gospel brings salvation and genuine freedom to temporal realities.

The Church sees the proclamation of the Gospel as essential for revealing man to himself and interpreting social realities and it is through the proclamation of the Gospel that the Church bears witness to the dignity and vocation of every person, teaching the demands of justice and peace in conformity with divine wisdom.

The Church’s social doctrine is itself a valid instrument of evangelisation, born from the meeting of the Gospel message and social life.

The Gospel of Matthew teaches us that whatever we do or do not do to the least of our brethren, we do or do not do to Christ Himself. This challenges us to engage in the world, committing ourselves to justice, reconciliation, and peace.

Jesus has power over all evil and darkness. In a world that often feels overwhelmed by darkness, we can find hope in the fact that Jesus has already conquered sin and death.

Empowered by the Spirit, we must continue living the Gospel radically. For in a darkened world gripped by anxiety and injustice, we carry within us the flame of Christian hope, the story that evil and death themselves will not prevail.