Deliverance from Evil

When the Lord taught his followers to pray, he proposed a prayer with seven petitions. His prayer begins with an address to God the Father, teaching us to cry out to him as "Our Father." This sets up the whole structure of each petition that follows. We have a right to ask what Christ teaches us to ask because we share in his very sonship through the power of the Holy Spirit. It is, therefore, as sons and daughters in the Son that we ask our Father to "deliver us from evil."

We need to be delivered from evil because we are meant for what is good. In the beginning, we were placed in a well-ordered garden. Eden represented the world of all that good, true and sacred about humanity. This world was ordered toward God even to the extent that humanity walked with the Holy Trinity in tender communion. This tender communion between God and man, man and woman was a place where the things of the heart are protected and treasured: beautiful stories, shared smiles and commingled tears. Such a world is what we owe our children. All that is good, noble and true about any religion is the effort to return to this sacred place where things are they way they should be. The Lord Jesus Christ taught us to pray because He wanted to re-establish humanity in these blessings that the Father yearned for us to know.

Yet, left to ourselves, we do not know such peace. Instead, we live in a world subject to sin and death, where cruelty replaces the tenderness that humanity needs to thrive. There is no room for kindness or mercy when there is fear of death. And on every level, social, familial, psychological, things are not the way they ought to be. Not only is the human heart denied what it is owed, the heart is constantly tread upon, nudged away from what is truly meaningful, crushed under the weight of those who would appropriate it to satisfy their own fear driven whims and needs. Evil is not a mystery that goes away if it is ignored. Instead, it is a disorder in the world that gets worse the more it goes unaddressed.

Evil, however, did not get the first word about humanity nor does it get last word - for the Word was made flesh. When John the Baptist baptized Christ, the Prophet recognized the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. When the Voice calling out in the desert saw the Holy Spirit descend, he knew that deliverance from evil was before him. His mission started where Elijah was caught up in the fiery chariots of Israel. He began by preparing for the One who was yet to come. His mission would end in testimony, in his very witness to what his own eyes beheld when he beheld the eyes of the Son of God.

Jesus went down into the muddy flow of the Jordan to signify his journey into chaotic ambiguity of the heart with the power of the Holy Spirit. He immerses himself in each one's personal misery, in the heartache that breaks families, in the grave structures of sin that undermine a whole community. He is the light that shines in the darkness and there is no darkness that can hold him back. Into every level of irrationality that threatens human thriving, He comes to reveal the saving truth and to open up a new pathway of hope. He is there, in the midst of it all, to deliver from evil all who would follow Him.

In the midst of this dying world, the Son of the Father leads to new life to all who would believe in Him. Yes, this means a path of repentance, renouncing every kind of irrational spirit, and disavowing every false judgment. This is about the courage to face the truth and the confidence that He will help us face it together. Following Him involves choosing the pathway of love even when it costs. It involves choosing to see the good and believing in the victory of good over evil, even when all seems lost. It involves lifting up one's heart and doing what is right and just. This following of the Lamb of God means completely identifying ourselves with Him, and having the courage to re-interpret our lives in His life, the eternal life of the Only Begotten Son.

Such identification is impossible without his mystical body holding us together. It is impossible if we do not stand under the cross with His Mother to hear the Son of Man say to her, "Behold, your son." It is impossible if we do not drink his cup or eat his flesh. But for those who would partake of this Living Bread and this saving cup, there is healing and life, not only for oneself, but for the whole world.