Ukrainian Orthodoxy		Orthodoxie ukrainienne

Driving Out the Unclean Spirit!

Very Reverend Ihor Kutash kutash@unicorne.org

(Fourth Sunday of Lent - Commemoration of St. John of the Ladder)

"I love you. I love you." These were the words with which a young man ended his suicide note in Seattle, Washington in April of 1994. Kurt Cobain, leader of the popular group Nirvana, thus gave up his struggle with various addictions at the age of 27. Were his words meant for his wife, Courtney, also a singer and also struggling with addiction, or for their daughter, Frances, of whom they had just won custody? Perhaps they were meant for both. They show that there was much more to this young man than his addictions and his passions. His death was a real tragedy - all the more tragic in that there are many young people for whom he was a role model. How would they respond to the example he set in dealing with the problems of existence? And how many other young people are there like him, caught in the grip of destructive forces beyond their control?

Today's Gospel (Mark 9:17-31) tells of a young man who was in the power of an unclean spirit, which strove with all its might to destroy him. Jesus cast it out and told His disciples: "This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer". It appears that there are many unclean spirits out in the world. We hear of so many people giving way to various kinds of negative influences and lifestyles. Sometimes it seems as though they are unaware of the consequences of their choices and actions - or else they do not seem to care. They may be unaware that there is an alternative to this kind of defeated life.

This may not be so strange to us: we, too, may feel that we are powerless to deal with passions and obsessions in our own lives. We can see what ought to be done, but we seem to be unable to do it. It is as though some foreign power were acting through us -we do and say things that we do not want or like to say. Is it an unclean spirit that holds us? Or someone that we love?

Jesus says that the remedy for this is prayer: His prayer, the prayer of the Saints, and our own prayers. What a privilege it is to know that God hears our prayers! How good to know that we can always turn to Him and tell Him all of our problems and temptations and find a sympathetic Listener who can help! Yet sometimes we forget Him, or try to forget Him so that we can do the things that we find ourselves driven to do. But He never forgets us. He longs to save us and make us safe in His love. This is why He created us and the universe. Each time we fall away we can return to Him over and over again. We can always pray, and to our prayer we can add fasting. We can do this for ourselves and for others. Those of us who are moved by the death of Kurt Cobain and others like him - can pray for him and for them. Above all, let us be sure that we ourselves have turned to God. As we do this, we find the joy and peace promised by God to all who love Him.

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