September 1, 2026
Tuesday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time
Gospel: Matthew 14:1–12
Today is Tuesday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time. The passage taken from the holy Gospel according to Saint Luke presents to us the event of Jesus driving out an unclean spirit in the synagogue at Capernaum. I wish to take this opportunity to offer some reflections.
First, let us come to know the city of Capernaum. What sort of city was Capernaum? It was a city in Galilee, situated by the Sea of Galilee. Capernaum was also called the city of ease and comfort, because the Jews living there were accustomed to living according to a pagan worldview. This was evidently a place that readily received the new world proclaimed by Jesus. And yet, the people of this city were astonished at His words, because Jesus did not speak of the Kingdom of God in the manner of the Pharisees, the scribes, the chief priests, and the elders of the people. He did not proclaim, as they did, a God who deals harshly with others. The Kingdom of God that He proclaimed is a world filled with righteousness and compassion. The God of whom He spoke is not a God who loves only those who offer Him sacrifice and withholds His grace from those who do not; rather, He is a God full of mercy. He loves not only those who obey His holy will, but also those who refuse to do His will.
Next, Luke tells us that in the synagogue of that place there was a man possessed by an unclean spirit (cf. Luke 4:33–35). In this man possessed by an unclean spirit, we can see our own likeness. When we left our mother’s womb and came into this world, we were already held captive by the unclean spirit, for we were then stained by original sin. Sin makes us unfree; it plunges us into suffering and stirs up within us a resistance against God. And yet Jesus does not distance Himself from us because we are stained by original sin. Rather, in the temple and at every moment of our lives, He stands ever ready to save us and to free us from the bonds of the unclean spirit.
Today, Jesus rebukes the devil with the authority of the Son of God and with words charged with power. In doing so, He not only manifests His identity as the Son of God, but also tells us in a profound way: He condemns all that destroys the human person, whom He has made in His own image and likeness, so that we may no longer live under the heavy weight of sin and death, but may live within His holy love — for He loves us, and for our sake He gave up His very life.
God of might, giver of every good gift, put into our hearts the love of your name, so that, by deepening our sense of reverence, you may nurture in us what is good and, by your watchful care, keep safe what you have nurtured. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever
©Totus Tuus 2026
Cum Approbatione Ecclesiastica
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