Monday 31 January 2022
St John Bosco
2 Samuel 15:13-14, 30, 16:5-13. Lord, rise up and save me – Psalm 3:2-8. Mark 5:1-20.
God calls us to make the world a more homely place
It is not easy to read the story of the man called Legion in today’s Gospel. As we do so, we can bring to mind the people we know who experience mental illness of one kind or another. Like Legion, they often suffer loneliness. People can be afraid of them. Like Legion, they long for connection and love, just like the rest of us. At the end of the story, Legion is clothed, a sign of re-joining his community. Nakedness is a sign of isolation, perhaps even of being treated like a wild animal. This man is more complex than we may think. He has a striking self-awareness, evident when he explains the reason for his name: ‘because there are many of us.’ Jesus has responded to his heartfelt longings, not to his appearance. He tells a homeless man to ‘go home to your people.’ God calls us to make the whole world a more homely place.
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