But you would not! Dominus Flevit. A rant on exorcism: the goodness and kindness of Jesus!

The neighbor’s chickens’ eggs hatched. These are only a day old:

Actually, these are not from the eggs of his fighting chickens (inherited from another neighbor), but from calmer laying hens. Yet, these hens all of a sudden have become terribly motherly and protective and loving. Even the biggest bully, who has not hesitated to attack her fellows hens, treats these littlies with the greatest respect.

But not all of us would be like these little chicks, taking refuge under the wings of the hens. Judas Iscariot rejected the security of being with the Lord, and opted for the security of the world, only to kill himself. Yikes! No one should ever, ever kill themselves. The words of the Lord, however, come to mind:

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how many times I yearned to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were unwilling!” (NAB Luke 13,34 and see Matthew 23,37).

He spoke these words from this perspective across from the Temple Mount, from what is now the chapel Dominus Flevit: The Lord Wept. On the far side of the Temple Mount one finds Calvary and the Holy Sepulcher. Jesus would soon spread out His arms on the Cross to embrace all fallen mankind, that is, the many. Just to the lower left of this picture and then going up around the Temple Mount, one finds Gehenna, hell, where Judas hung himself.

Judas was possessed by Satan at the Last Supper, which he left, going out into the dark, where he stayed. Some hours later, when Judas showed up in the Garden of Gethsemane to betray Jesus, it is Jesus who called this betrayer friend, a final invitation to Judas to repent.

No matter what you do for some people, they just do not want to be saved. They want to hide in their unreality. They want to lash out, to hurt. All very sad.

Yet, there is hope with prayer. There is hope for the conversion of those who have turned from the Lord and the security of eternal life which He provides, a spiritual security in Him though we also will be crucified. Although those who betray our Lord, turning instead to the security of the world, have done great wrong, there is hope for their conversion. Just as Judas betrayed Jesus, Peter denied Jesus. But Peter repented. Peter wept bitterly. But Peter was to find himself in the good graces of our Lord once again, so much so, that Peter would later be given the privilege of suffering martyrdom for Jesus’ sake, having the security of serving Jesus from his own, this time upsidedown cross. That gives us all great hope, does it not?

In whatever way we have betrayed or denied the Lord in our lives — in whatever way — our Lord is still willing to take us to Himself much like a mother hen protects her chicks. The Lord provides us the grace to be with Him, but we have to decide in that grace to be with Him. We must cooperate in His grace. Not cooperating is a suicide in which, even if one doesn’t take one’s own life as did Judas, one still finds oneself as dead as dead can be, lost to the “security” of the veil of darkness, not realizing that the Lord will shine the light of His life on that darkness, revealing all attempts to hide from reality. One cannot run from the Lord, not even in death. Jesus has been there, done that. He owns it. And He’s risen from the dead.

The reality is that Jesus loves us and will continue to love us whatever it is we do to try to hurt Him. He is faithful even if we are unfaithful. If any one of us is lost to unreality, hopefully the final experience will be not that of Judas, but of Peter.

But what if one is possessed by Satan, like Judas? “The devil made me do it! Right?” The devil never has control of one’s will, ever. One never has to do the wrong thing. If one is totally possessed so that Satan has control of your actions (but not your will), then there’s nothing to be forgiven, right? What one should do is get the help from the Church that one needs. Then, freed from such a burden, one will be free to undo the damage Satan did while utilizing oneself, right? Right!

Much better to be under the arms of the Cross of our Lord, who protects us much like a hen protects her little ones. Jesus is very good and very kind. Always.