The Common Possession

Gospel: Luke 11: 15-26

The great demons that possess us all, particularly in the modern age,  are possessions themselves.  We spend an entire lifetime amassing material possessions.  We fill entire houses and storage facilities with the stiff we have acquired over the years.  We then purchase security systems and guns to protect the stuff we have from others.  We would kill another human being over our Precious Moments collection or the complete set of Star Wars Pizza Hut glasses.  

Our entire modern age is predicated on our possessions.  The modern social contract is predicated on a state designed to protect our stuff from others, to create the Common-wealth and protect it.  Our economic system only works if we consumers fulfill our economic function and buy stuff, consume stuff, and amass ever greater amounts of stuff.  We need not concern ourselves with demonic possession when material possession itself leads us to ruin.

But the person who lives simplicity and holy poverty, detached and holding to few earthly things out of necessity - she is truly free.  She alone is not distracted by these concerns over stuff.  She is not suspicious of others or worried about her stuff being stolen. She is free to contemplate God without distraction, to love others and serve them in true joy and loving kindness.  We can perform our own exorcism by getting rid of our stuff and living simply, living to serve one another.