The Devil seeks division
Friends in the Lord,
In the Gospel today, some of the people said of Jesus: “Its by the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that he drives out demons.” They begin to say that he is in league with Satan, and that this is where he gets the power. But our Lord explains that if it were really Satan who was casting out demons from people and curing them of possession, Well, that would be crazy; Satan does not work against his own kingdom. He doesn’t work against his own kingdom, but the devil does wish to attack God’s kingdom, and he does it by division.
Diabolos, diabolical – these words mean to ‘divide.’ The devil’s game is division. He wishes to stir up rancor and discontent among people; he tries to divide families, pitting one person against another; he wishes to divide husband and wife, stirring up resentment and distrust and argument. Division is his game. When we see politicians trying to pit one race or group against another, stirring up envy, and trying to divide people instead of unifying them: this is diabolical. But it does not end there.
The Devil wishes to divide the interior of the person. When people try to live a double-life there is no interior peace. The boy who pretends to be good, but secretly he is doing bad things – he will be an unhappy child. The person who puts up a good front on the outside, but in reality is not following the Lord, or is involved in sinful things – this person will have no peace. We say that he has no ‘unity of life.’
Unity of life is to live the same way on the outside as on the inside; to do as the Lord wills in all areas of life; it is to be rid of those little ‘compartments’ in the heart which are not touched by the gospel.
To avoid the divisions of the devil, we must seek peace on our inside, and try to bring peace on the outside, to others. The Lord desires that we promote harmony in our families, setting aside our own preferences for the good of peace. Scripture says: ‘If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. (Rom 12:18) St. Paul says, ‘Pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. (Rom 14:19) Division is of the devil, peace is of God. So let us be at peace, on the inside and on the outside.
