We have two very moving readings for today's Mass.
The first reading is David, when his son Absalom was rebelling against him
and was coming with all of Israel to attack his father and to take over the kingship.
And David flees from Jerusalem in pity for the people of Jerusalem.
He didn't want the town to be destroyed by his son.
So he, in his goodness, left Jerusalem.
And on his way, Shimei, one of the relatives of Saul's family,
throws stones at him and curses him and calls him a murderer,
which he was, murdering the husband of Bathsheba.
And David does not allow one of his soldiers to go over and lop his head off.
Instead, he says, no, this is God's will.
He's dead.
He's dead.
He's dead.
He's cursing me because I'm guilty, and perhaps God will have mercy.
So this is my penance, he's basically saying.
This is my penance.
Perhaps God will have mercy on me if I accept my penance and ask for God's mercy.
And we know that God did show mercy, and he was able to be restored to his kingship.
And in the Gospel today,
Jesus goes to the Gerasenes, goes to the territory of the Gerasenes,
especially, we can be sure, especially to flee this man,
to free this man who has been in the shackles of the demons and the devils
for however long a time.
And he's possessed by many demons, a legion of demons,
who cause him to gash himself.
With stones and shriek and shriek and shout.
And he has to spend all his time in the tombs.
And we can see the torture that he's tormented by,
probably because he was a great sinner,
probably because he was a great sinner.
And this is his penance to undergo.
And we can probably see that this is one of the reasons why Jesus did not allow him to follow him,
that he,
because he should, he should not be rewarded for the sinful life right away after God cured him.
So he didn't allow him to come with him after Jesus cured him.
But we see also the mercy and the love of Jesus for this man,
and how he wanted to save him.
And we see the value of the human soul,
that these 2,000 swine, which were,
uh,
destroyed by the demons that Jesus allowed to go into them,
and were rushed down and ruined in the,
in the lake.
Uh,
so this man's soul is worth more than 2,000 pigs.
And it's much more worth,
much more than that too.
As the saints say,
the soul is worth more than all of all of the universe,
the stars and the galaxies,
all this,
uh,
created,
created world inanimate at matter.
Uh,
the soul soul is worth,
more than all of this.
And so we,
we see the value of the soul and how much we should value our soul.
We value the soul of our neighbor,
value the soul of the most despicable man and the poorest.
And those who are,
um,
you know,
in,
in really difficult situations,
we should value everyone.
Those in the,
from the old and to the smallest.
So the value,
the value and the price of the soul,
which was bought,
by the price of the blood of Jesus value and which means charity,
charity,
charity towards everyone,
even the greatest sinner to pray for their,
their salvation because they are so value when the eyes of God,
we who are nothing in ourselves,
but are great in the eyes of God because of God's love for us.
And we see also the value of the,
the danger of Satan and getting close and flirting with sin and flirting with,
uh,
devil,
flirting with things that can take us away from God and become more in the clutches of,
of Satan.
How many was how we must be on guard of his power,
but to realize that he is really powerless when we are,
when we are in the hands of God,
when we are entrusting ourselves to our lady,
while we are humble,
while we are prayerful and while we are staying close to God,
we have nothing to fear from Satan.
If we are doing the right thing,
if we are doing the right things and doing his will,
so let us stay close to God's will.
Stay close to God and stay close to prayer and to,
to our lady.
Oh,
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