The evangelist Mark pays attention to the blasphemous statement of the scribes who see in Jesus a man possessed by Beelzebubl, prince of demons. But the Lord displaces them with unassailable answers.
The 'jester of God', precisely because he loved Him, was much persecuted and had strenuous struggles with those who point their fingers at God day and night against their brothers.
The Sources tell of various circumstances in which the servant of God had to suffer for his sake, defending himself with continuous and profound prayer, which transferred the Holy Spirit into his soul.
"He arrived one day in Arezzo, while the whole city was shaken by civil war and threatened with imminent ruin. The servant of God was lodged in the village outside the city, and saw over it exultant demons, who were stirring up the citizens to destroy each other. He called Brother Sylvester, a man of God and remarkable simplicity, and commanded him:
"Go to the gate of the city, and by Almighty God command the demons that as soon as possible they leave the city".
The pious and simple friar hastened to obey, and after addressing God with a hymn of praise, he cried out before the gate in a loud voice:
"From God and by order of our father Francis, go away from here, all you demons!".
The city soon afterwards found peace and the citizens respected each other's civil rights with great tranquillity.
Later, speaking to them, Francis, at the beginning of his preaching, said:
"I speak to you as people once subjugated and enslaved by demons. But I know that you have been set free through the prayers of a poor man'" (FF 695).
«If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand» (Mk 3:24).
Clare of Assisi also had to fight several times.
In the Legend we find:
"Between the Hours of the Day, at the Sixth and at the Ninth, she is usually seized with greater compunction, wanting to immolate herself with the immolated Lord.
So it happened once that, while she was praying in her little cell at the Ninth Hour, the devil struck her on the jaw and bloodshot one of her eyes, and he gilded one of her cheeks" (FF 3215).
These two great witnesses of the faith knew that evil is envious of the Good, but also that the latter takes ground from it inch by inch, since darkness cannot prevail over the Light.
Monday 3rd wk. in O.T. (Mk 3:22-30)
