‘We need the Lord to cast out demon of division in our nation,’ US cardinal says

Celebrating a livestreamed Mass for the community of Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington January 13, Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory noted how sometimes the readings of the day “fit our lives so perfectly”. They “somehow almost mystically describe where we are at this moment”, he said.

Washington’s archbishop then pointed out how that day’s Gospel reading, Mark 1: 29-39, which described Jesus curing Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever and later casting out evil spirits, could be connected to the Covid-19 pandemic and to the January 6 insurrection when a mob of rioters stormed the US Capitol.

Cardinal Gregory noted how in that day’s Gospel reading, “the Lord casts out evil spirits, and we often, as we look at the world around us, in particular during these past several days here in our nation, we need the Lord to cast out the spirit of evil, hatred, division, bigotry, racism (and) inequity. We have lots of evil spirits that somehow are destroying the harmony of the nation, making people of different races and cultures and languages and religions afraid of one another. We need the Lord to cast out the demon of division in our nation.”