Msgr. Roger J. Landry
National Director, The Pontifical Mission Societies
Daily Reflection for October 10, 2025
Here is the video of today’s reflection.
The YouTube generated transcript for today’s reflection is:
I’m Monsignor Roger Landry, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies, coming to you from our New York headquarters. It’s October 10th and in the gospel today, we have a somewhat disturbing scene. Jesus has been working exorcisms and those who are opposing Jesus said that he was working those exorcisms by the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons. And Jesus said that that was ridiculous. They couldn’t deny that people who had been formerly possessed were now cured, but they could interpret it differently and try to spread the rumor that Jesus rather than a good man was a diabolical double agent. And so Jesus said, “That’s ridiculous. If I’m casting out demons by the power of Beelzebul, by whom are your own scribes and Pharisees casting them out?” He wanted to talk about the principle and he said, you know, um, a kingdom divided against itself can’t stand and therefore Satan wouldn’t be exercising Satan. It was illogical. But a lot of the times the arguments against the faith are illogical. What are the lessons that we draw from that scene? First and foremost, we recognize that the devil is real. Jesus was casting out the devil.
People were under the sway of the devil, whether they were possessed or whether they were being tempted. The work of the church is to continue Jesus’s conquering of the devil. We do that by our prayer first and foremost. That’s the end of the our father. Deliver us from the evil one. We’re praying, don’t let the devil get his clutches into us. We do that by formal exorcisms. We do it by the general prayer of the church. And most importantly, we do it by saying yes to God and no to the evil one. From the first day that we’re Christians, we reject Satan, all his evil works, and all his empty promises. But that rejection has got to go on. The second thing we see in this extraordinary scene is how Jesus wants unity. He says, “A kingdom divided against itself can’t stand. The devil wouldn’t divide against himself. He’d be conquered then.” But likewise for the church that Jesus founded, how important it is for us to be one. You see the image of Pope Leo behind me. His whole pontificate up until now has been about unity in the church. His very papal motto in ilo uno unum one in the one Christ. It’s the unity for which Jesus prayed during the last supper. The devil wants to get on in and divide us from each other. Wants to make us adjec-titled Catholics. I’m a conservative Catholic. I’m a traditional Catholic. I’m a progressive Catholic. I’m a liberal Catholic. I’m a Latino Catholic. I am a Polish Catholic. All of these types of things are ultimately not worthy of our unity in the Lord. That our unity’s got to be greater than everything. And the missionaries are those who go to try to unite the whole world and bring them so that they can be with us, one body, one spirit in Christ.
We are now nine days from World Mission Sunday. As we continue to pray in this world mission month for the church, let us pray that what Jesus asked the father for in the first mass come to comp completion that we might really be one body, one spirit in him. God bless you.
The Gospel reading on which the reflection was based on:
Gospel
When Jesus had driven out a demon, some of the crowd said:
“By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons,
he drives out demons.”
Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven.
But he knew their thoughts and said to them,
“Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste
and house will fall against house.
And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?
For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons.
If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul,
by whom do your own people drive them out?
Therefore they will be your judges.
But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons,
then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.
When a strong man fully armed guards his palace,
his possessions are safe.
But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him,
he takes away the armor on which he relied
and distributes the spoils.
Whoever is not with me is against me,
and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
“When an unclean spirit goes out of someone,
it roams through arid regions searching for rest
but, finding none, it says,
‘I shall return to my home from which I came.’
But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order.
Then it goes and brings back seven other spirits
more wicked than itself who move in and dwell there,
and the last condition of that man is worse than the first.”