Wednesday. [II Cor. 6:11-16; Mark 1:23-28]

   The demon praised the Saviour, but the Saviour said to him: Hold thy peace, and come out of him. Demons never say anything or do anything with a good purpose—they always have something evil in mind. So it was here. The Lord, not exposing their crafty designs, decided it with a word: hold thy peace and come out. He did not want to converse long with an evil spirit. Here is a lesson for us. A person manages to do very little of something good before a demon sits nearby and begins to trumpet in his ears: “You are this and that.” Do not listen and do not enter into conversation with this flatterer, but immediately say point blank: “Hold thy peace and come out,” and erase his tracks with sighs and self-reproach, then incense that place where he was with contrite prayer. He wants to give rise to self-opinion and self esteem, and to fan self-praise and vainglory from them—all of those thoughts and feelings are the spiritual life the same as thieves in everyday life. Like thieves that enter a house to rob its goods, so these demons, taking root in a soul, destroy all that is good in that soul and cast it away, so that nothing remains for the Lord to praise later.