The passage from Matthew presents Jesus grappling with demons who fear being cast out.
The unclean spirits unite against the true servants of God. Francis knew something about this.
The Sources recount what happened to him once when he was staying in Rome with Cardinal Leo of Santa Croce, who had wanted him to stay with him for a while.
"Proud demons flee before the exalted virtue of the humble, except in some cases where divine mercy allows the humble to be slapped, precisely to keep them humble, as the Apostle Paul writes of himself and as Francis experienced first-hand [...]".
The saint, having accepted the invitation out of veneration and love for the cardinal, experienced a veritable assault by demons on his first night after prayer. They beat him long and cruelly, leaving him half dead.
When they had gone, he called his companion and told him what had happened.
"Brother, demons have no power except within the limits set by Providence.
Therefore, I believe that they attacked me so fiercely because my stay in the curia of the magnates does not make a good impression.
My brothers who live in poor places, hearing that I am with the cardinals, will perhaps suspect that I am entangled in worldly things, being surrounded by honours and comforts.
I therefore judge that it is better for those who are set as an example to stay away from curias and spend their lives humbly among the humble, in humble places.
In this way, living in the same conditions as those who live in poverty, he will be a comfort to them.
So they went in the morning and, with humble excuses, took their leave of the cardinal (FF 1115).
In the face of Grace, evil calls for reinforcements; but what defeats it, says Francis, is humility.
Therefore, even the «very furious» spirits (v. 28) can do nothing before the humility of the Son of God and his servants.
As it is written in the Sources [Sacrum Commercium]:
"For he (satan) is very proud, and his pride and arrogance are even greater than his strength.
He is filled with great fury against you and will turn all the weapons of his cunning against you, seeking to spatter you with the poison of his malice, because after he has ended the war by defeating and throwing down the others, he cannot bear to see you standing above him" (FF 2026).
Count on us that, after being saved, we will proclaim the mercy God has shown us. This devastates the deceiver!
Francis did this, attesting to the poverty of the Son of God, which, transferred to the folds of daily life, drags impure spirits down from the cliff into the sea of their contradictions, destroying them.
The holy life of Francis and his brotherhood in the early days made them heralds of Mercy, singers of the Almighty.
"The demons begged him, saying, «If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs»" (Mt 8:31)
Wednesday 13th wk. in Ordinary Time (Mt 8:28-34)
