Joel 1:13-15; 2:1-2 / Luke 11:15-26
Many disasters and tragedies like wars, or a plane crash or a terrorist attack, can be traced down to human negligence or human failing or human wickedness.
But what about natural disasters and calamities like earthquakes, floods, volcano eruptions, etc, where innocent lives are lost.
Maybe because it is called "natural disasters" we tend to make God accountable for it. We even call it an "act of God". Maybe because we can't find a more convincing and consoling answer to it.
In the 1st reading, we hear of a terrible invasion of locusts that ravaged the land. The scourge was disastrous, but the prophet Joel saw it from a spiritual and religious perspective.
He saw it as a sign of the coming of the day of the Lord.
He urged the people to repent and to turn to the Lord with weeping and fasting, and the priests to pray for deliverance.
Similarly in the gospel, the case of the diabolic possession and exorcism was used by Jesus as a means to proclaim that the kingdom of God is close at hand.
When disasters and tragedies happen around us, we lament and grieve and maybe even blame God for what has happened.
But can we also see it from a spiritual and religious perspective. Because out of chaos, a new creation comes forth.
We can give in to hopelessness and be scattered. But let us gather in faith, and with Jesus, we await a new creation and a new revelation.