Deliver us from the Evil One

And Jesus went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority. And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm. And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region. (Luke 4: 31-37)

When speaking through the mouth of the possessed person, the demon clarifies what is the very root of a person's aversion to Jesus: his willingness not to listen to His Word in order not to convert. It is a sort of listening which is the ruin by those who love sin. The very presence of Jesus and the saints, therefore, disturbs both the demon and the wicked because it is clear that with the indispensable help of divine Grace, we can live differently from them. When reciting the Lord's Prayer today, pay attention to the final phrase: deliver us from evil, that is, deliver us from the Evil One.