We like to think of ourselves as pretty intelligent people.  We know we have to think ahead, and plan, and be organized.  If you’re going to go do something, you gotta be prepared for what you’re going to do.  Most of the time, in our plans and in our journeys, if you’re NOT prepared, you’re not going to get very far.  And you’re not going to have a very good time either.  And so we know how to prepare for a camping trip.  You get your sleeping bag, and your marshmallow, graham crackers, and chocolate bars for your so’ mores, and your bug spray.  If you’re going boating, you get your boat, and life vests, and your sunscreen.  And if you’re going to have a barbeque for your friends, you get your grill, and some meat, and a good rub or barbeque sauce.  If you’re going mountain climbing, you get a good rope, and some good shoes, and a great life insurance policy.  If you’re going to travel to New York City, you take a lot of money with you.  Have you been to New York lately?  Everything is so expensive in the big cities.  I was in New York a couple of years ago, and I went out with friends for a hamburger.  My friends took me to this place in the city, and I had an eighteen-dollar hamburger.  Can you believe that?  Eighteen dollars for hamburger!  What kind of idiot would pay eighteen-dollars for a hamburger?  Well, I guess I’m that kind of idiot.  I thought I should have gotten the rest of the cow with it!  It was the best hamburger I have ever had.  It was huge.  It was cooked perfectly.  But it was expensive.  If you’re going to New York, make sure you take lots of money with you.  It’s all about being prepared for the journey, wherever your journey may take you.

       Today at Mass, our readings are getting us ready for our journeys as Jesus’ disciples.  Jesus has some very important, and yet very radical, traveling advice for us, as He sends us out to build His Kingdom.  He tells us what to bring along, and what NOT to bring along.  Jesus wants us trusting and relying on Him while we’re on our journeys, and not on ourselves or our things.  Our discipleship has to be His work.  Jesus sends them out two by two.  Nobody should be alone in the work of being a disciple.  We need God, but we also desperately need each other.  We are to work together to build the Kingdom of God.  Finally, even the work that we are to do, is specified!  We are to preach, and to teach, and to evangelize.  We are to take care of those in need, especially those who can’t take care of themselves.  We are to pray for those who are sick.  The Gospel says that our prayer will heal them.  And finally, and this is mentioned twice in our Gospel today, we are to drive out and expel unclean spirits and demons.  This Gospel is telling us that this is one of our primary expectations of being a disciple.  Two-thousand years ago, Jesus gave the disciples authority over unclean spirits.  Today, through the Church, we are given that same authority.  We don’t talk near enough about this today.  Far too often, when we as Catholics start mentioning the devil, or exorcisms, or spiritual warfare, people roll their eyes.  People dismiss us.  It’s like it is too much to handle.

Listen to me, you can’t read the Bible and not believe in spiritual warfare!  The devil is real.  Evil is real.  Read the paper today.  The battle between God and Satan still isn’t over.  And our souls are still in the middle of it!  It is way past time, my brothers and sisters, for us to start expelling demons from our own lives.  And we can’t expel demons from others, until we first start with ourselves.

        A very wise priest that I used to know, who was once an exorcist, once taught me that the problem is that we open the door for the devil, we open it a crack, and the next thing you know, he’s got the door wide open and has taken over our lives.  Are you cracking the door open for evil spirits?  Every time we sin, we choose the devil over God.  And every time we do, we give him more and more authority over our lives.  If we’re going to be disciples of Jesus Christ, and that’s what we’re called to be, then we need to get rid of every temptation that opens the door to the devil.  We need to be holy.  We need to be pure.  We need to stick with God and with Godly ways, and you’re not going to get that from HBO, or the internet, or Howard Stern.  It’s time to clean up our lives and drive the devil out.  We have the power.  We have the authority.  Jesus is so much more powerful than devil ever will be, even in this world.  We need His power.

        Our Patroness, St. Maria Goretti, who we celebrate today and this week, had an extraordinary commitment to sticking with Jesus and avoiding all that was evil and impure.  St. Maria Goretti knew, even as a child, how dangerous to her soul, so many evil things really were.  She couldn’t understand why the young man who attacked her would choose the devil over God and Heaven.  Clearly, so many times, so many of us don’t get.  We don’t see it.  We play around with fire, and it leads us away from God.  It’s time to get holy.  It’s time to be true disciples.  It’s time to fight the devil, instead of cooperating with him.  It’s time to get on God’s team, and start expelling demons, instead of letting them be in control.

        We do know what we need to do as disciples.  Jesus has been very clear with us, how to build His Kingdom.  Now all we have to do is do it.

May God bless us today, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…AMEN !!!

St. Maria Goretti…Pray for us !!!