Today is March 27, Thursday of the Third Week of Lent.
At today’s Mass, we hear: “But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you” (Lk 11:20).
Jesus says that he casts out demons by the “finger of God.” This is not the only place in the Bible where we hear of the finger of God. For instance, in the psalms we read, “When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars that you set in place–What is man that you are mindful of him, and a son of man that you care for him?” (Ps 8:4-5). In the Gospels, Jesus uses his fingers to write in the dirt and to heal the sick.
Traditionally, the Holy Spirit is associated with the fingers of God. If we think of Jesus as the arm of the Father extending into creation, the Holy Spirit is like the fingers having an effect within us. As the ninth-century hymn Veni Creator Spiritus sings, “The sev’n-fold gifts of grace are Thine, O Finger of the Hand Divine.”
The Holy Spirit at work within us
It is by the finger of God–the Holy Spirit–that Jesus casts out demons. This is the same Holy Spirit that created the moon and the stars and who recreates through the Son as he heals the blind and raises up the dead. It is the Spirit who writes something new into creation as Jesus writes into the dirt and casts demons from the face of the earth.
The finger of God is extending into our hearts this Lent. Wherever the fingers of God are busily at work within us, darkness turns to light, weakness becomes strength and what was damaged becomes whole again. The Holy Spirit is at work within us as we continue our journey through the desert, rejecting sin and embracing our call to holiness. Through the Holy Spirit’s gifts and by his presence, we find healing and recreation as the sons and daughters of God.
Let us pray,
We implore your majesty most humbly, O Lord, that, as the feast of our salvation draws ever closer, so we may press forward all the more eagerly towards the worthy celebration of the Paschal Mystery. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
