Reflecting on Mark 1:21-28—the Gospel reading of the day—Pope Francis told pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square that Christ came to liberate us that the chains that the devil uses to shackle our souls.
“I am thinking of addictions, which enslave us and make us constantly dissatisfied, and which devour our energies, goods, and relationships,” the Pope said during his Angelus address on January 28. “Another chain I am thinking of is dominant trends that encourage the pursuit of impossible perfectionisms, consumerism, and hedonism, which commodify people and spoil relationships … Another chain is fear, which makes us look to the future with pessimism, and dissatisfaction, which always blames others. Then there is a very ugly chain, which is the idolatry of power.”
When tempted, “we must invoke Jesus: let us call on Him from those places where we feel that the chains of evil and fear are tightest,” the Pope continued. “May the Holy Virgin guard us from evil.”