Before our baptism we were, in a sense, like the mute in today's gospel. We were freed from the power of the devil by the grace of our baptism. Jesus warns however that the devil is strong, and that if we are not constantly on our guard he will overpower us. The devil we rejected in our baptism is insidious and persistent in trying to claim us for himself.

The devil these days uses many different weapons in the hope of destroying Christian love in our hearts. One is rugged individualism, which in its false independence and pride refuses to see the necessity of depending on God for anything. Another is materialism which considers the accumulation of possessions and power as the goal of life, and not the love of God. Still a third weapon is indifference, which makes the Christian either unaware of the needs of others, or unconcerned with helping to meet those needs. Last to be mentioned here is the subtle yet extremely effective weapon of smug complacency, which makes the Christian feel, as did the people addressed in today's first lesson, that simply because he is baptized and has the faith his eternal salvation is assured, and that nothing more need to be done except to fulfill the mere letter of the law. This last weapon is frequently the first to be used by the devil to get his foot in the door, for then he can utilize the destructive force of rugged individualism, materialism, and indifference to their fullest extent.