A SERMON FOR THE THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT
A couple of weeks ago, we were introduced to a rather unpleasant fellow who tempted our Lord in the wilderness. He was, of course, the Devil himself, often called Satan, but who goes also under many other names. One of those names is mentioned today as the chief of the devils, Beelzebub. In Hebrew the name is pronounced Ba’al Zevuv, and derives from an ancient pagan god of the Philistines, known as Baal. Its literal meaning is “Lord of the Flies” or “Lord of Dung”, as flies commonly feed on excrement. It’s not a nice name, but befits this character whose two great purposes in life are to hate God and destroy the souls of men.
In his second appearance today, the Devil appears in the form of his underlings, the demons of hell. This time it is Christ, not the Devil, who is the main protagonist. Our Lord is no longer the object of Satan’s assault, but is now the one on the attack himself, driving out demons from the possessed in the Name of God. On both occasions then, we gain some insight into how the Devil operates, first by temptation, and second, far worse by possession.
These are the two extremes of demonic activity: temptation at the low end of the scale, and possession at the other. But these are not the only ways in which Satan seeks to drag our souls down to hell, and today I’d like to make sure we all understand what we’re up against, so that we’re better able to recognize demonic activity when it occurs, and are thus better prepared to deal with it appropriately.
First of all, let’s divide Satan’s activity into two types, ordinary and extraordinary. We all experience his ordinary activity on a daily basis—it’s called “temptation.” How we deal with temptation is an ongoing problem for us all, and of course, our eternal life depends on how well we succeed. Often, this is as far as the Devil needs to go where men and women are concerned, as he has our fallen human nature and the world as his two great allies in the fight. We’re such easy targets, as all he has to do is put some little pleasure in front of us that we know we don’t belong enjoying, and whack! He has us! We must remember he never tempts us with things that are openly ugly and revolting, but he disguises these ugly and revolting things as something that we perceive to be somehow beneficial to us, something that would give us pleasure or some kind of relief or satisfaction. So our first lesson, and you’ve heard it many times before, is to be vigilant against the temptations of the Devil, and resist him, steadfast in the faith.
As for the extraordinary activity of Satan, this can be divided into several different types. We’ve mentioned possession already, so let’s start with that. Diabolic possession is the gravest form of demonic activity, which allows for a continuing presence of a demon in a human body. Possessed persons suffer intervals when their mental, intellectual, and other faculties are suspended and taken over by the demon. Symptoms can include the knowledge of languages unknown to the victim, superhuman strength, and the ability to read someone else’s thoughts. There’s usually an aversion to anything sacred, such as holy water, and the demon will spew forth vile blasphemies. Hollywood tends to focus on this side of demonic activity, and will exaggerate some of the phenomena—heads twisting around and such like—but what Hollywood doesn’t and cannot do is to exaggerate the effect of the presence of pure evil. This is something that an experienced exorcist will never forget. And it is to the exorcist that we must turn in such cases, someone who has the power and authority to drive out the demon in the Name of all that is holy.
A step down from possession, and often confused withpossession, is Diabolic Obsession. The difference between the two is that, in obsession, the will remains free at all times. The person is not completely taken over by the demon, but is oppressed by obsessive thoughts, thoughts that may be blasphemous or even absurd in nature, but from which the victim is unable to free himself. The obsessed person lives in a state of permanent torment by these thoughts, and is persistently driven to temptations of suicide and self-inflicted injury.
Thirdly, there is what’s known as Diabolic Oppression. This is more random in nature, and can affect not just individuals but groups, even very large groups. The village of Salem, Massachusetts, witnessed such a manifestation of diabolic oppression during the infamous witch trials that took place there. The oppression can also strike things that are external, such as our health, our jobs, our relationship with others. Inexplicable rages and a tendency to complete isolation are symptoms of oppression.
Finally, we have what’s known as Diabolic Infestation. Infestation is where the activity of the demon is directed not towards people, but towards either places or objects. Your typical haunting falls into this category. Always have your home blessed by a priest, and keep a supply of holy water handy. The Devil can’t enter where he isn’t wanted and so we must never deliberately invite him in. If you have the misfortune to live or work in a place that suffers from manifestations of the Evil One, “who are you going to call?” Pay no attention to the shows on TV—paranormal investigators and parapsychologists are not the answer. Nor are so-called mediums. And certainly don’t mess with things yourself by using a ouijah board or holding a séance. That would be downright dangerous. You can’t fight evil with evil. Call a priest. He will bless the house if this hasn’t been done, and may even perform an exorcism. It takes God to get rid of the Devil, not pseudo-science or mumbo-jumbo.
If such things happen, just remember—this isn’t TV and it isn’t Hollywood. Often the answer to your problems is far less exciting and yet more effective. All these various forms of extraordinary diabolic activity can be warded off in many cases by a life of prayer, penance, and the use of sacramentals such as the Miraculous Medal, green scapular, St. Benedict’s Medal and so on, and the frequent reception of the sacraments. And if it’s too late for that, then yes, by exorcism. But a family Rosary, a simple house blessing, a life free from mortal sin on the part of everyone in the home, these things are often all that’s needed.
In fact, that brings us to the cause of extraordinary diabolic activity. In the case of possession and obsession, the victim is usually not guilty of any sin. God himself may give his permission to the demon to torment us, not in order to punish us, but so that he may turn evil into good. For example, he may allow us to be oppressed in order to strengthen us in virtue. He did this, for example, in the case of Job in the Old Testament, and there are certainly many cases of saints being grievously tormented by the Devil. One has to think only of the Curé of Ars and his nightly battles with Satan, during one of which the Devil set his bed on fire.
One may also be the subject of a curse. Just as we may bless other people, for example, when we say “God bless you!” when they sneeze, so too do we have the ability to place curses on our neighbor. A curse is the intention to harm others through demonic intervention, and of course It is always mortally sinful to do this. However, there is no sin on the part of the victim who is cursed in this way. Watch out for the many superstitions connected with curses, but never let down your guard, as they do exist, and can be quite effective.
Other times, the victim himself is directly involved as the cause of his own possession, obsession or oppression. Firstly, by grave hardening in sin. Judas Iscariot is the classical example of this, and there are many cases of ordinary people who abandon themselves to sexual perversion, violence, drugs and alcohol, and who end up being victims of some kind of diabolic control. People who have been involved with abortions are prime fodder for the Devil, and exorcists recount that it requires a great deal of time in their case to liberate them from their demons. You can imagine that, given the deteriorating morals of our society, diabolic activity is becoming increasingly common. In fact, one might say that the Devil has been unleashed.
The second way the Devil’s extraordinary activity can be caused by the victim himself, is by proximity to evil places and persons. The obvious examples are by using ouijah boards, dabbling in magic, going to fortune tellers, and certainly by attending spiritualist events where they pretend to communicate with the dead. But on this list, we should also mention certain other things we may not have thought of—the viewing of pornography on TV and the internet, for example; certain grotesquely violent horror movies, attending so-called satanic rock concerts, and so on.
Any one of these subjects deserves treating in greater depth, but today I wanted to give you an overview of the Devil and his works. At our Baptism we, or our godparents on our behalf, renounced Satan and all his works, and this should have been no idle promise. Our life of grace after Baptism precludes us from dabbling in the things of the occult, and no good will come from too great an interest in these things. I personally have known teenagers who had far too great an interest in TV shows about hauntings and exorcisms and such things, and ended up in serious states of obsession themselves. Some of them had to spend time in the psych ward, only to end up in immoral lifestyles far removed from God.
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