Facing the Enemy

Demons and Exorcism

By: Brian Thompson

Posted: 4/28/09

There is a Hell, Satan is real, there are demons; they have no interest in your well being, and they want you to suffer. Yet, we need not be superstitious or overly fearful about the power of evil in our world. Evil is a dog barking at the wind compared to God. Jesus has crushed the head of the serpent; the war is won. The sin of our ancestors in eating the fruit of Eden's tree has been overcome by our eating of the Divine Lamb slain at Golgotha-the fruit of the tree of Calvary.
Satan continues to fight, though, and though he knows God has redeemed the world, he still seeks to seduce as many as possible into refusing the free gift of God's love and to reject the gift of redemption. Evil especially attacks us when we do God's will, for fear we may draw others into the light. The closer we get to God's will, the harder evil tries to derail us. Satan and the fallen angels have a bitter hate of humanity, and seek to do what they can to make the human family suffer. Modern sensibilities, even among the faithful, want to deny all this, deny that there are demons, claim evil is wholly impersonal-if sin is acknowledged to exist at all. They are wrong.
On the other hand, it is true that those who see the Devil under every rock are being a bit superstitious. A sane and sober realization of evil in our world is necessary. Satan is the author of sin, and he does not want to stop spreading that discord and pain. He is not directly orchestrating every evil, but he has a hand in many of them, somehow. The Church is unashamed to admit that sometimes demonic activity can play a more active role in our world, oppressing and harassing people. There is even the rare occasion in which possession might actually occur.
Demons may be nothing compared to God, but they can take us easy. They are frighteningly intelligent and utterly malicious. Luckily, the Church gives us incredible armor and weapons with which to fight evil, evil of both of human and demonic origin. First, our baptism is a great protection against any kind evil, as are the many graces we receive by doing God's will, asking the intercession of the saints, maturely utilizing sacramentals, and especially receiving the sacraments of the Church. No evil can stand before the power of God, and so long as we depend wholly on His protection, Satan is reduced to the gadfly he truly is. Unfortunately, we are sinners and we leave ourselves open to his harassments and accusations. Evil has only one lie, articulated many ways, "I am good," and yet we still fall for that same trick, and will until we die. The Rosary is described as the "nuclear weapon of prayers." We can also confront temptation and evil with faith and condemn it in the name of Christ, though that requires a lot more faith than it sounds. We can simply pray that Our Father will defend us, lost children we are. We, by virtue of our baptismal nature, can even pray for the deliverance of others from temptation or demonic influence or harassment. And, when evil is acting openly, as in the case of strong harassment or a possession for example, the Church has more drastic measures she can take, the oft-misunderstood practice of exorcism among them.
Exorcism is the formal prayer of the Church, presided over by specially instructed priests, to drive demons out of persons. The whole process is overseen and authorized by the bishop, though the care of the allegedly demonically attacked person is usually delegated to the aforementioned trained priests. Yes, in the modern world we are aware that many physical and mental conditions were in the past mistaken for demonic possession, epilepsy or schizophrenia for example, but that does not mean possession is unreal. Again, evil is very real and ignorance of that fact only helps the cancer grow. Again, realism is required and the Church is careful to investigate claims of demonic possession, often bringing in secular experts, and takes great care to refer the ill to medical care and exorcize only those whose problem is truly demonic. The Church takes this practice very seriously; just as war seems glorious to everyone but the soldiers.
The text of the rite is readily available in various media, and is nowhere near as dramatic as Hollywood depicts it. I suppose, in practice and given the nature of the situation, demons being evil and all, the performance of the rite could be rather intense, but still surely nowhere as elaborate as we have seen in film. The ritual itself, so far as my cursory research turned up, consists of prayers of deliverance (asking God to save the victim), employment of holy water and other sacramentals, and outright commands that the demon leave the victim. To a great degree, as with all Catholic rites, this all is done in the context of constant recitation of scripture, especially the Psalms, and referencing of it in the various composed prayers of the rite. This said, the rite is fairly adaptable, and those priests trained in its use know what the proper adaptations are.
Revelation 12:10-12 calls Satan the "Accuser of our brothers… who night and day accused them before God" but also notes that he was "cast out…by the blood of the Lamb and the word of [the martyrs' and saints'] testimony." Evil is a defeated army that stubbornly and spitefully refuses to surrender; it can still do damage. Yet, at the end of the day, we have been redeemed. Satan cannot accuse us as long as we depend on Christ our brother and savior, Mother Church, and-above all-on our Heavenly Father. We need not be paralyzed in fear, but realize the truth that demonic activity exists in our world and will until our King returns.

Brian Thompson is a senior at Gonzaga
and a seminarian at Bishop White