Recently, our family saw a frightening film involving an exorcism and my 10-year-old son has been disturbed ever since. He wants to know what sorts of things the devil can do and what he can do to feel more protected.
The first thing to be aware of is that the devil is real. He is not just a way of speaking about the presence of evil in the world. He is a fallen angel who is allowed by God to tempt us.
We see the activity of the devil at the very beginning of the Bible, where he appears in the form of a serpent and tempts Adam and Eve.
He appears throughout the Old Testament, among other passages in the Book of Job, where he is allowed to inflict various forms of suffering on Job, including the loss of his children, his property and even his health (cf Job 1:6-2:7).
The devil is mentioned numerous times in the New Testament as well, including his tempting Jesus at the end of his fasting in the desert (cf Mt 4:1-11). And, of course, Jesus casts devils out of numerous people.
So we should be under no illusions. The devil is real.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, commenting on the phrase in the Our Father, “deliver us from evil”, says: “In this petition, evil is not an abstraction, but refers to a person, Satan, the Evil One, the angel who opposes God. The devil (dia-bolos) is the one who ‘throws himself across’ God’s plan and his work of salvation accomplished in Christ” (CCC 2851).
Pope Francis spoke about the devil in his homily on October 11, 2013.
With reference to the Gospel passage where Jesus casts out a devil and someone claims that he did it by the power of Beelzebul (cf Lk 11:15-26), the Pope said: “Jesus casts out demons and then someone offers explanations to diminish the power of the Lord… There are some priests who, when they read this Gospel passage, this and others, say: ‘But, Jesus healed a person with a mental illness…’ It is true that at that time, they could confuse epilepsy with demonic possession; but it is also true that there was the devil! And we do not have the right to simplify the matter, as if to say: ‘All of these (people) were not possessed; they were mentally ill’. No! The presence of the devil is on the first page of the Bible, and the Bible ends as well with the presence of the devil, with the victory of God over the devil.”
What forms of diabolical activity are there? The most common form is temptation to sin. We see it in the temptations of Adam and Eve and of Christ.
While we cannot say that every temptation is the direct work of the devil, it is true that the devil “goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet 5:8).
And since he is “a liar and the father of lies” (Jn 8:44), his temptations are often very cunning and difficult to see for what they are. Only when we give in to them do we discover the deceit.
One of his greatest victories is to convince so many people that he doesn’t exist!
A more serious form of demonic activity is what is often called diabolical oppression, or obsession.
Here, the person experiences a very strong urge to do something damaging to his or her spiritual or physical health, like drinking alcohol to excess, using drugs, looking at pornography, indulging in sexual fantasies or acts… Other forms of oppression include strong and lasting feelings of anger, bitterness, jealousy, hatred, desire of revenge, etc.
The most serious form of diabolical activity is possession. Here, the person has done something to let Satan into his or her life and he controls at least his or her lower powers.
St Mark describes the case of the Gerasene man possessed by many devils, who had superhuman strength so that no one could bind him, even with chains, and who was always crying out and bruising himself with stones (cf Mk 5:1-13).
These cases can be particularly frightening and often an exorcism is the only way to free the person.
In the face of this diabolical activity, we should not be afraid. After all, Christ overcame the power of Satan by his death on the Cross.
The devil cannot harm us if we do not welcome him into our life. We can say the prayer to the Guardian Angel and the prayer to St Michael the Archangel and entrust ourselves to the protection of Our Lady, Queen of the Angels and Help of Christians.
For more, go to fatherfladerblog.wordpress.com or contact Fr Flader on frjflader@gmail.com.