Jesus Drives Out Demons
ONE
Americans are afraid, afraid of the future which seems bewildering and off the rails. Fear is a legitimate expression of the God-given passions when evil is present. The Sacred Scriptures offer signs of the presence of evil in a society. Mark recounts for us the time when the disciples “came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Ger'asenes. And when he had come out of the boat, there met him out of the tombs a man who wore no clothes with an unclean spirit, who lived among the tombs; and no one could bind him anymore, even with a chain; for he had often been bound with fetters and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the fetters he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out, and bruising himself with stones. (Mk 5: 1-5.) This passage offers several signs of the influence of the devil in a person or culture: 1. A rejection of civilization and authority, as the demoniac lives alone and isolated. 2. Fascination and identification with death and the morbidity. 3. Fixation on nudity and rejection of moral norms. 4. Extreme strength that goes beyond our ability to bind or subdue. 5. Irrationality and brute-like behavior, symbolized by the howling. 6. Restlessness. 7. Violence, even to himself. When we see any number of these present in a person or culture, we know that evil is present. In our culture, all of these are present! Which of these signs of evil effect you the most?
TWO
Mark continues, “And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped him; and crying out with a loud voice, he said, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.’ For he had said to him, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!" Evil is by nature irrational, superhuman in strength, and destructive. Therefore, when present in a culture, human means alone will fail to eradicate it. Fortunately for us, we have the means at our disposal of ridding the world of Satan and his evil influences, Jesus Christ and His Church. Notice that the possessed man runs up to Jesus and worships Him! Yet, we also see that the demon does not immediately come out of the man at the command of the Lord despite the torment that God’s word caused. This is not a sign of the weakness of God but of His respect for the freedom of men. It is a sad and strange truth that sometimes we humans can be unwilling to entirely allow evil to lose its control over us. How can you allow the Lord full control of your life?
THREE
“And Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He replied, ‘My name is Legion; for we are many.’ And he begged him eagerly not to send them out of the country.” Exorcists tell us that one of the first things they do when expelling a demon is to demand the demon’s name as this gives power over the evil spirit. The influence of evil in our lives can come in a variety of forms, temptation and sin being the most obvious. It easily multiplies. However, negative thoughts, anxieties, and addictions can all have a demonic connection. Spiritual directors often encourage troubled souls to name our anxieties, fears, struggles and addictions to have power over them and cast them out. Take a moment now to identify a fear, anxiety, or addiction/disordered attachment that you have (just one.) Now name it and cast it out with Jesus, “In the name of Jesus Christ and by the power of His Most Precious Blood, I bind, reject, and cast out the spirit of (here mention the affliction) and place it at the foot of the Cross of Christ where He now commands you according to His holy will.”
FOUR
“Now a great herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside; and they begged him, ‘Send us to the swine, let us enter them.’ So he gave them leave. And the unclean spirits came out, and entered the swine; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and were drowned in the sea.” Demons would rather inhabit swine than be sent to Hell. If demons fear it, do I sufficiently fear it? It is real, and people go there: do not be fooled. Our Lord respects our freedom, which is why He didn’t just drive out the demon right away—He respected the freedom of the demoniac. If we die in a state of sin, unwilling to relinquish it, Jesus will respect our wish. We will exclude ourselves form His marvelous light, all because our attachment. Make no mistake, activities blanketing our news right now like rejection of authority, immorality, violence, rage and the like are evident signs of the evil one. We don’t have the power to drive these out! What is needed is the power of conversion that comes from God. Our weapon, the rosary, our army, the Movement of the Holy Family, the opportunity, now! Join me in this fight, a fight for our country, a fight for our children, a fight for our faith and for Our Lady!
FIVE
“The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus, and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the man who had had the legion; and they were afraid. And those who had seen it told what had happened to the demoniac and to the swine. And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their neighborhood.” How sad that the locals wanted to drive Jesus away after He drove the demons away. No gratitude, no appreciation, and no joy; just the desire to be left alone from Jesus and His power of healing love. How right our Lord predicted that in the end times, the love of many would grow cold. This coldness to the presence of God and his healing love gives an insight into the reason why the demoniac was in the region in the first place: godlessness. The great Soviet dissident Solzhenitsyn once commented that the reason why Marxist atheism spread so effectively and rapidly in Russia in 1917 could be attributed to one main cause: godlessness! Oh Lord God, come and save your people!