LESSON FOR THE TENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B)

The Devil Is Real

Introduction

My dear brothers and sisters, ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, as today's First Reading shows us, Satan had been the "ruler of this world" (John 12:31). The law of sin, injustice, and selfishness had governed human affairs, even though the presence and promise of God kept hope and love alive. But with the arrival of Christ, we are faced with someone who repeatedly outmatches Satan. He casts out demons effortlessly, 

These deeds Christ performed in the open air, for all to see. And they were so extraordinary, that the leaders in Jerusalem sent some representatives (the "scribes" mentioned in today's Gospel) to investigate. And when they discovered the Lord's amazing works, they had to offer some kind of explanation.

They could not, however, explain Jesus' special powers as coming from God, since that would require them to accept his teaching as well.But his teaching contradicted much of their own, and so to accept it would be to relinquish their status and influence.So, they attributed his works to a pact made with the devil – one of whose names was "Beelzebub."

Jesus calmly but clearly points out the absurdity of their claim. His consistent reversal of the devil's conquests shows that he is not only at odds with the ancient enemy, but also more powerful than him.

This is why, ultimately, we don't have to be afraid of the devil. With Christ on our side, the devil can't really harm us. But he still tries to – he tries to separate us from God and the protection of Christ, so that he can then lead us back into the slavery of his lies and deceptions. This is what St. Peter meant when he wrote in his First Letter to all Christians: "Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8). The devil is real – a fallen angel, with an army of other fallen angels. This is clear from the Bible…… And also from the Catechism.

Catechism no. 391. Behind the disobedient choice of our first parents lurks a seductive voice, opposed to God, which makes them fall into death out of envy. Scripture and the Church's Tradition see in this being a fallen angel, called "Satan" or the "devil". The Church teaches that Satan was at first a good angel, made by God: "The devil and the other demons were indeed created naturally good by God, but they became evil by their own doing."

And it will make all of us a little bit wiser if we understand the five different ways that the devil tries to upset the work of God in our souls and in the world.

Part I: Possession

The rarest and most dramatic way that the devil tries to disturb our relationship with God is through demonic possession. Most of us have seen Hollywood depictions of people who are possessed. The Hollywood version usually emphasizes the strange and frightening effects of possession, and sometimes exaggerates them. But they don't really explain what possession is.

Possession is when a devil concentrates its activity within a person's body. When this happens, a person undergoes periods of "crisis" occasionally, when the devil temporarily takes control of the person's body. The devil can never take over a person's soul or make a person sin – God protects our freedom from that kind of attack.

But sometimes God does permit a demon to exercise control from within, over a person's body – that's possession. This is why, during times of crisis, a possessed person can show extraordinary physical strength, or speak and understand languages that the person never learned or exhibit other strange phenomena.

Almost always, cases of possession originate when a person gets involved with the occult, spiritism, or witchcraft. When someone does that, they open the door to the influence of evil spirits – fallen angels that are in rebellion against Jesus Christ, but who at first make themselves seem friendly to gain influence.

The Church has a special ritual that is used to free someone from possession - it is called exorcism. Exorcism consists of a series of prayers and sacramentals, performed by a priest officially designated by the bishop. This ritual makes the demon suffer so much that, eventually, if the person is cooperative, the demon will just give up and leave.

Part II: Obsession, Oppression, and Infestation

There are also some other extra-ordinary ways that the devil tries to interfere with our lives. Sometimes, God permits the devil and his fallen angels to cause frightening physical disturbances in certain places, or even to our own bodies. These can take the forms of loud or strange noises, slamming doors or windows, or even more alarming effects.

St. John Vianney, a holy parish priest who lived in 19th-century France, for example, was dragged around his room by the devil. One time the devil even set his bed on fire. Luckily, the saintly priest was hearing confessions at the time. Later, when he was told what happened, his only response was to say that since the devil couldn't catch the bird, he set the cage on fire!

When these physical disturbances are concentrated in certain places, they are called infestations. When they directly affect someone's body (not from within, as in possession, but from the outside) they are called demonic oppression.

When they bother someone's mind, they are called demonic obsession - this happens even to saints. Many saints, towards the end of their lives, were assailed by blasphemous thoughts, for example. These thoughts appeared suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere. But they battered the saints' minds intensely and repeatedly. That's what happens in demonic obsession. Blessings, holy water, and other prayers and sacramentals are sturdy defences against this kind of devilish attack.

Part III: Temptation

These extra-ordinary kinds of devilish activity are dramatic and frightening. But they are much, much less frequent, and much, much less dangerous than the devil's favourite tactic for disturbing us: simple, ordinary, regular temptation. Possession, infestation, oppression, and obsession can frighten us, but they usually lead us to exercise our faith to get rid of them. Temptation, on the other hand, tries to lead us into sin - and only sin can really damage our souls and interfere with our friendship with God.

How does temptation work? We all have a fallen nature, and we live in a fallen world. As a result of this, we have ingrained tendencies towards selfishness, greed, lust, depression, anger... (the theological word for these tendencies is "concupiscence"). These tendencies, when they are not curbed and formed by virtue, can get us into trouble. They can blind us to God's will, to what is right. Or they can overpower our desire to do what is right, to live as Christ teaches us to live.

Temptation is an invitation to do just that - to choose our own, fallen, natural, self-centred preferences over what God wants for us, over God's wise and loving will. But since, objectively speaking, God's will is always the best thing for us, temptations always involve some kind of lie, some kind of deception.

Look at what happened in the Garden of Eden, just before the passage we heard in today's First Reading. The devil tempted Adam and Eve by lying to them. He told them that God's warning about the forbidden fruit - that they would die if they ate it - was false.He told them that if they ate the fruit they would become like God - that too was false.

But how did he convince them? He turned their attention to the luscious appearance of the fruit, so that they would forget that God himself was the one who made the fruit, and made them, and gave them all the good things that they were enjoying!

He made them doubt the goodness of God, and this opened them to accept his other deceptions. This is still the devil's favourite tactic: make us doubt God's wisdom, goodness, or mercy, so that we disobey God's plan for our happiness and choose our will instead of his will. He wants us to say, "My will be done" instead of "Thy will be done."

Conclusion: Defending Ourselves against the Devil's Attacks

How can we defend ourselves in the face of these temptations? That's the most important question - much more important than worrying excessively about demonic possession and oppression. First, we need to use all the normal and most basic means to build up our friendship with Christ that the Church is constantly reminding us of daily, heartfelt prayer, the sacraments, especially Communion and Confession, and a daily effort to follow Christ's teaching and example in our words, actions, and relationships. But there's one other thing that is truly essential, and that we too often overlook. Temptation always begins in our minds, with a thought, an invitation to choose our will over God's will. And so, we need to form the habit of reflection, of interior silence, of discerning the origin of our different thoughts.

Any time we have a thought that disturbs our interior peace, we must pause and ask ourselves: Where did that thought come from? Simply taking the time to reflect and to ask that question is often enough to unmask the devil's lies and return to the light of Christ. Thoughts that make us discouraged and depressed, or anxious and revengeful, or self-centred and rebellious, can never come from the Holy Spirit. And if they don't come from the Holy Spirit, they either come from our fallen nature or from the evil spirit. Thoughts that come from the Holy Spirit always move us towards what is noble, good, true, and lovely, and they bring peace to the depths of our souls.

But we can't tell the difference unless we learn to reflect, quietly and honestly, on what occurs in our minds and hearts. We should create time and space for quiet reflection in our daily lives. And when, despite our reflection and discernment, we still feel a strong pull to do what is wrong, we can think of the crucifix, which reminds us that God is completely trustworthy, that there is no limit to his goodness, love or mercy, since he gave his life for us while we were still sinners.

When we remind ourselves of that, it will be much easier to do what Jesus so passionately wants us to do, as he showed us in today's Gospel: to embrace and obey God's wise and loving will.