I went to see an exorcist yesterday. Not because I am possessed (oppressed sometimes perhaps) but because he was giving a few talks in Bellevue. Today at Mass, as I reflected on some things the exorcist said, the thought occurred to me that we are made to be possessed by God, and if not by him, ultimately we will be possessed by evil.
To be possessed by God means that we belong to Him as his beloved. But even more, in another meaning of the word “possessed,” we want to be filled with His spirit. Would that we could always stay in a state of sanctifying grace and never fall, but the thing about being possessed by God is that we can kick him out at any time. He will not impose His will on us and refuse to leave. If we change our mind (as we often do) he will let us go…all the while patiently waiting for us to come back around and re-invite him in.
Now possession by the diabolical is quite different. In fact, it’s the opposite. When we let the diabolical in, we have a heck of a time getting rid of it. The demons claim someone as their own and will fight to stay inside. They mark you with their brand and do not do as you ask. You can tell them you’ve changed your mind, but they won’t so easily be kicked out.
Jesus can certainly remove them, but getting rid of them is not always as easy as just calling on the name of Jesus. Many protestants will disagree with me on this, but if it were so easy to cast them out, why did even the apostles have trouble? Jesus told them that they don’t come out except by prayer and fasting. And some, I’m told, are more stubborn than others. Some require help from another person, a sanctified and sacred person, an exorcist.
So, being possessed by God is something we have to work on. Our nature is to kick him out by putting our own will before his. We don’t need an exorcist to expel Him. Our relationship with God is more like a continual sending of an invitation and a rescinding of that invitation. Kind of like an incoming tide and a receding tide. It ebbs and flows until we hopefully tire of the whole duplicity thing and want no longer a single moment without His presence.
Being possessed by the demonic, on the other hand, takes no work at all. It’s easy. Just do your own will all the time and see what happens. But once your own will is accomplished and you are tied down to the results, try getting untied. You can’t do it on your own. You’re left to the mercy of Jesus. And depending on how bad the stuff was that you did when you were serving yourself, you may need to be exorcised.
That’s why I think the notion that we can serve ourselves and be the masters of our own fate is a deception. We are made to serve. We will be slaves, either to God or to satan. There’s no third option. Choosing ourselves makes us slaves to satan.
This notion is not easily accepted and it can severely hurt our pride. Some probably even get angry to hear it. But I think maybe all the discomfort it causes us is a matter of semantics. While it’s true that we are either slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness, in spiritual terms the two kinds of slavery are vastly different. One form of slavery is actually the truest definition of freedom. Being a slave to God means that we are fulfilling our greatest destiny and becoming more than we ever could on our own. As Father Ripperger said yesterday, our actions when in sanctifying grace are meritorious. But no matter how much good we do when away from God, it merits nothing eternal. Being a slave to evil means we will never reach our potential but will always be serving a lesser motive.
So don’t fall into the false idea that you can be neutral by just serving yourself and neither serving God or satan. As St. John Vianney says, “Anything we do, without offering it to God, is wasted.” Either we offer it to God and we merit something, or we offer it to ourselves and it becomes corrupted. There’s no other choice. Offer everything to God and strive to be a slave to righteousness.
RL Martin 
Well Said! Thanks for the post!!
N
I would not typically respond to such a post mostly because I dont see a point to responding but I disagree with your opinion (an/or the opinions of professional exorcists) that (as you accuse Protestants of believing) getting rid of them is not always as easy as just calling on the name of Jesus.
Then you cite the example in Matthew 17. However, it can also be argued that the case in the gospels occurred BEFORE Pentecost at which time the Holy Spirit fell on the 120 men and women (see Acts 1 and 2) and since that time (as Jesus promised in John 14, 15, and 16) the Holy Spirit indwells ALL believers.
That is why St John tells us in 1 John 1:4: Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. And St Peter tells us: 8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 But resist him, firm in your faith (1 Peter 5:8); And St James tells us, Resist the devil and he will flee from you. (James 4:70)
So, yes, I disagree that any blood-bought and obedient Christian needs a professional exorcist to come against any evil demon Satan included. When St John tells us that greater is He (meaning God the Holy Spirit) who is in us that the evil spirits in the world, he wrote inerrantly and infallibly and under the divine inspiration of the same Holy Spirit.
One need not be a Protestant to disagree. One only needs to know the entire Bible in context.
Anyway, for what its worth.
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Thanks, Rich. I think the point you disagree with is what happens to the Holy Spirit when we sin?
https://library.sydneycatholic.org/ask-a-priest/2014/can-the-holy-spirit-leave-us/
While the Holy Spirit may or may not leave us entirely, I do believe that when we are in mortal sin, we are not as protected from the diabolical as if we were in a state of sanctifying grace. Mortal sin can separate us from God. And when we are out of a state of sanctifying grace, we are more susceptible to the devil’s influence, and (I think) https://fatima.org/news-views/catholic-apologetics-198/ our prayers to Jesus are not as meritorious, and it’s not advisable to go around commanding demons in the name of Jesus if we’re in serious sin ourselves. Hopefully, we don’t allow mortal sin to get to the point of possession, but it seems possible for blood-bought believers to become possessed or at least oppressed. Consider Jesus’ words about the demon being cast out and wandering around then returning to find the house cleaned up and in order and the demon brings even more of his friends. The catechism says, 1472 “To understand this doctrine and practice of the Church, it is necessary to understand that sin has a double consequence. Grave sin deprives us of communion with God and therefore makes us incapable of eternal life, the privation of which is called the “eternal punishment” of sin.”
I’m not sure that just believing in God is enough. You say the Holy Spirit indwells all believers. There’s a “Church of Believers” down the street from my place of employment and its windows are all boarded up. What does believer even mean? Even the demons believe. Not everyone who says unto him Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heave but he who does the will of the Father.
I do believe that blood-bought believers can forfeit our inheritance if we don’t keep returning to the Lord when we fall. Not sure I’m addressing your concern but thought I’d try.
Actually, it was not so much a concern as it was a point I was trying to make (albeit, not perhaps as well as I would have liked) — the point that one need not call on a ‘professional’ exorcist to cast out Satan. Any Christian (I am assuming the Christian is walking closely with Christ) can be used by God to send Satan packing — thus the I cited those scriptures.
I agree. The key is staying close to our Lord. Thanks, Rich! I would add that there’s still a place for “professional exorcists” i.e. Bishops. Our Bishops are supposed to be the chief exorcists of our dioceses. Priests and bishops have a certain charism that we don’t have as lay people.
I would not typically respond to such a post – mostly because I don’t see a point to responding – but I disagree with your opinion (an/or the opinions of ‘professional’ exorcists) that (as you accuse Protestants of believing) “getting rid of them is not always as easy as just calling on the name of Jesus.”
Then you cite the example in Matthew 17. However, it can also be argued that the case in the gospels occurred BEFORE Pentecost at which time the Holy Spirit fell on the 120 men and women (see Acts 1 and 2) and since that time (as Jesus promised in John 14, 15, and 16) the Holy Spirit indwells ALL believers.
That is why St John tells us in 1 John 1:4: “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” And St Peter tells us: 8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 But resist him, firm in your faith (1 Peter 5:8); And St James tells us, Resist the devil and he will flee from you. (James 4:70)
So, yes, I disagree that any blood-bought and obedient Christian needs a ‘professional’ exorcist to come against any evil demon – Satan included. When St John tells us that greater is He (meaning God the Holy Spirit) who is in us that the evil spirits in the world, he wrote inerrantly and infallibly and under the divine inspiration of the same Holy Spirit.
One need not be a Protestant to disagree. One only needs to know the entire Bible in context.
Anyway, for what it’s worth.