October 9, 2009
Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
By Melanie Rigney
Let all who dwell in the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming. (Joel 2:1)
The Lord will judge the world with justice. (Psalms 9:9)
"When an unclean spirit goes out of someone, it roams through arid regions searching for rest but, finding none, it says, 'I shall return to my home from which I came. But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and brings back seven other spirits more wicked than itself who move in and dwell there, and the last condition of that person is worse than the first." (Luke 11:24-26)
Piety
Lord, keep me safe against the true evil that exists in this world.
Study
Jesus was all about love—of God and of our neighbors as our selves. But he also recognized the very real evil that exists in the world.
“The coming of God’s kingdom means the defeat of Satan’s,” according to The Catechism of the Catholic Church. “Jesus’ exorcisms free some individuals from the domination of demons.”
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus has just driven out a demon. Does he do it by Satan’s power or by God’s, the crowd asked. Jesus turns the question back on them, and speaks of the importance of each of us “fully armed (guarding our) palace.”
The Catechism outlines what an exorcism looks like today. In some ways, it resembles Baptism. A priest, acting with the bishop’s permission, “asks publicly and authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ that a person or object be protected against the power of the Evil One and withdrawn from his dominion.” The Catechism further distinguishes between the presence of the Evil One and illness, especially mental illness, which is to be treated as per medical science.
Few of us ever will need an exorcism. And yet demons are very real. Don’t believe it? Consider Jesuit Peter Binsfeld’s classification of demons from 1589 that pairs a demon with each of the seven deadly sins:
| Lucifer | Pride |
| Mammon | Avarice |
| Asmodeus | Lust |
| Satan | Anger |
| Beelzebub | Gluttony |
| Leviathan | Envy |
| Belphegor | Vanity and Sloth |
And who among us does not face temptation by at least one of those sins each day?
Ignoring the existence of demons is naive and invites the Evil One in. Let us ask for the Lord’s help in remaining fully armed.
Action
What are you doing so that unclean spirits do not find rest in your home? Journal about how your piety, study, and action plan helps guard against this possibility.
