Get that devil out of your system

We sometimes hear the angry retort: "To hell with you!" And we know hell is the place where ‘devils’ abound. It is a truth of faith that devils exist and are operative in the world. Let no one take this for granted. Devils have a supernatural dynamism of diabolic power bent on evil. Hence, when we are shocked at the way crimes are perpetrated and we witness with horror every kind of man’s inhumanity to man (and this includes oppression of the poor, exploitation of employees and laborers, injustices which kill or harm the helpless, slavery, cruelty), make no mistake about this: that in these instances are expressions of diabolic power that have taken possession of man.

There is this phenomena in today’s Gospel of possession by the devil in the stricter sense. As in the case of the man with an unclean spirit, a devil or devils take abode in the very person itself. At the approach of Jesus, they panicked: "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who You are — the Holy One of God" (Mk 1:23). And Jesus in rebuke said: "Quite! Come out of him." And with a loud cry, the evil spirit came out of the man. This is what we call exorcism which priests are empowered to do in their pastoral work – to cast out devils. Exorcism is a solemn prayer to God, a commission of Christ and the Church for the protection of persons against malign power of devils.

Devils were a number of angels (pure spirits or intelligences) before, who became proud and rebelled against God. So God sent his top intelligences under the leadership of St. Michael the Archangel to cast them into hell fire. Today, we pray to him to be our safeguard from all the snares of the devils. They are the powers of this world insofar as this world is a denial of God and a temptation to us to commit evil.

We know that Jesus Christ overcome sin. In the face of His redemptive work, the power of devils is only an arrogant sham, however, real the power of wars, dictators, tyrants, oppressors, corruption in government, and the multitude of sins in the heart of every human being. Devils as elements of this world who culpably close themselves to God, their influence manifesting itself in various circumstances and dimensions of human life, in self-will which leads to sin and death.

Devilish influences are vanquished through the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But we are asked to keep watch because we continue to struggle against devilish power. This is, however, the crux of the whole matter: Evil still saturates the atmosphere of our world so that we Christians are exposed to temptation towards evil. The apostle Paul warns: "For Christ’s sake we are being slain all the day, we are looked upon as sheep to be slaughtered. No in all these things, we conquer overwhelmingly through Christ who loves us. And I am convinced that neither death…nor powers nor any other creatures will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus" (Rom 8:38-39).

So get that devil out of your system! How? Have Jesus possess your whole being and for sure the devil cannot move even an inch of your way. We can get St. Michael the Archangel to help us with his daily exorcism if we pray to him: "Be our safeguard from all the snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, prince of the heavenly host, thrust into hell Satan and all wicked spirits who wander through the world seeking the ruin of souls."

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Mark 1:21-28.