Christ's Authority over Evil

4^TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME B

YEAR OF THE CLERGY AND CONSECRATED PEOPLE

January 28, 2018

Jesus, I trust in you!

Who is the prophet? Many of us mistakenly think that a prophet is a man who predicts the future, a clairvoyant of sorts. But the word of God today tells us otherwise. The first reading speaks of a prophet as one on whose mouth God puts his words, a man who shall tell people what the Lord commands him. He speaks in the name of the Lord. He is called to be faithful to the word that he had received, and transmit it as such to God’s people.

Called to be the faithful communicator of God’s word (and not his own), his ministry would lead him to primarily denounce evil in all its forms, and call to conversion. The prophets of the Old Testament were men who denounced evil and constantly called people to conversion.

However, these are nothing in comparison with Jesus. The Lord told his people that he shall raise up a prophet like Moses among their kinsmen. This refers to Jesus himself. While the prophets of old spoke in the name of the Lord, the Lord Jesus spoke with authority. “A completely new teaching with a spirit of authority,” so people exclaimed about Jesus. This authority is his own because Jesus is the only Begotten Son of God. This authority cannot be denied even by the evil spirits who said to him: “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!” Not only did Jesus come to call of us to conversion as did all the prophets of old. “The Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil.” He commanded the evil spirit to be quiet because evil has no authority as it pretends to have. The real authority over evil is found in Jesus. He is the only one who can command the evil spirit: “Come out of the man!” This is why the people who saw this exorcism were so amazed that they said: “He gives orders to unclean spirits and they obey him.” They obey him not because they want to but because they have to. No one can resist the authority of Jesus because all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him by the Father. This is why conversion from evil is really possible for us because Jesus liberated us from the evil one. On our own we cannot free ourselves from the devil. Our human nature is too inferior as compared to the fallen angelic nature. But Christ, the Son of God, is superior to the devil. Therefore, he destroys the power of the devil over us so that we can freely “devote ourselves entirely to the Lord.” The Lord does not simply command us to return to him and change our ways. He destroys the power of the devil and gives us the Holy Spirit so that we can do what is right and avoid what is evil. “He gives orders to unclean spirits and they obey him.” We should obey him as well because he has given us the power to do so.

Conversion is possible not because we have the power of the will to do so. Conversion is possible because Christ enables our will to do it. We cannot tell the Lord: Lord, all you do is command us. Not only did he call us to conversion. He gave us the means to do it. Let us not underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit he has given to us. Christ is the powerful Word of God. He gives us a completely new teaching in a spirit of authority. Let us devote ourselves entirely to the Lord and thereby be free of all worries. 

O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

Evil should be silenced and expelled

Praised be Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!

Be quiet! Come out of him!

“A new teaching with authority!” This is how amazed people described the teachings of our Lord which was accompanied by great signs, among them is an exorcism. “The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes. 2 things they said about Jesus’ teaching: first, it was new and second, it had authority. The newness and the authority of our Lord’s teachings come from who he is. The demons themselves could not deny it: “We know who you are – the Holy One of God.” It is from who he is that Jesus of Nazareth has power to destroy evil spirits. In a world that was dominated by Satan, something new was breaking that dominion and this is none other than the Kingdom of God. In a world enveloped by the darkness of sin and the shadow of death, a new light was appearing. Behold, the Holy One comes: Jesus of Nazareth. He comes to destroy the reign of the evil one.

“The coming of God’s kingdom means the defeat of Satan’s: ‘If it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.’ Jesus’ exorcisms free some individuals from the domination of demons. They anticipate Jesus’ great victory over the ‘ruler of this world.’ The Kingdom of God will be definitely established through Christ’s Cross: ‘God reigned from the wood.’” (CCC, 550)

Sometimes it is difficult to believe that the Kingdom of God has already come because when we look around us, we continue to see evidences of the reign of Satan. The cruel fate of the fallen 44 at the hands of their enemies provokes us to ask: “Where is justice? Is the Kingdom of God truly upon us? If Christ has conquered sin, then why do evil men continue to afflict us? Why do good men fall?” Evil men strike us with impunity. They threaten us with violence and oftentimes, they succeed in pushing us into silence. They threaten us with bomb attacks, explosion everywhere in order to get our silence. And the silence of good men is all they need to let evil triumph. “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is that good men say nothing, and do nothing.”

And yet, in the gospel we hear: “Jesus rebuked (the evil spirit) and said: ‘Quiet! Come out of him!’” It is not good men who should be silenced. It is evil that should be silenced. Evil should not maim us in fear. Rather, evil should be driven out. We should not be intimidated by the power of evil. The power of the evil one is great indeed, but it is not unlimited. It will come to an end and Satan is well aware of this. He knows that his days are numbered. He knows that his kingdom is collapsing. That is why he kicks and bites. Knowing that he is already condemned, Satan struggles to create as much damage as he can. But kick and bite as much as he wants, Satan is going down! This is what I have seen again and again with every case of exorcism I witness. Demons try to intimidate with loud cries and manifestations of power.  But all of these are tricks to deceive us into thinking that nothing can be done to make them fall. My eyes have seen again and again the power of Jesus’ Holy Name. I have seen again and again how the evil spirits flee at the Name of Jesus. I have seen again and again how the love of the Lord Jesus always triumphs over the hatred of the evil one. And this is what we have to believe: we have to believe in the power of the Lord’s love. We must never forget that Jesus is God and Satan is only a creature. It is useless for Satan to fight against the Lord. It is a mismatch. The victory belongs to Christ. His love in the end will always triumph. That is why evil should not silence us. Instead, we should silence evil with the proclamation of the Gospel. Violence should not oppress us into submission. Rather, we should overcome it with love. I remember that 1945 song: “We shall overcome, we shall overcome, we shall overcome someday. Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe, we shall overcome someday.” Jesus said, “Do not fear…I have overcome the world.”

Jesus, I trust in you! O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

DEMONIC EXPRESSIONS

Be careful with words because they are not as innocent as they seem to be. A friend sent me a book entitled A Message of Hope: Confessions of an Ex-Satanist: How to Protect Yourself from Evil written by Deborah Lipsky who, for many years, lived as a prisoner of a satanic cult. Browsing through the pages, I came across this part which spoke of expressions that are not meaningless but actually attract demons from hell. I would like to share this part for our guidance: 

TOP 5 EXPRESSIONS THAT ACT LIKE A DOG WHISTLE 

SUMMONING THE HOUNDS OF HELL

1. "GOD DAMN IT"

In this phrase you are directly asking that the Creator of the universe to curse someone or something into hell for eve. It is said in an atmosphere of anger where no love is present, only hate. If you derive some sort of satisfaction from using this expression, that satisfaction means you are under the influence of demonic thought tampering. If saying it gives you a sense of power, you are trapped into the mindset of demons. To a demon, this selfish unholy request means that you have the audacity to ask God to commit an evil act on your command. In essence you are ordering God to do your dirty work!

2. "WHY DON'T YOU JUST DROP DEAD?"

By saying this you are actually pronouncing a form of a curse on someone else because you are wishing for them to die. When I was in school, I was constantly bullied. There was always a group of girls who would publicly humiliate me and then tell me to drop dead. As I tried to walk away, I would either trip in my nervousness or drop my books. That made them cackle in delight and hurl even more insult my way such as "loser" or "moron". To actually feel delight in someone else's pain is a "character trait" of demons. To laugh at someone else's misfortune after telling them to drop dead is an obvious tell-tale sign that they are under the influence of a cluster of demons.  Having "friends" or people support or encourage such behavior means there is a cluster of demons at work within that group.

3. "I SWEAR TO GOD"

This expression means that you are making an unbreakable vow in front of God regarding your innocence. Jesus himself warned against swearing to God in Matthew 5:33-37, "Again you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, do not break your oath, but keep oaths you have made to the Lord. But I tell you, do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your 'yes' be 'yes' and your 'no' be 'no'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one."

To use this expression to hide behind a false innocence is disgusting. Not only are you lying but you are manipulating the other person's trust by getting them to believe that God is vouching for your innocence. This expression is a favorite of demons everywhere.

4. "HOCUS POCUS"

Mainly this phrase is used in magic tricks but every now and then I hear it when someone says something to the effect, "There is a lot of 'hocus pocus' going on there." No Catholic should ever use this phrase as it is a derogatory corruption referring to the Eucharist: "Hoc est Corpus" or "This is my Body". Protestants back in the Middle Ages used this corrupted term to mock the Holy Eucharist...They would hurl this insult not only at clergy but also Catholic lay people on their way to Mass.

5. "KISS MY ASS"

I saved this expression last because it is especially vulgar. Sadly it is such a common expression in our society today spoken to show defiance. It is better known to Satanists elsewhere as the "oscularum infame" or "Kiss of Shame". During the traditional black mass this was considered a symbolic requisite towards earthly success. Participants would literally kiss the bare behind of the devil (usually the high priest
conducting the mass). Nothing gets a cluster of demons charging headlong towards somebody faster than using excerpts from the satanic mass.

(Deborah Lipsky, A Message of Hope: Confessions of an Ex-Satanist: How to Protect Yourself from Evil, Phoenix: Tau Publishing, 2012, 175-176.)

Casting out Evil Spirits

"Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out..." (Mt. 10:1)

Unclean spirits (demons) possess the angelic nature which is superior to the human nature. Scripture speaks of man as made "lower than the angels." And so, when our Lord bestowed the authority to drive away evil spirits to his apostles who were mere human beings, he gave creatures of inferior nature the authority to cast out creatures of superior nature. In this way, the Lord humiliates the pride of Lucifier."He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly."

The humiliation of Lucifer began with the promise of the Woman who will crush the serpent's head. Not only did the Lord give this sublime honor of crushing the serpent's head to a human being who was created "lower than the angels." He made the humiliation even worse by declaring that this human being be a Woman.

Christ gave bishops and exorcists this power to cast out evil spirits. Bishops and exorcists are ordained men. Those who have engaged in this ministry have constantly called upon Our Lady to assist them in casting out demons. And those who call on her do not call in vain. To his most humble of all creatures, the Lord has bestowed the singular dignity of crushing the serpent's head.

On the hesitation to exorcise

Fr. Gabriele Amorth, exorcist of Rome, wrote on the hesitation of priests to exorcise:

"Often priests do not believe in exorcisms, but if the bishop offers them the office of exorcist, they feel as though one thousand demons are upon them and refuse. Many times have I written that Satan is much more enraged when we take souls away from him through confession than when we take away bodies through exorcism. In fact, we cause the devil even greater rage by preaching because faith sprouts from the word of God. Therefore, a priest who has the courage to preach and hear confessions should not be afraid to exorcise."

(G. Amorth, An Exorcist Tells His Story, 67.)