OT X (B)  Gen 3. 9:15; II Cor 4:13--5:1; Mk 3:20-35

Both the first reading and the gospel speak of devil and his works. Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, Satan had been the “ruler of this world.” Jesus said: “Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out” (Jn. 12:31). After creating the world God handed it to Man to take care of it and rule it. But Satan by trickery got that power from man.

With the arrival of Christ, we are faced with someone who repeatedly outmatches Satan. He casts out demons effortlessly, with a mere word or touch, and, above all, he forgives sin, freeing souls from the most dire of Satan’s entrapments.  

And they were so extraordinary, that the leaders in Jerusalem sent some representatives 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.  

 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).

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.

The rarest and most dramatic way that the devil tries to disturb our relationship with God is through demonic possession. Possession is when a devil concentrates its activity within a 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. 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 that are in rebellion against Jesus Christ.

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. Fr.Bob Rottgers (at St.Philip’s) is the one in this diocese.

There are also some other extra-ordinary ways that the devil tries to interfere with our lives. Sometimes, the devil and his fallen angels 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. Therefore it is always advisable to help the dying with prayers. Even though they are not responsive they could be fighting temptation. The best prayer that could help at this time is Hail Mary, in which we ask Mary’s help to pray for us sinners NOW and at the hour of death. Pray this, surrounding the dying person.

Blessings, holy water, and other prayers and sacramentals are sturdy defenses against this kind of devilish attacks.

Possession, infestation, oppression, and obsession can frighten us, but they usually lead us to exercise our faith in order to get rid of them. Temptation, the devil’s favorite tactics, 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.

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.

To counter this, 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. None of us are impervious to temptation. Even Jesus had been tempted by Satan. But his 40 days of prayer and reflection in the wilderness helped him overcome the temptation successfully. Let’s also form a habit of prayer and deep reflection everyday so that we can be successful in our fight against the arch enemy, the Satan.