A Brief Catechism of Exorcism
Matthew J Bellisario O.P.
Several years ago I had the rare opportunity to assist in several exorcism sessions. One thing I can tell you is that it can teach you many things about your Catholic faith. God has many ways of getting through to His human creatures, and experience with preternatural can definitely help to put things into their proper perspective. As I reflect on my experiences assisting at these exorcisms, I realize that they were indeed meant to teach me several lessons about my faith. As I go through my daily life, I sometimes seem to get bogged down in everyday affairs. Many times I do not think about the things I say or how I treat people. It seems I am always in a hurry trying to go someplace or accomplish a task I need to get done.
Patience also I find lacking when I find myself in different situations. For example, when driving and cars are in my way I tend to assign an evil motive to the poor guy in front of me who is also probably aggravated to be stuck at the 10 second light that just turned red before he could get across the intersection because the car in front of him didn’t go fast enough. Throughout the day these and many other things can pull my attention away from God. I am sure many can relate to these types of day to day situations. I am often asked about the things I have experienced during these exorcism rituals, so I thought I would share a couple with you in a way that would be constructive. I asked myself the question, how can experiencing an exorcism, or even sharing my experience of an exorcism help someone? So I came up with four brief catechetical lessons that we can all learn from an exorcism.
Humility
First and foremost exorcisms can teach us humility. Once I witnessed a demon screaming through the possessed in terror during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The aggravation seemed to grow especially as certain prayers during the Mass were prayed by the priest or even certain Scripture passages were read. I also witnessed the demons being forced to bow their heads when the host was consecrated and elevated at the altar, and they were not happy about it. After the Mass, when the prayer of Saint Michael was prayed, the demons seemed to go ballistic. I often wonder why we stopped praying this prayer at most Novus Ordo masses. At any rate, I certainly had a feeling of great littleness in witnessing these things. The reality that there are indeed invisible entities far superior in intelligence and power than I, and they were being subdued and tortured by the celebration of the Mass was eye-opening, to say the least. Humility is a recognition of one’s proper place in the order of creation. We are not the center of the universe, yet at times we all certainly act as if we are indeed the center. We are ultimately dependent on God and our relationship with Him in prayer. Since prayer is a natural offspring of humility, then putting God at the center of our lives will take the focus off ourselves. The demons know who is in charge, and so we often need a reminder ourselves. As Padre Pio once said, “The Lord is willing to do great things but on the condition that we are truly humble.”
Faith
Second, exorcisms can offer us stronger faith. For example, I witnessed Saint Michael and the seven angels who stand before God force Satan to kiss the crucifix. The priest held the crucifix in front of the possessed whom Satan was occupying and told him to kiss the crucifix, to make him show his submission to Christ and His passion on the cross. Satan as if sitting on a throne laughed and mocked the priest for several minutes until the priest asked for the intercession of Saint Michael and the holy angels that stand before the face of God. While the priest was asking for their intercession I could literally see the force behind the person forcing their head forward making him kiss the crucifix, after which he cried out in total humiliation. Here we see the authority of Christ working through His priest and Church. Whenever I see Protestants telling Catholics that they should not venerate the crucifix it literally makes me sick to my stomach because they are ignorantly imitating Satan.
Likewise, many other times the exorcist asked the Blessed Virgin Mary to pray for all of us and the demons screamed in terror when she was asked. The power of the Blessed Mother is recognized by Satan and all of his minions! As we know Satan and his minions are frightened of the one who "Crushes Satan's head." I also saw the power of the relics of the Saints that were placed directly on the body of the person burning the demons as they shrieked out with pain. Holy water also caused them a great deal of suffering and anguish, although some did not react as violent as others. All of these experiences and many more should let us know that these invisible beings and the power of the Saints and sacramentals are real. They are not derived from fictitious or mythological tales told to scare people into submitting to the Catholic Church. For those who say Satan and the fallen angels are mere figments of people’s imaginations, I beg to differ by personal experience. We should be wise and trust what Our Lord teaches us through His one and only Church that there are principalities and powers which are seeking our destruction.
Conviction
Third, these experiences should motivate us to be more serious about living our Catholic faith. Knowing that these entities are literally hell-bent on our destruction should give us pause as to how we go about our day. Do you sometimes get a sudden inclination of anger or depression that seems to come out of nowhere? The demons know our weak areas and they often put suggestions into our imaginations to incline us to sin. Of course, we have our own inclinations to start with, and we cannot blame everything on the demons, but rest assured they are working for our destruction. When the prayers of the exorcism ritual that pertain to delivering the person from all anger and hatred were prayed, one of the several demons in the possessed always reacted to it, laughing as if that was his specialty. In experiencing these rituals it seems that each demon that was present in the possessed fed off of a certain vice. One represented anger, another pride and another impurity, and so forth.
We should have more conviction to be on our guard against those vices that most easily trap us since they invite the demonic who specialize in that vice into our lives. We should also be careful in what we do and what we say so we are not cooperating in evil. The exorcist during one session asked Satan why he was wasting his time on this person since he knew that he was going to be cast out eventually. The priest asked, “Why are you wasting your time Satan, you can be doing your work els-ware, don't you have plans to oversee.” Satan snidely responded, “I don’t have to oversee everything, most people are doing my work willingly all over the world.” This stark reality is quite sobering. We do not want to be one of those willing pawns! There are so many people who don't realize they are working for Satan. We need to be more serious about our faith. Our souls and the souls of those around us depend on it.
Patience
Ah, patience, one of my Achilles heels. I will end this article in reference to one of my weakest areas, that of patience. Exorcisms often take many sessions to drive out Satan and his minions. It is not usually a one and done type ordeal. Jesus told the apostles, “But this kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting.” (Matthew 17:20) Often times an exorcism case is a trial in patience for the priest, those assisting, and the person possessed. I know that I oftentimes during these sessions I wanted the person to be delivered immediately, and yet I saw that God was in charge, not me, not the person being possessed, and not even the priest. I think that many priests who have done exorcisms can attest to the fact that exorcisms can be frustrating. While of course the possessed person must be committed to getting rid of the demon and all vices which attributed to the posssesion, we learn that the exorcism’s success lies with the divine providence of almighty God. We are His willing instruments, nothing more.
In summary, exorcisms teach us that we are not the center of attention; we need to have divine faith in everything God teaches us through His Church; we should live our faith with conviction, and finally, that we are to be patient and let God be God.
Matthew J Bellisario O.P.
Several years ago I had the rare opportunity to assist in several exorcism sessions. One thing I can tell you is that it can teach you many things about your Catholic faith. God has many ways of getting through to His human creatures, and experience with preternatural can definitely help to put things into their proper perspective. As I reflect on my experiences assisting at these exorcisms, I realize that they were indeed meant to teach me several lessons about my faith. As I go through my daily life, I sometimes seem to get bogged down in everyday affairs. Many times I do not think about the things I say or how I treat people. It seems I am always in a hurry trying to go someplace or accomplish a task I need to get done.
Patience also I find lacking when I find myself in different situations. For example, when driving and cars are in my way I tend to assign an evil motive to the poor guy in front of me who is also probably aggravated to be stuck at the 10 second light that just turned red before he could get across the intersection because the car in front of him didn’t go fast enough. Throughout the day these and many other things can pull my attention away from God. I am sure many can relate to these types of day to day situations. I am often asked about the things I have experienced during these exorcism rituals, so I thought I would share a couple with you in a way that would be constructive. I asked myself the question, how can experiencing an exorcism, or even sharing my experience of an exorcism help someone? So I came up with four brief catechetical lessons that we can all learn from an exorcism.
Humility
First and foremost exorcisms can teach us humility. Once I witnessed a demon screaming through the possessed in terror during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. The aggravation seemed to grow especially as certain prayers during the Mass were prayed by the priest or even certain Scripture passages were read. I also witnessed the demons being forced to bow their heads when the host was consecrated and elevated at the altar, and they were not happy about it. After the Mass, when the prayer of Saint Michael was prayed, the demons seemed to go ballistic. I often wonder why we stopped praying this prayer at most Novus Ordo masses. At any rate, I certainly had a feeling of great littleness in witnessing these things. The reality that there are indeed invisible entities far superior in intelligence and power than I, and they were being subdued and tortured by the celebration of the Mass was eye-opening, to say the least. Humility is a recognition of one’s proper place in the order of creation. We are not the center of the universe, yet at times we all certainly act as if we are indeed the center. We are ultimately dependent on God and our relationship with Him in prayer. Since prayer is a natural offspring of humility, then putting God at the center of our lives will take the focus off ourselves. The demons know who is in charge, and so we often need a reminder ourselves. As Padre Pio once said, “The Lord is willing to do great things but on the condition that we are truly humble.”
Faith
Second, exorcisms can offer us stronger faith. For example, I witnessed Saint Michael and the seven angels who stand before God force Satan to kiss the crucifix. The priest held the crucifix in front of the possessed whom Satan was occupying and told him to kiss the crucifix, to make him show his submission to Christ and His passion on the cross. Satan as if sitting on a throne laughed and mocked the priest for several minutes until the priest asked for the intercession of Saint Michael and the holy angels that stand before the face of God. While the priest was asking for their intercession I could literally see the force behind the person forcing their head forward making him kiss the crucifix, after which he cried out in total humiliation. Here we see the authority of Christ working through His priest and Church. Whenever I see Protestants telling Catholics that they should not venerate the crucifix it literally makes me sick to my stomach because they are ignorantly imitating Satan.
Likewise, many other times the exorcist asked the Blessed Virgin Mary to pray for all of us and the demons screamed in terror when she was asked. The power of the Blessed Mother is recognized by Satan and all of his minions! As we know Satan and his minions are frightened of the one who "Crushes Satan's head." I also saw the power of the relics of the Saints that were placed directly on the body of the person burning the demons as they shrieked out with pain. Holy water also caused them a great deal of suffering and anguish, although some did not react as violent as others. All of these experiences and many more should let us know that these invisible beings and the power of the Saints and sacramentals are real. They are not derived from fictitious or mythological tales told to scare people into submitting to the Catholic Church. For those who say Satan and the fallen angels are mere figments of people’s imaginations, I beg to differ by personal experience. We should be wise and trust what Our Lord teaches us through His one and only Church that there are principalities and powers which are seeking our destruction.
Conviction
Third, these experiences should motivate us to be more serious about living our Catholic faith. Knowing that these entities are literally hell-bent on our destruction should give us pause as to how we go about our day. Do you sometimes get a sudden inclination of anger or depression that seems to come out of nowhere? The demons know our weak areas and they often put suggestions into our imaginations to incline us to sin. Of course, we have our own inclinations to start with, and we cannot blame everything on the demons, but rest assured they are working for our destruction. When the prayers of the exorcism ritual that pertain to delivering the person from all anger and hatred were prayed, one of the several demons in the possessed always reacted to it, laughing as if that was his specialty. In experiencing these rituals it seems that each demon that was present in the possessed fed off of a certain vice. One represented anger, another pride and another impurity, and so forth.
We should have more conviction to be on our guard against those vices that most easily trap us since they invite the demonic who specialize in that vice into our lives. We should also be careful in what we do and what we say so we are not cooperating in evil. The exorcist during one session asked Satan why he was wasting his time on this person since he knew that he was going to be cast out eventually. The priest asked, “Why are you wasting your time Satan, you can be doing your work els-ware, don't you have plans to oversee.” Satan snidely responded, “I don’t have to oversee everything, most people are doing my work willingly all over the world.” This stark reality is quite sobering. We do not want to be one of those willing pawns! There are so many people who don't realize they are working for Satan. We need to be more serious about our faith. Our souls and the souls of those around us depend on it.
Patience
Ah, patience, one of my Achilles heels. I will end this article in reference to one of my weakest areas, that of patience. Exorcisms often take many sessions to drive out Satan and his minions. It is not usually a one and done type ordeal. Jesus told the apostles, “But this kind is not cast out but by prayer and fasting.” (Matthew 17:20) Often times an exorcism case is a trial in patience for the priest, those assisting, and the person possessed. I know that I oftentimes during these sessions I wanted the person to be delivered immediately, and yet I saw that God was in charge, not me, not the person being possessed, and not even the priest. I think that many priests who have done exorcisms can attest to the fact that exorcisms can be frustrating. While of course the possessed person must be committed to getting rid of the demon and all vices which attributed to the posssesion, we learn that the exorcism’s success lies with the divine providence of almighty God. We are His willing instruments, nothing more.
In summary, exorcisms teach us that we are not the center of attention; we need to have divine faith in everything God teaches us through His Church; we should live our faith with conviction, and finally, that we are to be patient and let God be God.
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