Did you feel it?
A few days ago the veil of satanic oppression smothering this country was lifted, just a bit. Suddenly, in the midst of all of the other turmoil engulfing the country just now, the opportunity has arisen for President Trump to select another Supreme Court justice. There now exists a real possibility that the United States will be blessed with a Court capable of overturning not only the hideous abortion decision Roe v. Wade, but also other decisions rendered by the Court which were based on a bankrupt and progressive view of the Court’s role. However, the fight to install that new justice promises to be ferocious.
I am reminded of the incident in Holy Scripture when Jesus was called upon to cast out a devil from a deaf mute afflicted with seizures from birth. The devil did not go easily – its rage was evident as it was extracted from that boy:
“And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, ‘You dumb and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.’ And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse; so that most of them said, ‘He is dead.’”
Mark 9:25-26 RSV Catholic Edition
And here we are, a country full of people stricken mute and deaf while unspeakable violence has been visited upon the most innocent and vulnerable among us – for decades. We are indeed afflicted by demons, of the worst sort. And Catholics and other Christians for many years have fought against this evil with activities and events such as the annual March for Life, 40 Days for Life, and praying outside of abortion mills. I will personally never forget the overwhelming sense of God’s grace I felt last January when I stood on the National Mall, and saw there in front of me, for the first time ever, the President of the United States exhorting the nation with a pro-life message.
But perhaps now, at this critical juncture, it is time to up the ante, and take to heart the words of Jesus at the end of this passage from Mark, when his disciples wanted to know why they could not cast out this demon:
Continue reading “In Memoriam”“This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting.”
Mark 9:29 RSV Catholic Edition