How to Drive Out the Evil
One
Today’s meditation continues themes from the Sermon on the mount, examining our Lord’s teaching on fasting. To underscore the importance of fasting, I will connect this to Mark’s Gospel, Chapter 9, a passage that is prophetic for America at this time.
Verse 17: “he said to Jesus, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a dumb spirit; and wherever it seizes him, it dashes him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid, I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.”
Our generation is a faithless generation. Demonic forces throw us down and divide us just when it seems we are rising and uniting. We are foaming at the mouth and grinding our teeth, filled with anger and resentment. We are rigid, unable to move to help ourselves. Yet Jesus still wishes for us to be brought to Him. He wants to heal us.
Verse 20: “And they brought the boy to him; and when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth.”
The road to Jesus begins painfully, and Satan will fight you every step of the way. I know this is true. My four front teeth are fake, I lost them in a freak accident. But I truly believe I lost them because on my way to Jesus, Satan was fighting to keep me in sin, perhaps foreseeing my steps out of his clutches. When we say yest continually to his temptations, he thinks he owns us. Reflecting on those days, I feel as if Satan was saying “Oh no, you have spent too much time with me to get away that easy. I will take my pound of flesh that is owed.” And God said, “You can’t have him, but you can have his teeth. He needs to learn his lesson.” God had mercy on me and led me through the darkness. He will do the same for us and our culture. So long as we are brought to Him.
Two
Verse 21
“And Jesus asked his father, “How long has he had this?” And he said, “From childhood… if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us.”
The younger generation has dealt with this Godless, twisted culture and grown up in it. The entertainment industry is more and more filled with nudity, violence, horror, and perversion, all of which are biblical hallmarks of demonic activity. And so we say to Jesus, “Dear lord, We are falling further and further from you. If you can, have pity on us sinners. Help us”
“And Jesus said to him, “If you can! All things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mk 9:24).
Do not despair. God is more powerful than Satan. The mess we are in is never so great that God cannot heal and fix it. Lord, it was unbelief that has ruined the World in the first place. I believe, oh Lord, that you can fix and heal this world. I believe, oh lord, that you can fix and heal me. Help my unbelief!
Three
Mark 9:25:
“Jesus 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.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.”
The victory of Jesus is coming through His mother. And the terrible convulsions have already began. But keep faith, this means that Jesus is rebuking the evil spirit. In all of Mary’s recent apparitions, She has promised us Jesus will bring peace through His mother, and that we are to be agents of that peace by praying the rosary and reaching out to others through friendship.
Verse 28:
“And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting.”
Fasting. What a terrible, unattractive, unamerican word. And yet it is by fasting that the most ingrained of demonic activity is driven out. In this podcast we often encourage fasting from news, screens and entertainment of all kinds. But I encourage you to consider fasting from food and choosing to be hungry. I say this partially to motivate myself, because I often forget that Gluttony is even a sin, let alone one of the 7 deadly sins.
“Without mortifying the taste, it is impossible to preserve innocence, since it was by the indulgence of his appetite that Adam fell.” – St Catherine of Sienna.
Lord, I give you everything. I ask that you free myself, my family, my friends from the deadly influences we are so used to. Use me to drive out the evil in this culture. Give me the courage to fast.
Four
From St. Augustine:
“Fasting cleanses the soul, raises the mind, subjects one’s flesh to the spirit, renders the heart contrite and humble, scatters the clouds of concupiscence, quenches the fire of lust, and kindles the true light of chastity. Enter again into yourself.”
Pope John Paul II comments on this quote:
“‘Enter again into yourself.’ Yes, we must enter again into ourselves, if we want to find ourselves. Not only our spiritual life is at stake, but indeed, our personal, family and social equilibrium, itself. One of the meanings of penitential fasting is to help us recover an interior life.”
“Enter again into yourself.” When I was in the depths of the sins of my youth, I felt out of control, an imposter in my own skin. And when I am close to God, when I pour myself out in love for God and others, I feel so alive deep within, even if it is still hard and painful. Our world needs more people willing to suffer in tiny ways. And it is through this tiny gift of fasting that Satan can be driven from our lives and the lives of others.
“Although we may be able to do but little, the enemy nevertheless stands in awe of those whom he knows can fast.” St. Francis de Sales
Five
Again from St. John Paul the Great:
“Consumerism, instead of satisfying needs, constantly creates new ones, often generating excessive activism. Everything seems necessary and urgent and one risks not even finding the time to be alone with oneself for a while . . . Penitential fasting is obviously something very different from a therapeutic diet, but in its own way it can be considered therapy for the soul.”
We all have loved ones who are far from God; cousins and siblings, parents and children, relatives and friends who need a healing encounter with Our Lord. The disciples could have healed that child if they would have been committed to prayer and fasting. Let us not make the same mistake. We take for our model Mary, who’s quiet life of small sacrifices brought the redeemer into the world. In this decade, blessed mother, we bring to you all those we love. Our lady, help us to fast as you did, giving up one comfort today, to be bring your son into the world, as you do, and to be close to your son, as you are. Our Lady, undoer of knots, Pray for us. St. Joseph, terror of Demons, pray for us.