On this 3rd Sunday of Lent in the Vetus Ordo we have a Gospel reading from Luke 11:14-28 in which Our Lord refutes an accusation that He cast out demons because He was aligned with the Devil.
It is helpful to look at parallel Gospel passages for additional details. In this case we have parallels in Matthew and Mark.
One element of the episode popped out at me. It wasn’t in Mark, but it is in Luke and Mark. Here is the RSV:
| Matthew 12:27 | Mark | Luke 11:19 |
| 27 And if I cast out demons by Be-el?zebul, by whom do your sons (Greek huioi) cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. | 9 And if I cast out demons by Be-el?zebul, by whom do your sons (Greek huioi) cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. |
The DRV has “children” in both instances.
One could get fancy with Greek huioi and make it to mean any male Jews, young or adult. A plain reading of both passages is “children”. Ancient Jews, as the Greeks and Romans, had classifications of age groups. While the “seven ages” goes back to Solon, in general there was boyhood, youth and old age. One moved from being at boy to being a youth at about 13.
It seems that the earthly time of the Lord, 1st century Jews had also children, not just adults, doing exorcisms.
A couple of things are to be drawn from this.
Firstly, the Jews practiced exorcism. As a matter of fact, in the Gospel reading we hear on the 1st Sunday of Lent, the Devil quotes a psalm that the Jews used in their exorcisms! That said, the remark about children hints that there was great need for exorcisms then, so much so, that they needed the assistance of the young. That suggests that manifestations of possession were obvious to them. It is not a coincidence that in many instances of the Lord casting out demons He was also healing, as in the Gospel today wherein the man was mute. In Matthew the demoniac is both mute and blind. One might ask: Are there fewer instances of possession now? Or are they simply not as obvious? Why would that be? Is it because our times are so numbed that we don’t notice it?
Secondly, exorcist is one of the Minor Orders, the second after acolyte. In ancient times the function of those in minor orders fit the name of the order. Minor orders could be received at quite a young age. In more recent times that ceased. Way back, exorcists exorcized. This exercise of exorcism was needed particularly at this time in the liturgical year because catechumens were being “scrutinzed” and exorcized several times during the second part of Lent (3rd Sunday onward). Pope Cornelius (+253) in a says that in Rome there were 52 exorcists. Scrutinies and exorcisms are all compressed into the modern (traditional) Rite of Baptism. For example, the ancient practice of exsufflation (out-breathing) remains in the rite. It is mentioned by St. Augustine for the baptism of infants. The traditional rite has several exorcisms while the Novus Ordo still retains one though it is not nearly as explicit as those in the Vetus Ordo form.
If memory serves the ancient child St. Cyricus may have performed an exorcism when his mother St. Julitta was undergoing oppression by the Enemy after she was tortured. However, the tales of these ancient saints vary quite a lot.
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If we look at Luke 11, we see the description of a household, which is mystalogical description of the City of God; macro the Kingdom of God, micro the human soul. The children of the soul are its adornments, the virtuous habits. A soul that has many children will not be ashamed (vanquished) when it means the enemy at the gates (Psalm 127:5). A soul that has been swept and ordered (the Law) but has not been filled with virtue will become an inviting place for vice and its ugly daughters and will be worse than when it started (corruptio optimi pessima). So the children of the soul will testify as to whom the soul actually belongs to, depending of if they be the sons of virtue or the daughters of vice; to whether the devil has been exercised and kept out or has been allowed in a fouled the place.
The Church Fathers also saw in this passage the need for putting on the armor of God gained through washing of baptism — that swept and ordered was not enough for the soul needed to be guarded by Christ; and they used this as a warning for those who would not accept baptism and a warning to those that would do nothing with their baptism.
Originally posted in the wrong thread, the one below this one.
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This is one of the best things you have written about in a while, at least to me.
We can see so many who do appear to have demons, many in the media and Democrats as well. Not that there aren’t any Republicans with a demon, but so many obvious examples among the media and Democrats.
That, and almost all the transgendered people have a demon, and those pushing it surely do.
JMJ
excalibur: Caution. While I know that demonic influence is on the rise, every exorcist will warn not to ascribe to demons what can be ascribed to mental illness. Moreover, there is an adage that sin makes you stupid, and that can also be an explanation for certain things, at least in their beginning.
One exorcist told me that the Enemy doesn’t bother to possess or oppress many people who are already on a track toward Hell. The Enemy, although angelic and many, still has limited time and resources. They focus especially on those whom they haven’t yet gotten firmly in hand.
That said, there is no question that the present day gender bending and twisting and physical mutilations have a demonic root.
REMINDER:
Exorcism is merely a sacramental. Going to confession is a SACRAMENT, and much more powerful than a sacramental.
In regard to your comment about mental illness, there are also physical illnesses that one could mistake for possession. In one day several weeks ago I heard two different callers to different radio shows complain about troubling very vivid dreams which made them frightened they were under demonic attack. Neither the priest in one show nor the theologian in another was aware this could be RBD, rem sleep behavioral disorder, which can be a sign that one is going to get Parkinson’s disease or several relatively rare but extremely scary disorders. A neurologist who specializes in sleep disorders can sort this out by looking at brain waves during REM sleep. In my case I was lucky. Although I had a disorder there was no sign of Parkinson’s or the very scary other disorders.