At first, evil slithered in a garden and called God a liar. Today, it endures, and, as the famous St. Michael prayer so eloquently describes, “prowls about the world, seeking the ruin of souls.”
Archbishop Jeffrey S. Grob knows a thing or two about that evil which seeks to ruin souls — in fact, he’s spent many years of his life combating it. He worked in the Ministry of Exorcism in the Archdiocese of Chicago from 2006 until he was named Archbishop of Milwaukee last November.
In an upcoming episode of the archdiocese’s “Living Our Faith” podcast, Archbishop Grob shares insights with host Fr. Brad Krawczk on the devil, exorcisms and what can contribute to a broken relationship with God.
Here are seven takeaways from the episode, which will air Oct. 31.
- The devil isn’t really that important.
If you’re thinking a lot about the devil, you probably aren’t thinking as much as you should about Christ.
The devil is such a mesmerizing and sensationalized concept that people can easily become fixated on him instead of fixated on Christ. “Unfortunately, it becomes very distracting — as opposed to saying, ‘Well, I believe in Jesus Christ, that’s my center,’” Archbishop Grob said. “Sure, there are other (spiritual forces) at work, but we focus on Christ.”
- Don’t (always) blame the devil.
The devil and demons are very daunting supernatural realities. But their influence can too often be used as a convenient scapegoat by those of us who don’t want to do the hard work of making the right choice.
That line of thinking makes the devil much more important and much more powerful than he really is, Archbishop Grob said.
Pointing to the Gospel depiction of Jesus’ temptation before the beginning of his public ministry, Archbishop Grob described how we can see that Christ is tempted first by hunger and pride — common, everyday temptations we all encounter — before he is tempted to submit to the authority of the devil.
“People have a tendency to say that the devil is responsible for everything … everything that goes wrong, everything (wrong) that I choose is the work of the devil,” the archbishop said. “But … if the devil is responsible for everything, I don’t have to be responsible for anything.”
- The devil is just a creature.
Preoccupation with avoiding demonic influence can inadvertently exaggerate the devil’s power. He is not on par with the Lord in any way.
“People forget that the evil one is also a creature. The evil one has a beginning. He’s not God,” Archbishop Grob explained. “Yes, he’s formidable … he has gifts that he did not lose as a result of the fall, but he has limitations too. And so that’s why we have to continue to ground ourselves … at the end of the day, our Lord has won the victory. We belong to Christ.”
- We’ve all experienced (minor) exorcism.
There are two kinds of exorcisms: major and minor. Priests and even deacons who are performing Baptisms celebrate minor exorcisms all the time; every time the Church “asks publicly and authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ that a person or object be protected against the power of the Evil One…it is called exorcism,” the Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us. (CCC 1673)
Major exorcism, per the same Catechism passage, is “directed at the expulsion of demons or to the liberation from demonic possession through the spiritual authority which Jesus entrusted to his Church.”
- Not just any priest can be an exorcist.
Major exorcisms are set apart, and only deputed priests who have received special training and the approval of their bishop can perform the formal Rite of Exorcism.
The involvement of the bishop is crucial, Archbishop Grob said, because bishops are specially entrusted with the care of the souls of the people in their diocese. A priest has no power of his own to perform an exorcism; he has only the power of the Church, given to her by Christ.
- Exorcists are trained to be skeptical.
“The intake is the hardest part,” Archbishop Grob said of the exorcist’s job. “It’s to sit with the person and to say, ‘Well, okay, what is going on?’ Because the exorcist is trained as a skeptic. The presumption is that there’s some kind of natural, organic explanation for what’s going on.”
Physical maladies — “anything from an overactive thyroid gland to, as silly as it may sound, a urinary tract infection” — has to be ruled out first, the archbishop said.
- Exorcism is about healing a relationship.
When an exorcism is deemed necessary, it is because of a person’s broken relationship with God. Exorcism is not a sacrament (a sacred sign of God’s grace instituted by Christ), but it is a sacramental (a sacred sign instituted by the Church that orients a person to receiving and cooperating with God’s grace). Therefore, the exorcism will make the person ready to enter again into relationship with God.
Exorcism “looks specifically … at healing the person or liberating them from some kind of attachment, some kind of affliction … to restore them to the Body of Christ,” Archbishop Grob said. “And so again, it is truly the beauty and the work of the Church.”
Living Our Faith episode:
What: Archbishop Jeffrey S. Grob shares insights about the devil, exorcism and what can contribute to a broken relationship with God on “Living Our Faith,” a weekly 30-minute podcast of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee
When: 8 a.m., Friday, Oct. 31, on Relevant Radio 100.1 FM/1640 AM. Present and past “Living Our Faith,” episodes also can be found on Spotify or Apple Podcasts and at archmil.org/Living-Our-Faith/Current-Radio-Show.
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