1. The devil showed that he possessed the world.
When Christ was tempted by the devil, He was shown the kingdoms of the world and their splendor and the devil said: “All these have been given to me.” What? The devil actually possess the world? That’s what St. Luke said. The world is possessed by the devil. God allowed the devil to use the world to test mankind as He allowed the devil to use a tree in Paradise to test Adam and Eve.
In the early Christian times, baptism was administered to adults. Adults, because they came from paganism and were possessed by the devil. Baptism was necessary to free them from the possession of the devil, that’s why the ritual has an exorcism…. a real genuine rite of exorcism. These were for adults. And then it was followed by the Sacrament proper by which we receive the power to seek God.
2. To maintain the effects of exorcism.
To maintain that freedom from possession by the devil and continue the pursuit of sanctity, the Christian soul found the necessity to live the fullness of the Gospel as exemplified in the monastic life. Monasticism is putting into practice the sacrament of baptism wherein the baptismal vow is fulfilled and freedom from possession from the devil maintained.
True monks were the terror of the devils. While the possessed were commanded by the devil the monks command the devil. St. Wolfgang, trained at the Benedictine monastery of Reichenau, propagator of monastic life, who settled at Regensburg (where Pope Benedict XVI was assigned for a while) was usually disturbed by the devil during his homily. During one of this disturbance, he ordered the devil to be his altar boy and hold the missal for him.
3. Why Baptism of infants was introduced.
The first Christians noticed that as civilization progressed with its incumbent life of luxury, the children, who before showed no visible signs of possession, begun to show signs of possession by the devil. The grown ups noticed this due to the discernment they acquired as they matured spiritually. So they found the necessity of introducing the Baptism of children so they could be exorcized earlier. And hope that the freedom from the devil’s possession is maintained through the proper Christian bringing up of the child. Through the neglect of proper upbringing of children, the devil is exorcized during Baptism but returns immediately with more devils to possess the soul. Did you notice that during exorcism, the person is usually possessed by several devils and not only one? A Vatican record narrates the exorcism of a lady with 10 devils. The last one, a powerful devil, left only after the intervention of Pope Pius XII.
What is it in children that opened them to possessions? That atmosphere wherewith they feel they can do anything they want. Where the only criterion for judgment is what I want. It is the eternal sin of doing what I want in complete disregard to what God wants. My will and not God’s will. It was the sin of Adam and Eve and inherited by all those who are born. The dictatorship of relativism – is an open invitation for possession.
4. Today, children show signs of possession due to the world’s return to paganism (the sign is absent in families where children are raised in a true Christian way.)
We are faced by the fact that the world, including its children are, to a certain extend, possessed by the devil. Of course, very few recognize the signs of possession. The signs that the devil is there are familiar when he is discovered, like the signs in “The Exorcism of Emily”
But when the devil does not want to be detected, which is usually the case , the person is the most charming person you will ever know. Possession in children is usually seen in their bratty behavior, on how they can make their parents fear them so they can get what they want, and in their deceitfulness.
5. Children are not open to diabolic possession. It is their bad un-Christian training that opens them to possession.
6. The possession of Judas.
Who are those easily possessed by the devil? Let us look at Judas who was easily possessed by the devil. And the soul that was cleansed but found without Christ, Scriptures say that seven more devils entered. These are two examples where the devil simply entered and possessed them. The Fathers, like St. John Chrysostom, mentioned a few more.
7. Satan did not force himself on Judas. The door was open.
“Satan entered into Judas” not by force, but finding the door open, says St. Thomas of Aquinas. Opening doors is a risky business. Pope John XXIII, in starting Vatican II opened the doors for the Holy Spirit to come in. I think some Cardinals opened the wrong door.
8. Difference between temptation and possession.
Judas forgot all that he had seen and heard from Christ and now turns his face to covetousness. Satan first tempts by throwing darts at the soul. When he sees that his darts had gained entrance, he follows and enters as a stranger, then later he enters as one who owns Judas who can be led to do whatsoever Satan willed. Judas was going to do things now for gain. He was going to do anything for money.
9. The desire for money.
The desire for money, which is the common mind of people today, makes men irreligious and compels them to lose all knowledge of God, though they have received a thousand benefits from Him. Judas sought opportunity to betray Him. Many shudder at the wickedness of Judas, yet do not guard against it. This was a sin not due to infirmity or ignorance but due to opportunism. Judas took liberty with the common purse of the apostles.
10. Satan could not enter as long as Judas was part of the community.
At first Satan did not enter Judas but only put it into his heart to betray his Master. Satan thrust his darts into the heart (temptations). If it enters, then he gains an entrance there himself. As long as he was one of the twelve, the devil did not dare to force an entrance unto him. But when he was expelled, then he easily leaped into him or entered into him that he might have more full possession. In that state Judas was capable of anything.
11. Obedient souls are tempted, disobedient souls are possessed.
The devil entered, not to tempt Judas but to possess him as his own because he received the sop (the bread offered by Christ), which was good, amiss. If it is wrong to receive Holy Communion not knowing what you are receiving, it is a greater wrong to approach the table feigning as a friend but coming as an enemy.
12. Under Satan’s influence you can commit wicked sins.
When Christ said: “Do whatever you will do,” He did not command the act of treason. He foretold it. Christ did not give a recommendation but a reproof. He did not give any hindrance to the betrayal. Christ even kept the identity of the traitor secret. Otherwise Peter would have killed him. John could not conceive how a disciple could fall into such wickedness, because he himself had no wickedness in him.
13. Stealing from the community.
Judas kept the bags for the oblation of the faithful to supply the wants of His followers, or the poor. Here is the first institution of ecclesiastical property. Our Lord shows that his commandment not to think of the morrow, does not mean that the saints should never save money; but that they should not neglect the service of God for it, or let the fear of want tempt them to avarice. Seek first the kingdom of God and do not let the earning of money detract from that activity.
14. Those who leave the community really leave Christ. They are the enemies that approach the table.
Judas left immediately, not the house, but Jesus Christ. Satan, after he had entered into Judas, could not bear to be in the same place with Jesus, for there is no comfort between Jesus and Satan. The devil entered Judas. While the apostles received the bread unto their salvation, Judas unto his condemnation. He went out to commit a sin for which he was never to be pardoned.
St. Benedict in his monastic rules stated that when a monk leaves the monastery he can come back; but he cannot return after his third departure. Thinking mathematically; if everytime you leave, satan returns with seven more devils, after leaving three times, that would make 21 devils now possessing your soul. The devils will never let that soul go back to God.
(Painting is “The Devil Holds the Missal for Saint Wolfgang,” by Michael Pacher, 1480.)