the comeback kid
"'Send us into the swine,' they begged Him. 'Let us enter them.' " —Mark 5:12
After being thrown out, demons are very adept at lingering in a different capacity or at returning. For example, Jesus cast out the demons from the Gerasene demoniac. They then occupied a nearby herd of swine. Incredibly, Jesus, not the demons, was told to leave the area by the townspeople (Mk 5:17).
Jesus taught that an exorcized demon, if given the opportunity, would return to its previous location and bring with it "seven other spirits far worse than itself" (Lk 11:26). The demon Asmodeus killed the first seven husbands of Tobiah's new bride. Raphael, the archangel, then pursued Asmodeus to Upper Egypt "and bound him hand and foot" so as to prevent the demon's return (Tb 8:3).
Jesus let the demons appear to outwit Him in the deliverance of the Gerasene demoniac because Jesus left behind the former demoniac who would share his faith with his family (Mk 5:19). Jesus knew that He would have the final word over the devil through the faith of the former demoniac and his family. Through your faith and that of your family, throw the devil out of our culture of death completely and finally.
Prayer: Father, may we get rid of the demons of slavery, abortion, Nazism, and Communism once and for all.
Promise: "God had made a better plan, a plan which included us." —Heb 11:40
Praise: Mary was set free from life-long self-hatred in the Great Jubilee year.
Nihil Obstat: Reverend Edward J. Gratsch, July 15, 2000
Imprimatur: †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, July 17, 2000