Did not Jesus call us to cast out demons? Did He not charge to us the task of healing? The Pope himself pointed this out recently when he during a homily at Casa Santa Marta after the reading on how some accused Jesus of casting spirits out in the name of Beelzebub and about how evil can attack. The Pope, as reported by Vatican Radio, noted that all along, "and even in our days, there is the temptation to belittle the figure of Jesus. Some priests when they read this Gospel passage, this and others, say: 'But, Jesus healed a person from a mental illness.' They do not read this here, right? It's true that at that time you could confuse epilepsy with demonic possession, but it is also true that there was the devil! And we have no right to simplify the thing, as if to say: 'They were not possessed; they were mentally ill.' No! The presence of the devil is in the first page of the Bible and the Bible ends with the presence of the devil, with God's victory over the devil."
In this regard, warned the Holy Father, "we must not be naive." They are words spoken by a man who understands the spiritual component, words that should be sent to every parish in North America, Western Europe, and Australia -- where the devil has been turned into a cartoon as the Church bowed before scientism, listening, with all due respect, to Freud more than to Jesus. Will that change? How many cases are medical or psychological issues? How many have at least a partial demonic element? Judging from how many times Jesus cast out evil spirits before effecting a cure, the answer would seem to be, if not most, "many." Muteness. Deafness. Crippling ailments. Female problems. Epilepsy. Are not these all some of the illness Jesus cured by expurgating the devil?
Link (here) to Spirit Daily
Link (here) to St. Ignatius of Loyola's Discernment of Spirits which are contained in his Spiritual Exercises
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