The Dark Isn't Just the Dark

Do you ever find yourself lying awake at night, troubled by you-know-not-what?

Do you ever try to comfort yourself with the idea that of course, it is only your imagination; the dark is only the dark, and there is nothing there to be afraid of?

If so, you’re wrong.

We live in a world haunted by demons. We pass our days and nights surrounded by malevolent intelligences that we cannot see, hear, or touch and who wish nothing but our destruction and misery. They are incredibly powerful, cunning, and dangerous.

And they are after you, your marriage, and your family.

Now, I know we today like to pretend demons and the Devil don’t exist.

The trouble is that Scripture, as well as the whole history and tradition of the Church (and, indeed, of just about every culture that has ever existed up until fairly recently) are pretty clear that they do.

Besides which, as Msgr. Ronald Knox said, “It is so stupid of modern civilization to have given up believing in the Devil, when he is the only explanation of it.”

Welcome to the horror story of this world.

The good news, though, is that it’s an old-fashioned horror story; the kind where Van Helsing always beats Dracula in the end and the Cross is triumphant over the witches' coven. Dean Koontz, not Stephen King.

Now, this is a huge subject, as you can imagine, so for today I’m just going to attempt a brief summary. In the spirit of transparency, I should say that I am not personally an expert in demons (it would be concerning if I were), but all I say is based off the experience and wisdom of actual exorcists and, of course, the teaching of the Church.

There are two broad categories of demonic activity: ordinary and extraordinary.

The ordinary involves the demons manipulating your emotions or imagination to try to get you to sin. We’re all familiar with this one; we deal with it every day and whole books have been written about the different forms it takes.

Extraordinary activity generally takes four forms. Infestation is where the demon possesses a place or object (at least some ‘hauntings’ would be examples of this). Oppression is where the demon attacks someone externally by going after their health, finances, family life, and so on. Sometimes this even involves physical blows (St. Padre Pio, for instance, was physically assaulted by demons more than once).

Obsession is a more intensive assault on the victim’s interior life, with severe attacks of dark, frightening thoughts and emotional pain, sometimes enough to make the person feel he is going mad or wants to kill himself. Finally, possession involves the partial or complete control of the victim’s body by the demon for certain periods of time. That’s the rarest and most extreme form of attack, though it does happen, and all of these are probably more common than we would like to think.

That said, it must be remembered that the demons cannot do anything unless Christ allows them to.

He only permits them access to us to the extent that it will benefit ourselves or others, or to the extent that we ourselves to invite them in (and, since He knows we’re idiots, He usually doesn’t allow it even when we do).

What this means is that, while we should take the Devil very seriously, we also must remember that Christ is in charge. We are only in danger to the extent that we remove ourselves from Him. Which, of course, is the Devil’s goal. I think a large part of why he’s so successful is simply that we don’t remember that this is something we have to pray for. He is more able to work on us simply because we forget that he is there.

You can begin to correct this oversight straight away simply by making defensive prayers a part of your daily routine. Call on Christ and invoke the aid of His Mother (who is particularly feared by the devil), St. Michael, and your guardian angel specifically against the devil, and place yourself and your family under their protection.

Avoid mortal sin (which you should be doing anyway) and make good use of sacramentals. I also recommend talking with a qualified spiritual director and reading a few good books on the subject (such as Paul Thigpen’s Manual for Spiritual Warfare or Fr. Rippenger’s Deliverance Prayers for the Laity).

Because the dark is not only the dark; there are monsters lurking inside it. God has appointed you, you personally, to ensure they do not touch those entrusted to your care.