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I don't really like talking about the devil, about Satan, even as I do. So now I'm before the statue of the Blessed Mother here in the chapel, and our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle. When I was younger, I turned away from horror movies. I have a memory of being in fifth grade at a birthday party and the boys put on a movie called Evil Dead 2 and I pretended to watch it. I put a pillow up on my knees on the couch, only looked at the screen once, and I still to this day remember the one scene that I saw. Nor do I enjoy giving my attention to evil because it is presumptuous and entitled and it wants to distract us from God. So. But the gospel passage this weekend says that Jesus was driven by the spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. So God the Father sometimes allows us, in his permissive will, wills for us to be tempted by Satan so as to perhaps grow in holiness. So by that same spirit. Then a little word here about how fascination with evil can be one of the ways in which we fall into his snares, the snares of the evil one. And then also just a word about how it is the authority that God has placed over us in this world that drives out demons, but rightful authority and obedience to that authority alone. Okay, The old expression about the devil's trying to convince the world that he does not exist still holds true. But equally as effective is his promotion of an unhealthy fascination with evil. Like the popularity of exorcists on YouTube, for example. This is one of the devil's most effective means of entering into someone's life. I'm convinced of it. The people that I know who are obsessed with the demonic and the diabolic tend to have the most disordered lives. So I think that the devil enters in, not despite the fact that they tried to take him head on by a fascination with, with, say, exorcisms, but because they are fascinated with evil. The rite of exorcism is very interesting. That a priest can, even now, after all these years, still cast out demons through prayer is, even if terrifying, amazing. But it is possible to become obsessed with that ritual too. And that's not good. So when the Pharisees accused Jesus, for example, of casting out demons by demons, do you remember that he rebuked them? He said, if Satan casts out Satan, he's divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? Alright, makes sense. But he goes on to say something even more revealing about the way evil works. He taught that sometimes a person may cast out a particular demon by another. For example, giving up drugs by taking up drinking or something. Or overcoming the fear of the future, anxiety about the future by going to a psychic, which only makes things worse. Or overcoming financial fear by starting to gamble. All these things are trying to drive out demons by demons, and then they only make things worse. About these ways of dealing with evil. Jesus said, the first demon comes back bringing seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is. Is worse than the first. So driving out demons by demons only makes things worse. So to those examples of trying to escape some particular evil by trading one demon for another, I want to add the attempt to overcome the fear of evil by watching lots of videos about driving it out. Some people may end up going deeper into its grasp by doing that. So how do we overcome evil then? Well, we saw in the Gospel how Jesus does. He's in the desert with Satan. Satan comes to him and says, I know you're hungry. Turn these stones into bread. Manipulate the elements. And Jesus says, man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. So he turns his gaze to the Father and that's how he overcomes Satan's temptation. But Satan tries again, telling Jesus to throw himself down off the temple and survive the fall. But again Jesus looks up to the Father and submits to the authority of the Father and says, you shall not tempt the Lord your God. So again he's referencing the Father and, and humbling himself before the Father's authority over him. And that's how he overcomes that second temptation. And Satan tries again. Worship me, he says, and I'll give you all the nations of the world. But Jesus again looks to God the Father. You shall worship the Lord your God, and him alone shall you serve. So you see that Jesus allows the authority of the Father to flow into him as he himself assumes that disposition of humility before him. And that's the model for all of us. We mentioned that one particular occasion in the Gospels when that Syrophoenician woman comes to Jesus and she says, my daughter has a demon. She's not even from the people of Israel. But she makes her way to this holy man, to Jesus of Nazareth, and says, please. And he invites her to assume the disposition or the posture that he himself assumed in the desert before Satan's temptation and that demon. And he says this very strange thing to her, which sounds even cruel initially, but he says it isn't right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs, meaning to take the graces of the children of Israel and give it to the nations. But the mother replies, but even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from their master's table. See that humility and her submission to the authority of Christ in her life. And then Jesus says, for saying this, the demon has left your daughter. So that mother has authority over her daughter, and that mother humbles herself before Christ, who has authority over her. And then the power of God can flow through Christ into the mother and into the daughter. See how it is the authority flowing through the rightful natural order, once reordered, that drives out demons. What drives out demons is not fascination with evil. That often makes it worse. What drives out demons is fascination with Christ. Some of the better exorcists, the more trustworthy ones, they're right in saying that the one thing that demons respond to is the authority structures that God has created and set in place over and above and also within his creation. It's called the natural order. It's also called the natural law. So you see what this woman did, the Syrophoenician woman. She assumes a posture of humility before Christ, which allows his power to flow through her into the one over whom she has authority, namely her daughter, the authority that was given to her by God when he gave the daughter to her in the womb. You know, incidentally, in the baptism ritual, the parent is asked to give the name of the child, right? That's because the parent is declaring that he or she has been given authority over this child. And in the exorcism ritual, the exorcist priest draws forth the name of the demon in order to subject the demon to the authority of Christ. You know, we actually see a little exorcism ritual at every baptism. On Sundays in the church, when the priest puts a little oil on the chest, on the heart, we're asking the Lord to drive out the spirit of evil, the spirit of resistance, to open the heart of the child to the grace of baptism. So that's actually a little exorcism prayer in the baptism ritual. As an adult, when we go to confession with our intellect and our will, after an examination of conscience, and then a confession of an omission of guilt with contrition. That's how we open our heart to the renewal of the baptism, which is the absolution, prayer and confession. But the child, the infant, can't do that. So a little oil by the heart of the child Asking the Lord through the parents who just professed their own faith and gave the name of the child like through them, to open up the heart of this child to the grace of this baptism. So at the very beginning of the baptism ritual, there is a clear establishment of authority in the life of this child so that God's grace can flow into the child. At the 12 o' clock mass yesterday, the members of the OCIA, for example, these are the adults who are preparing to be received into the church at the Easter vigil. They wrote their names into a book. And that gesture was more than just contractual. It was a submission to the authority of the church. By giving their name to the church like that, they were giving themselves to Christ and to his rightful authority in their lives. That rite of election is ordinarily celebrated by the bishop, but was celebrated by us here. And I was able to receive them because of the weather, because of the snowstorm, so they cancelled the Mass where all the members of the OCIA and the parishes on the island would gather in one church and be received by the bishop. But I was able to receive them as that right was given to the pastors, was delegated to the pastors by the bishop. So that the fact that even I was able to receive them like that is because of the bishop who has authority over me, gave me the authority to receive them, you see. And you know, while we're talking about the ocia, I think it's interesting to maybe perhaps imagine asking them about their feeling called to convert to Catholicism. It's probably not described as running away from evil, but running toward Christ, you know, I mean, and there's a difference. A man or a woman does not become a Christian by fearing the devil. A man or a woman becomes a Christian by running toward Christ, being drawn into the gaze of Jesus of Nazareth, attracted to the church and to the love of Christ that you meet in its members. And speaking of Jesus of Nazareth in that way, we might remember the occasions, the many occasions, because we see exorcisms all throughout the Gospels, the many occasions on which Jesus would enter into, say, a synagogue and demons would right away recognize him. They would immediately cry out, what have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. You know, it's just the gaze of Christ, the power of God in his face. But that is what touches our heart these days. And that's why you're even listening to this now. There's something about this man that fascinates you. And there's something that interests you about the fact that I might be able to speak a word to you on his behalf. This is what we're all looking for. We're looking for Christ. I mean, even my speaking with you is a way of my seeking his face. One particular exorcism in a synagogue is an illustration of this authority of a parent over a child. When the Father brings the Son to Jesus, please, he says, I do believe, but help my unbelief. You know, I'm not perfect, but I see your authority, and I humble myself before you for the sake of My Son. And then Jesus stands over the Son and drives out the demon. And you can imagine the Son thanking Jesus, but Jesus saying, thank your Father. Thank your Father for being a humble man. It's the authority of Christ which drives out demons. And it's a humility of men that enables the authority of Christ to work in this world. A couple of other examples of this kind of humility. The Roman centurion who comes to Jesus on behalf of his servant, who is like a son to him, he says. And the Roman soldier says to Jesus, I myself have authority over some people. I say to one, go. And he goes. I say to another, do this. And he does it. And yet I recognize in you an authority that. That seems like otherworldly, something greater than the helmet I'm wearing, the shield I'm wearing, the spear I'm holding. You know, a Roman soldier saying to Jesus, please, like humbling himself before Jesus. It's an extraordinary scene. And, you know, we take his words on our lips before receiving communion, right? Lord, I am not worthy that yout should enter under My roof, but only say the Word and my soul shall be healed. It's because the Roman soldier said, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof. But only say the Word and my servant shall be healed. And as soon as he humbles himself like that before Christ, his servant as well, the illness is driven from this servant who is like a son to this man, because this man has authority over him. And he subjected his authority to Christ's authority. We mentioned also yesterday the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. The woman with a hemorrhage who reaches out to touch just the hem of Christ's garment, but whose touch draws forth power from Christ. See, it's the way she approached Him. Everybody was pressing in on Jesus and touching Him. And this woman, though from her genuine need and humility, enables the power of Christ to flow into her, driving out this illness. So it is authority, specifically the authority of God working through the natural and divine law in this world that drives out evil. There's just one thing that he's powerless before, and that is our submission to Christ and to the Blessed Mother, Queen of heaven and earth, as well as to those in positions of authority over us, over us by God and by his will, like a child to his parent or a parishioner to the priest, or the priest to the bishop, and all of us to God. And this is where we begin to see a way of driving out demons from the family, specifically from the children who would otherwise be tormented by despair or depression, for example. This is why it's important for a Catholic man and woman who are living together to be married in the church, so that that man could be set by God as head of the household with authority over his wife. Because only God puts a man in that position of authority. But no man has the right to place himself in that position of authority over the woman. Does that make sense? This is why if a man and woman move in together and begin a family or have children without subjecting their relationship to God's authority, they're inviting disorder into the home. And the demons can come and pour gasoline on the fires. All the conflicts in that house, they use disorder as the stuff of chaos. You know, they just. They look for disorder and then they. They try to make it worse. They exaggerate our reactions. They will cause what would otherwise be minor conflicts to become big blow ups that could become so disruptive as to ruin a family. But all the parents have to do is subject their own relationship to the authority of Christ and then his power would flow into them and through them into their home and into the lives of their children. And then when that authority structure is reordered, the demons might prowl about that household, but they can't get in and they can't pour gasoline on the fires of the very natural conflicts that come with living together. You know, so the devil wants to get in, but he can only get in through the disorder, that rupture of the rightful authority. So the demons can't create that. But wherever they find a breach or a gap, wherever they find some separation, they drive into that area like a wedge and try to increase the distance. Now, I know that we said we shouldn't be too fascinated by how this works or about evil, but I do want to share one story from my own life briefly to illustrate how parents, by submitting themselves to the authority of Christ, are permitting the power of Christ to drive out demons from their children. My parents would tell me and my sister very often a story about when we were growing up, the story of how they had a sense of something evil in the home that they raised us in. My sister and I were still very little when this happened. But on one occasion, my parents awoke in the night with a real sense of evil in the home, even in their room. And my father says that it was pressing down on him, making it impossible for him to lift his arms off his chest. I've heard some of you describe something similar at times, so you might recognize that kind of thing. And he cried out for my mom, and she said, say a prayer to Jesus. Say Lord Jesus. And my dad did. He prayed to Jesus, and immediately his arms lifted off his chest. They went up, they. They were freed. And my mother and he experienced. They described this some evil, like leaving the house through my window and my sister's window, which were different rooms, but across the hall from my parents. And they said it went right out our windows. My mother always describes it as going zoom. I have to laugh, because she's told us this story very often, and she always describes it with a zoom. But whatever it is, like the parents turn to the Lord and then the demons draw and they go out the children's window. And that's interesting to me because that's what we're talking about here. Like the way that the parents who submit themselves to God's authority enable their children to be the beneficiaries of grace in the home. There's a lot of superstition in this world still, even after all these years of living with Christ, there's still many people who grope in the dark for meaning and purpose. If you're listening to me still, if you've made it this far, I hope you will never go to a psychic or a tower card reader. I hope you will never try to drive out demons with demons. And I hope you won't get too fascinated with stories of exorcists. Let the exorcists worry about exorcisms. You worry about being obedient to whatever authority God has placed over you in this life and being faithful in serving with great love those over whom he has placed you in authority. Christ alone restores order to creation. Christ alone restores a soul to God. And I want to end with a word about the first reading, about how Adam and Eve, who, although they didn't have eternal life, naturally would have lived forever if they would have just continued to eat from the tree of life. There was a tree in the garden with them that if they eat from it, they. They could live forever. But they were seduced by the evil one, by Satan, to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which means to decide for themselves what is good and what is evil. So they rise up in disobedience against God. They no longer submit themselves to him. And then death enters into the world. As soon as they no longer eat from the tree of life, but now eat from evil as well and decide for themselves by this rising up against God, they lose this eternal life. Then Christ, through his death on the cross, which is the tree of life, is able to restore creation because it is Christ's perfect obedience to God. And it's the perfect obedience of the Son of God to God the Father. And that's what restores eternal life to those who eat from that tree, the tree of obedience to God, even unto death. It's a tree of obedience to authority, to rightful authority, to the authority in this world that God has placed over us. You see, if we live obedient to the authorities above us and with service and love toward those beneath us, we restore the breach, the gap, the. The separation, the sin, you know, and it's. It's God who will accomplish.