Exorcist Diary: Don't Feed the Demons

We always have a few cases which go too slowly or are stalled. The Team faithfully prays with the afflicted person but progress is virtually nil. So, we know it’s time to discern: what are the demons feeding on?

Demons especially thrive on anger, unforgiveness, arrogance and disobedience. As long as these are festering in the afflicted person’s heart, the demons are not going to leave. Then we take the person through a spiritual healing process to address these issues. The person needs to let go of these and to allow Jesus to heal their wounds.

Recently I am finding other wounds that also stall out progress such as self-deprecation and a pervasive fear. One afflicted person hates herself; the demons are using that as a doorway to enter and latch on. A second person is full of fear and he flips out at the least change or uncertainty; whenever this happens, he regresses and it seems we start all over again. Both of these were referred to a Catholic psychotherapist to aid in healing these wounds.

If you feed demons, they won’t leave. In an exorcism, we must discern and withdraw from demons any sustenance they are getting. That will starve them. Finally, they will get so weak, they leave.

I suspect this is true in all of our lives. It might be good to take a moment and reflect if there are any wounds in us that feed the evil one? May Jesus heal us all!

Image (modified) courtesy of Unsplash.

This post was originally published on catholicexoricsm.org and is reprinted here with permission.

Monsignor Rossetti’s new book, Diary of an American Exorcist, is available here.

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Monsignor Stephen Rossetti

Msgr. Stephen J. Rossetti PhD DMin is a priest of the Diocese of Syracuse and a research associate professor at the Catholic University of America. He is a licensed psychologist and has been the Chief Exorcist of the Archdiocese of Washington for over 13 years. He is the author of many books and articles, particularly on priestly formation and spirituality. He currently heads the St. Michael Center for Spiritual Renewal, whose ministry involves exorcisms, deliverance praying and the support and renewal of priestly spirituality.