A Reflection from “Prayer as a Weapon” by Jesse Romero

Angels Fight Demons for Us When We Pray

Demons are attracted to faithlessness, disorder, and the unclean. Warning of their ability to get to us when we are not disciplined, not paying attention, and not being vigilant in our watch against them, noted exorcist Fr. Chad Ripperger says, “Angels come wherever they are called, demons come wherever they are not resisted.” On this same subject of parallel distinctions between angels and demons, Fr. David Nix cautions, “When you say the name of Jesus in prayer, angels come to you and demons flee. When you misuse the name of Jesus, angels flee and demons come to you.”

Demons are real, and they are here. But God has not abandoned us to fight them on our own. Rather, He has given us His host of angels to fight with and for us. One incredible contemporary example of angels battling demons in defense of faithful Christians is when Boko Haram, a terrorist organization, was about to execute seventy-two Nigerian Christians by firing squad—and angels intervened. The terrorists had their rifles cocked and were preparing to take aim at the persecuted Christians, but suddenly they threw their weapons down and started violently grabbing at their own heads, screaming and shouting that they were covered with snakes. Some of them ran away, but others dropped dead where they stood.

One of the dying terrorists dropped his gun, and a Christian captive reached down to grab it, hoping to shoot at the fleeing Boko Haram militants and help the Christians escape, but the youngest child put her hand on his arm to stop him. “You don’t need to do that,” she said. “Can you not see the men in white fighting for us?”

All seventy-two captives survived and escaped.

What was happening in this instance? Demons were at work in the actions of the terrorist, ready to kill these Christians, even the little children, because of their faith. But just as the demons were present, so too, because of the faith and prayers of these Christians, were the angels present.

Fr. Ripperger warns of the constant dichotomy, the constant warring, between angelic and demonic forces: “Just as we have guardian angels assigned to us . . . Satan may likewise assign a demon, often to an entire family. Lesser demons are sent to tempt and open the door to higher demonic realms.” God gives us our guardian angels for many reasons, chief among them to ward off demons. Sometimes we visualize moral decision-making as a debate between a bad angel whispering in one ear and a good angel speaking wisely in the other, and there is a certain truth to this: according to St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the roles of the guardian angels is to fight off demons. St. John Bosco also speaks to this conflict and advises us to be bold in asking our angels for help: “When tempted, invoke your Angel. He is more eager to help you than you are to be helped!. . . Ignore the devil and do not be afraid of him: he trembles and flees at your Guardian Angel’s sight.” And as stated in the Baltimore Catechism, “Our guardian angels pray for us, protect and guide us, and offer our prayers, good works and desires to God.”