My First Exorcism

I recently participated in the formal rite of exorcism with the local diocesan exorcist. While this was not my first encounter with demons, it was my first time participating in the Church’s official response to the demonic. My job was to hold the legs of the person undergoing the exorcism if the demons got riled up during the session. They did.

Several of my friends also participated, a mixture of men and women, all devout Catholics. A few were intercessors who sat nearby and quietly prayed during the session. Two who have a fondness for Jiu-Jitsu were holders like me. When I got there, a deacon was setting up a cot with a mattress in front of the altar. Candles were lit and the atmosphere was pretty serene.

I met the person getting prayers on my way in. Seemed pretty nice. Happy to be there. They signed a waiver that acknowledged that they were going to undergo exorcism and that people would be on hand to restrain their movements. I sat and prayed while all of the preparations were made. Father was very serious, but not in any way fearful. Game face. Ready for battle. But peaceful. It was not his first rodeo.

The person receiving prayers came up and lay down on the cot. The deacon wrapped them up in another sheet like a burrito so they couldn’t flail around. I knelt down beside the cot with the three other holders, and the deacon who set up the cot pointed to the pillow underneath the cot so that I could use it to press down on the person’s legs.

At this point, we all knelt and the Deacon brought the Eucharist out of the tabernacle and placed Him in a monstrance on the altar. Jesus supervised the exorcism in Person.

The Battle Belongs to the Lord

Things got interesting very quickly. Shortly after Father started the prayers, the person on the cot started jerking and contorting. Following the deacon’s lead, I used my pillow to hold their legs. The person started roaring when Father sprayed them with Holy Water. The jerking became more violent. Harsh, coarse laughter alternated with roars of anger. No discernable language.

Father started praying the ritual with something that surprised me. He began with prayers asking God to punish the demons whenever they acted out. I don’t remember the exact list, but it was things like:

• For every manifestation, release 10 souls from the pains of purgatory.
• For every insult, give the grace of conversion to 3 Satanists in the local area.
• For every lie, give ten abortion doctors the grace of conversion.

I almost started laughing. I thought it was so awesome. Demons already suffer the ultimate punishment, which is eternal separation from God. The best way to punish them further is to frustrate their attempts to lead souls to hell. The devil hates salvation almost as much as he hates God Himself. I learned later from the exorcist that he uses the prayer from CatholicExorcism.Org, which is reserved for priest exorcists. He pointed out that he doesn’t punish the demons… that’s God’s job.

Father led the person on the cot through a series of renunciations. I couldn’t see anything that was happening because I was firmly pressing down with the pillow so that the person being exorcised couldn’t kick out. Renouncing family ties to Free Masonry provoked loud demonic roars and fierce struggles which Father responded to with a spritz of holy water and a request that God exact the punishments on the demons that he had requested earlier. A later renunciation of involvement with a cultish Pentecostal Church provoked a similar outburst.

The entire session took about an hour and a half. For the last half hour or so, I didn’t have to press down at all but could kneel quietly beside the cot. The manifestations dwindled as the person renounced their sins and the sins of their ancestors, closing the doors that allowed the demons to operate in their life.

I later saw the person as they were walking out of the church. They smiled brightly at me as they left.

What Hollywood Gets Wrong

I saw a recent trailer for a Russell Crowe movie about an exorcism. It’s a horror movie, of course, and in the trailer everybody was terrified of the demons’ power, including the exorcist. That’s just nonsense. Father definitely respects the power and the wickedness of the demons. He instructed us beforehand that we could pray for the person being exorcised, but we should not pray against the demons because they might start attacking us instead.

But he wasn’t afraid. The devil was afraid of him. St. John of the Cross says, “The devil fears the soul united to God as he fears God Himself.” As a priest of Jesus Christ and an exorcist operating under the authority of his bishop, Father had the full weight of the authority of the Catholic Church behind him. This is the authority that Jesus gave Peter when He said, “To you, I give the keys of the kingdom of heaven, that whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

And the atmosphere was not dreary darkness or fearful in any way. It was tranquil. Peaceful. In fact, it was downright joyful. Several times, my prayers overflowed with joy and praise because God was delivering His lost sheep from the hands of the enemy.

A few days later, I took a group of high school students to Carowinds in Charlotte, NC. The Nighthawk and the Fury 325 rollercoasters were way scarier than the exorcism. Holding a demoniac’s legs and praying was downright peaceful compared to falling 30 stories at 95 miles an hour or flying around upside-down and backward.

Setting Captives Free

Exorcism is a battle, for sure. The person undergoing the exorcism is being brought out of bondage to the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. But the battle is not fought with weapons or violence. The weapon God uses in exorcism is mercy. It’s forgiveness. It’s repentance. It’s love and compassion.

I felt a little like Harriet Tubman, the famous conductor on the Underground Railroad. A former slave herself, she led hundreds of other slaves out of bondage into freedom. It wasn’t her power or authority that made their freedom a reality, but she did get to participate in the journey.

I rejoiced that I was able to participate in someone else’s spiritual deliverance. I know what it means to be held captive by the devil. I know what it means to be set free.

God willing, I’ll be able to do it again.

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My short fiction story God Craft: The Book of Love delves more deeply into the nature of the spiritual battle. Check it out on Kindle Vella.