Should we have sympathy for demons?

[Music] hey it's Chris from the christophanic show where we dive into how to live a more joyful life every day in your everyday life the kind of the life that God dreams of for you check it out how are we supposed to feel toward demons I mean you shared with me once um how uh a demon had shared with you that the worst part of the experience of of damnation is that he's loved by no one yeah right and and my first response in hearing that was compassion and then I rejected the compassion right uh which seems anti-christian to project any compassion but right but the I think demons play upon that we have a there's a a craze now where you know dragons are just misunderstood yes uh yeah where there's actually a comic called Hellboy which you might be familiar with I am yeah he's a demon that you know was just a misunderstood demon is trying to be a good guy but he's got the horns and the fire and flames right um you know but then I I so I think about that initial response of compassion and then I think of the the smiting Psalms and that we have enemies and that there should be a joy in being God's instrument of Justice that's right um how do you how are you supposed to feel about demons and how far is too far with you know uh with being an instrument of justice and delighting in that too much or maybe um hating too much towards a distraction right uh and how do you hear things like no one loves me and and think good and had that not bring your soul down a notch like how do you emotionally interact uh there's there's three parts to it actually the first is in doing exorcisms over the course of time the person who's possessed would actually like are ordering our lady or some or some Saint would actually appear the person would actually see them and in their description of it what I always noticed was um that the Saints in our Lord and when they their interaction with the demons is always hallmarked by two things one is meekness they're just they they don't they're not they're good meekness in the sense if they don't overreact they don't get they they approach them in a very uh metered measured way and then at the same time it's very modest so that they're not they don't call them names they're not derogatory they just tell them this is what you have to do this is what it's just so it's very moderated so what I began to realize is that ultimately in relationship to them the most effective thing is to not is to be detached in their polite or any other aspect of of of who and what they are whether by Compassion or otherwise because ultimately they're not worthy of our compassion because compassion means to suffer with them yeah you don't want to suffer with them because the reason they're suffering is because that they they were so evil but so there's that and the other thing is that's kind of cropping up now is people say we should have mercy on the demons because Christ had mercy actually I addressed that in my book that's actually not true if you look at it when he sent them into the swine for example that's humiliating because in the Jewish tradition that's like the lowest of the low and and also he did it not as a mercy to them but to show us that demons can influence animals and things so that's part of it so part of it is just having a Detachment from what you see in relationship to their suffering and realizing that as one demon said to me he said there is no suffering you could meet out on me that I that I don't deserve worse just because of how evil they were in relationship to God the other side of it is something that you refer to which is very important too is um you can't get sucked into malice Saint Thomas defines malice as willing the Lesser good over the greater good when the nuts are good is in fact evil and so what can I say that one more time so it's it's good over the greater good when the Lesser good is in fact evil okay so we're not talking about like choosing between a red car and a blue car we're talking you know we all know the blue cars are better than red cars yeah but no here we're talking about uh here we're talking about choosing a lesser good when it's actually detrimental to you or your family or it's just it in fact it's evil well that's what the demons did so they chose a lesser good over God who's the greater good and so what you have to be careful is is in meeting out the justice is the Delight shouldn't be in him getting his comeuppance that's that's the Lesser good the greater good should be the gods that God's justice is that his glory is being manifest and that's the greater good that you're seeking after and also this person the mercy of God is being shown to the person who's possessed because that's where the real Mercy is is that God is finally liberating this person of a tremendous suffering that they're undergoing and so that's the if there is anything I've learned as an exorcist is that God um in the I mentioned this in the last in the one of the last interviews in the next life there's no mercy because in heaven you don't need it and how you're not going to get it but his desire is for us in this life his desire is that we're under his Mercy in this life and you see his tremendous tenderness and compassion and mercy for the people who are suffering through this demonic Affliction even though he's asking them to go through it for the sake of their sanctification praise God I needed to hear that because I'm gonna when we're in conflict with people sometimes like Lord make me an instrument of your Justice and and to take I have to take ownership of my will that's right and say I'm going to choose to will that I want that so that you be glorified that's right and so this person would learn a lesson that would lead him to Salvation which glorifies you that's right and it's a greater good right and if I'm not conscious of that then my in my Human Condition my default is to just rhyme yeah I mean to fall in human nature we just want to Club the person over the head right that's the Lesser good but that's and that's with the demons because sometimes too is and this is also something that's very difficult as a as an exorcist you know you're a normal human being so when you see people suffering a lot you have to even keep your compassion for these people at Bay to a certain degree you have to you have to moderate it because what will happen is the demons will use that to get you sucked into not beating them up as hard because when you when you're beating up the demons the person suffers more and so you can you can at certain times and so you can actually they'll use that compassion against you if it's not moderated and ultimately it's prudent Supernatural Prudence that is what is best for this person what's the best and I ask you an example that you just gave what's the best for the person that's hurting me that has to be my focus not what I'm suffering it's a holy Detachment it really is and it means we have to be able to Suffer Well in order to be to seek what's best for that other person it doesn't matter what I'm going through what's the best thing for this person spiritually and it's the same thing even in relationship to the diabolic man wasn't that amazing I get so much out of these conversations that I barely care if anybody else is watching but I prefer obviously to share this great stuff with the world so be sure to subscribe and share it with everybody you know and we'll see you in the next video

Channel: Augustine Institute - Catholic Church Explained

Views: 32,015

Keywords: eucharist, Catholic eucharist, transubstantiation, catholic sacrament, 7 sacraments, augustine institute, formed catholic, ignatius press, lighthouse catholic media, lighthouse talks, Dr. Tim Gray, Dr. Brant Pitre, Chris Stefanick, holy communion, catholic church, Catholic Faith, the augustine institute, catholic theology, catholic graduate school, christian theology

Id: 57aET7pmD-E

Length: 7min 9sec (429 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 19 2023