What Happens During Exorcism

SHORT COMUNICATION 8

What Happens During Exorcism

By

Roger Behra, B. S. Education *

* Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education, Western New Mexico University, Silver City, New Mexico. He took five courses, 15 graduate hours, University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. 19 years experience teaching language arts in Arizona and Ohio, U.S.A. 10 years teaching religion in St. Ann Catholic School in Ohio, in addition.


Only one situation comes to mind that is worse than needing an exorcism, and it is denied or simply unavailable, and that is to die before one’s time because how one spends eternity is directly related.

Many outcomes of psychiatric therapy are referrals for exorcism. But not all referrals end in exorcism for one reason or another. A Bishop’s decision may be against exorcism. No exorcism exists nearby. A person may be perfectly possessed and, therefore, not exorciseable. But the exorcisms that do take place are extremely memorable, -never-to-be-forgotten episodes. That leads to the question –what happens during a valid, well prepared, well administered catholic exorcism, when an evil spirit is in possession of a person’s will or soul? (Not all exorcisms mean a person is in demonic possession, only needing release from pronounced (demonic influence). The priest exorcist comes fully prepared and must follow the catholic ritual for exorcism. The bed is secured and prepared. Two candles and a crucifix are needed. Pictures of the Blessed Virgin Mary and saints are helpful. Holy water is a must item. And the assistants, usually 3 or 4 are ready. Exorcisms take hours and sometimes days.

The exorcism begins and goes through the stages of:

1. Demon presence.
2. Breakpoint (voice of the demon).
3. Clash.
4. Expulsion.

Every demon has a name, and the exorcist must know this at the beginning. The clash is the most dangerous phase of the exorcism. That’s when the true demonic voice takes over and paranormal activities take place –objects can move or be thrown about, the possessed facial features changes, physical features can change. The demon can attack the priest. Past and present sins of the priest can be revealed by the demon, as will as those of the assistants.

The clash can last only a short time or go on for hours at a time. Filthy language is common place. And as the demon begins to lose ground, demonic speech gets stronger and more varied and more evil. The clash produces pure evil, unimagined, pure evil, and as the clash lasts a long time in many cases, the demon voices the words and action of pure evil. Holy water and the mention our Blessed Mother incite strong evil words and behavior of the demon.

The expulsion comes about when the demon reluctantly realizes it has lost the battle and quickly leaves the possessed. In cases when more than one demon exists it may take days to reach the final expulsion and most likely will change their thinking totally. An exorcism is a never-ending experience of pure evil, straight out of hell. It would most likely change the behavior pattern of must of us.

Sources:

Malachi Martin. Hostage to the Devil.
Martin W. Cuneo. American Exorcism.
M. Scott Peck. People of the Lie.