For the next several months we will be reading from St. Luke’s gospel. Right from the beginning of Jesus’ ministry he is portrayed as confronting the demons. There was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon … Jesus rebuked him and said, “Be quiet! Come out of him!” Although you don’t hear about demonic possession much nowadays that does not mean that that the evil spirits aren’t around. For example, during the trials of those who committed crimes during the January 6 uprising the defendents frequently confess that they got caught up in the frenzy because of things they learned about on the internet. The devil doesn’t need to possess anyone nowadays; social media plays the demonic role of spreading hatred, division and lies.
