Dark Devotional: Demons

Art by the sinister and perhaps possessed Brian Jocks.

When it was evening, after sunset, they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons. The whole town was gathered at the door. He cured many who were sick with various diseases, and he drove out many demons, not permitting them to speak because they knew him. Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed. Simon and those who were with him pursued him and on finding him said, “Everyone is looking for you.” He told them, “Let us go on to the nearby villages that I may preach there also. For this purpose have I come.” So he went into their synagogues, preaching and driving out demons throughout the whole of Galilee. Mk 1:32-39

Demons

They rebuked the porter

for opening the door

out of fear a demon might pass through,

because they knew

a demon was lurking behind every door.

They scoffed

at those kneeling while counting beads

in front of the virgin at the cathedral,

convinced the pieties were expressions of the fear enslaving and damning the masses,

convinced that a demon

ensnares with beauty and awe.

They found a demon

in the syncopated rhythms of jazz,

a demon in the hips of Elvis Presley,

a demon in the wild way

Jerry Lee Lewis played hymns in chapel

way back when he wanted to preach,

a demon in so many songs

played backwards at slower speeds —

you know,

the rage with all those kids with haircuts

inspired by Satan himself.

They found demons in the bottle of Zoloft,

demons in the doctor who prescribed it,

and demons in the wretched

who had not let Jesus carry their problems away.

They were suspicious of a demon

in all who wore dresses,

and certain of demons

in women wearing pants.

They found demons in the “savage”

whose lands they savagely stole,

demons in the resistance

of men and women whose liberties they usurped, demons in the poor

who obviously deserve poverty,

demons on the commercial airlines

that force slick televangelists to

sacrifice their stipend

to buy private jets

so they can minister as they ought,

demons in or on or behind

anyone that was other

or unexplainable,

demons in the least of these

left outside their shelter,

demons underneath their feet but

above the bulk of humanity.

They preached demons out of fear,

preached a fear resisting perfect love,

and missed a world charged with grace,

never hearing the living word

that had already driven their demons away.

*****

Toby D’Anna converted from nondenominational Pentecostalism to Catholicism in 1999. He is a Louisiana native now living in Tacoma, Washington where he teaches middle school English. He is a member of Communion and Liberation.