He gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out

7 DECEMBER (Mt 9,35-10,1.6-8)

The first time that in Scripture it is spoken about an evil, impure spirit that takes possession of heart and mind of a man, is with Saul . He is the first man that is presented by the Word of the Lord like a real possessed man.

So the servants of Saul said to him: “Please! An evil spirit from God is tormenting you. If your lordship will order it, we, your servants here in attendance on you, will look for a man skilled in playing the harp. When the evil spirit from God comes over you, he will play and you will feel better.” Whenever the spirit from God seized Saul, David would take the harp and play, and Saul would be relieved and feel better, for the evil spirit would leave him (1Sam 16,15.16.23). (The next day an evil spirit from God came over Saul, and he raged in his house. David was in attendance, playing the harp as at other times, while Saul was holding his spear (1Sam 18, 10). Then an evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul as he was sitting in his house with spear in hand and David was playing the harp nearby (1Sam 19, 9).

The sound of the zither stunned Saul for a moment, but immediately after the torment began again. The final liberation takes place with the Archangel Raphael. However, we are not dealing here with a demonic possession , but with an obstinate persecution , which caused the death of those who approached Sara on the wedding night.

Then she stopped weeping. When the boy left home, accompanied by the angel, the dog followed Tobiah out of the house and went with them. The travelers walked till nightfall, and made camp beside the Tigris River. Now when the boy went down to wash his feet in the river, a large fish suddenly leaped out of the water and tried to swallow his foot. He shouted in alarm. But the angel said to him, “Take hold of the fish and don’t let it get away!” The boy seized the fish and hauled it up on the shore. The angel then told him: “Cut the fish open and take out its gall, heart, and liver, and keep them with you; but throw away the entrails. Its gall, heart, and liver make useful medicines.” After the lad had cut the fish open, he put aside the gall, heart, and liver. Then he broiled and ate part of the fish; the rest he salted and kept for the journey. Afterward they traveled on together till they were near Media. The boy asked the angel this question: “Brother Azariah, what medicinal value is there in the fish’s heart, liver, and gall?” He answered: “As regards the fish’s heart and liver, if you burn them so that the smoke surrounds a man or a woman who is afflicted by a demon or evil spirit, the affliction will leave him completely, and no demons will ever return to him again. And as for the gall, if you rub it on the eyes of a man who has cataracts, blowing into his eyes right on the cataracts, his sight will be restored” (Tb 6,1-9).

Jesus came to destroy the infernal power of Satan. However, a truth must be immediately announced. The possession of Satan is not so much in the body. In the body the fruits of it are manifested and revealed. The real possession is that of thoughts. He takes away from our minds the thoughts of the divine truth and injects in them with great ability his thoughts of deceit, evil, lie, pride, arrogance , folly, foolishness , idolatry, blasphemy and false religion. When one of these thoughts enters the heart, it is the end of a man. Like Saul he loses his peace and enters into a conflict of death.

Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness. At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” Then he summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.

Driving out unclean spirits is the task of the Apostles of Jesus: removing the falsity from the mind in all its forms and entering in it the truth of Christ, ensuring that it remains forever; freeing man from all the consequences of the evil that a single evil thought produces in the body and spirit of those who let themselves be captured by the unclean spirit. Many come to be freed from the possession of the body. Nobody to be exorcised from the possession of his mind and his heart.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints free us from all falsehood.