The Exorcism Of A Saint

The Exorcism of a Saint

The old woman had lost her mind. At eighty-six years of age, she took a bad fall and broke her collarbone. Emaciated and frail, she also suffered from heart failure. So she was rushed to a hospital. During the day she curled up in a ball of silent despair. At night she screamed, ripped out her hair, and pulled wires from the monitoring equipment. Nothing could calm her high anxiety.

The archbishop was called to the old woman’s room. He couldn’t believe that this beloved and saintly woman was contorted in such convulsions of anger. He was sure that she must be demon possessed. So he called a priest to do an exorcism. When the priest saw who she was, he refused.

The archbishop insisted. “I command you to do it!” So he reluctantly obeyed his superior. The woman writhed and screamed while he performed his exorcism. When it was over, she fell into a deep sleep of utter peace.

Who would have guessed that an exorcism would need to be performed on a nun who had earned the Nobel Prize seventeen years earlier? For eighteen years she topped a Gallup Poll as the world’s most admired woman. The people of India voted her the most beloved figure in their history. Years after her exorcism, she was canonized as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church.

Now you understand why someone as exalted as the archbishop was called to her room and why a priest hesitated to obey orders to perform an exorcism. Who would believe that Mother Teresa of Calcutta could be demonized? When reports of her exorcism were leaked to CNN, the world was shocked. How could a saint be under such attack by demons? Actually, it makes a lot of sense. Her closest friend, Sister Nirmala, told CNN, “Mother Teresa often felt abandoned by God. But then, Jesus also felt abandoned on the cross.”

Most of us have never come remotely close to exhausting ourselves in works of mercy the way Mother Teresa did for more than sixty years. If we did, we might find ourselves suffering with the kind of compassion fatigue that erodes the human soul. We might even find ourselves saying with Jesus, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46, ESV). If we really were a clear and present danger to the kingdom of darkness, we might find ourselves under the most severe kinds of demonic attack. Father Stroscio—who performed Mother Teresa’s exorcism—said, “In the history of the church, hundreds of saints have gone through such things.”

It is a risky thing to bring the love of Christ to places of suffering and despair. If you have committed to being light and salt where decay and darkness are at their worst, may your tribe increase! You might never be canonized like Mother Teresa, but you are one of those saints who puts a smile on God’s face. When the enemy of your soul launches a frontal attack, don’t let it fill you with doubt. It goes with the territory. Like Mother Teresa, you will overcome the darkness if you remember this:

The one who tries to bring you down is already below you.

Humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

James 4:7