(LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal Raymond Burke told podcaster Shawn Ryan that ordinary Christians cannot defeat the devil by their own strength and that only Jesus Christ can cast out demons – at a moment when, he said, “there’s a lot of demonic activity going on.”
The remarks came in the second of two conversations focused on Sacred Scripture that was released Thursday. Ryan, a former Navy SEAL and CIA contractor, put a question to the cardinal bluntly, asking, “if demons are real, how can an ordinary person actually fight them?”
“Only in Christ,” Burke replied. “Only Christ has the power to repel demons, to cast them out, to get them away from us.” Church exorcisms, he stressed, are prayed in Christ’s name. “The priest never says, ‘I.’ No, it’s Christ who drives out the demons.” Invoking St. Michael is part of that same reliance. “If we would presume to battle the devil on our own, we will be defeated.”
This warning dovetailed with a conversation in the first episode when Ryan had described a psychedelic experience he believes showed him hell – “no sense of God or Christ or anything good” – encounters with “demonic entities,” four exorcisms, and continuing household disturbances he tied to his hosting these very interviews.
Burke did not dismiss his account but affirmed “the devil absolutely hates anyone who brings the truth to others.” Quoting Our Lord Jesus Christ, he called the devil “a murderer from the beginning, a liar and the father of lies,” and went on to name discouragement as Satan’s “principal temptation.”
The Eucharist, he counseled, is “the principal source” of serenity because “it is Christ Himself who comes to nourish His life in us.” Confession is “a powerful help” as well, and all should recall that “the cross is our only hope.”
Demons have ‘preternatural powers,’ only ‘supernatural power of Christ Himself can cast them out’
On Thursday’s New Testament program, the conversation returned to this same subject with the cardinal from Wisconsin explaining demons have “preternatural powers, and only the supernatural power of Christ Himself can cast them out.”
He warned a standing temptation for exorcists is to treat the fight against demons inflicting oppression or possession on individuals as their own, as if to say, “I’m going to drive that devil out.” Such an attitude is “fatal,” Burke said, because without Jesus Christ, “we can’t.”
Asked whether he sees much demonic activity, Burke answered, “More than I would like.” Bishops and exorcists tell him the same. After a period of time when false theological thought would say, “Oh, Christ has conquered Satan … nothing to worry about,” he argued, the Church forgot St. Peter’s warning that Satan still “prowl(s) about the world … seeking whom he may devour.” Christ has conquered and “continues to conquer him,” Cardinal Burke said, but Satan “hates us, because we’re made in the image and likeness of God, and we’re destined to be with God, and he’s rejected all that.”
“But if we pray, if we fortify ourselves with the sacraments, if we take all the precautions with regard to the evil one, we can be sure that Our Lord won’t let him have power over us,” he assured.
However, the opposite assumption can be dangerous, the cardinal said. “Satan is never happier than when we think he’s not around, because then he can really do damage.” Christians must keep their “eyes wide open” and recognize what is diabolical.
“Sadly, in the world today, and even sometimes in the Church, we see things that are diabolical. They’re so evil that they could only come from the evil one himself,” he observed.
Spiritual combat and the ‘powerful’ Holy Rosary
For daily combat, Burke pointed to ordinary prayers such as “Lord, have mercy on us,” and invocations to St. Michael “especially our advocate against the devil,” St. Joseph “the terror of demons,” and the Blessed Mother. That is how believers arm themselves and “put on the helmet of salvation.” Spiritual warfare, he said, is not a metaphor. St. Paul told Timothy he had “fought the good fight … stayed the course,” and “kept the faith.”
Cardinal Burke also told the story of the apparition of the Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1531 explaining some of the miracles involved, and further provided a catechesis on how to pray the Holy Rosary.
“This is a powerful prayer given by our Lady to St. Dominic,” he said, “a powerful way for us to draw near to Our Lord through the intercession of our Blessed Mother so that we can live more fully in Him.”
“Get rosary beads,” the cardinal added. “It’s always good to have a rosary in your pocket.” Ryan answered, “I’ve got mine right here.”
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