Job Openings

In these tough economic times with unemployment at such high levels it is important to keep an eye out for job openings. I don't know a lot about the position but I did read a report that said that the Roman Catholic Church was in short supply of Exorcists.

Maybe like a lot of people at my age the only exposure we have had to the work of an exorcists is at the movies. If that is the case then one can understand why the position has not had a lot of people volunteering for it. The report I read did not talk about how many positions were open nor what the salary was nor what the requirements for the position were.

The whole idea of Exorcists raises so many questions about life and the world in which we live. There are so many cases in life where people try to say that they were not responsible because something else made them do it. Flip Wilson always gave the Exorcists an opening, "The Devil made me buy that dress." There are defenses made that abuse as a child made a person do harm to another person. There are defenses that drugs made people do things. Jealousy or hatred dominated a person and made them do some evil. There have been stories of young people who have become possessed by some of the on-line video games. So the idea of being able to cast out those powers that have "taken control" over an individual is a logical solution to the problem.

The idea of an Exorcists also is a logical occupation in a world that is seen as a battle ground between the forces of good and the forces of evil and that some of those evil forces can capture human subjects. St Paul talks about the battles and not all of them are human powers. "And though this world with devils filled, should threaten to undo us" sang Martin Luther in his hymn. If the world is filled with devils, then we need all the different departments of war and the Exorcists would make sense.

Maybe the job of Exorcists is going begging because there are fewer and fewer people who believe in that kind of warfare. Maybe we think that different kinds of weapons are needed. Maybe we think we have better weapons for the battle. Maybe some are like me and are not sure about all the ways that evil can be present in our lives. But somewhere it does suggest that all of it can be cast out by prayer so maybe if we engage in regular devotions we can avoid the need for exorcists.