Who let the demons out?
Monday, October 27, 2025
* Ana Rodriguez Soto
The following is a reflection I shared recently with a small group of Catholics who take part in Cafecito with Jesus, a weekday Zoom meeting, held at noon and only five minutes long, which is hosted by our very own Morningstar Renewal Center. Cafecito with Jesus began five years ago, during the pandemic, and has continued since. It's a very brief gathering for prayer and reflection in the middle of the day.
As I read the news and look at what is going on around us, I keep thinking of this Gospel passage: Matthew chapter 8, verses 28-34 or Luke chapter 8, verses 26-34. That’s where Jesus orders a “legion” of demons out of a man (or two, depending on which Gospel), and allows them to enter a herd of swine. The swine immediately jump off a steep bank and throw themselves into a lake (or the sea, again depending on which Gospel), and drown.
It seems to me that someone has let the demons out but instead of casting themselves into the sea and perishing, they have been allowed to roam free.
And who are these demons? More than likely these are “our” demons, the “legion” inside us: the thoughts we used to keep to ourselves so as not to offend; the nasty things we used to only think about others; the namecalling, the insults, the accusations, the prejudices, the epithets we were taught never to say in polite company that are now spoken out loud, shouted even, in Instagram reels, in TikToks, on X posts, in comments on Facebook.
It seems to me that what used to be called simple politeness - not calling people nasty names or openly expressing our prejudices - is now called being "woke” - and hurled as an insult.
Someone or something - maybe the internet, maybe the tone of the discourse of our current administration, or more likely a combination of both - has given us permission to release these demons. It's as if someone gave us permission to accost people on the street or in stores because we don't like the way they look or the way they speak or the hat they're wearing; or because they simply rub us the wrong way.
Demons we always had inside are now free to roam.
Some might say that it is good that we are seeing them rather than hiding them inside. Confession is good for the soul, after all.
But are we confessing or simply giving in to temptation? The temptation to judge, to slander, to accuse, to vent our anger at the world and at each other. Because everyone is doing it, after all.
But it's an ugly world where demons run free. And it can only get uglier.
So how do we cast these demons into the sea (or the lake)?
What can we, as individuals, do to begin to expel those demons from our midst?
I don't have an answer, really. But I pray and I wonder: Will we ever return, as a society, to a time when we no longer have permission to let the worst that is inside us come out?
Here's the link to join the Cafecito with Jesus Zoom, for those who are interested: https://www.morningstarrenewal.org/cafecito-with-jesus.
