Legion

The Chief of Chaplains at our large Regional Veterans Affairs hospital received a phone call from a Psychologist at one of our smaller outpost care centers asking for help with one of his Veteran patients.

The Veteran frequently acted out violently in public with physical and verbal assaults. His religious history was Roman Catholic. Law enforcement referred him to the residential treatment program, as this former soldier should benefit from psychiatric inter- vention. However, he did not respond well. His firm conviction was that he was possessed by multiple demons and wanted someone to help. Violent outbursts made therapy all but impossible, and since he was not being treated as a result of a court-ordered commitment, he was released.

Claire and Helder went to visit the man in his home. “Please don’t sit on the couch,” he advised, “it’s full of bedbugs.”

The dark entry space where he spent most of his time was walled off from the rest of the dwelling with translucent plastic sheets affixed with duct tape to the door and window jambs. Fear hung in the room like a pall. Asking what was on the other side of the plastic drapes, he replied, “They live there.” “They, meaning the demons who possess you?” “Yes.”

Helder pushed the plastic aside, and he and Claire went in, but he never told me what he encountered or experienced other than the place was filthy. Presumably, he released the grip that they had on the place. He explained that there were certain places the demonic occupied because they had been invited into. They went into a bedroom, a dining room, and the kitchen in a clockwise direction and re-entered the living space through another door.

He directed Claire to prepare a table for the Eucharist (Remember that the Veteran had a Roman Catholic background). He celebrated the Holy Communion, as Jesus instructed us to do, in the place where the demonic regularly tormented this poor man. When the dishes were done, Helder assured him he would have no more trouble with them unless he invited them to return, and Claire and Helder thanked the Veteran for his hospitality and left.

Helder told me that whenever he entered a room anywhere, he expected that the demons would flee.

The Psychologist reported back, “I have no idea what you did, but this patient is completely changed, and there is no evidence of his former problems.”