The "Spirit"ual Life

I joke that I envision a friend as Bridget Bardot when I should imagine her as Therese of Lisieux.  It's actually no joke.  The images I make and install in my mind are are the "demons" I live with. They either minister to my passions (and thus enslave me) or free me to lead a nobler life..  How do I elevate those images so that I am free of the temptation of reduce another (and myself)?

Yesterday's gospel (Luke 11: 15-26) bears on this subject, as explained by our homilist (Fr. Dan Hoehn).  In it Jesus warns that just sweeping out one demon (temptation) doesn't end the story.  If I leave the house empty the demon, still prowling around for a place to live, may come back with a host of his friends!  Then all hell breaks loose!

When an unclean spirit goes out of someone,
it roams through arid regions searching for rest
but, finding none, it says,
'I shall return to my home from which I came.'
But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order.
Then it goes and brings back seven other spirits
more wicked than itself who move in and dwell there,
and the last condition of that man is worse than the first.

The lesson is fairly evident: Replace the exorcized image/temptation/demon with something more elevated or risk being invaded again.  Our nature abhors a vacuum.  The mind must be filled with something.  Its our job to make sure it's Godly ghosts.

How to accomplish this?  Fr. Hoehn advises: With the temptation/ bad image dispatched to the dustbin, actively replace it with something Godly, good demons, good imaginings.  Elevate your mind. Cf. Rom. 12:1-2 ("Be not conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.")  Then keep the house spic and span: hire effective cleaners  - mass, the sacraments, prayers, lofty readings and thoughts - to keep the house and furniture clean and polished.  This way the good demons will hang around.

Spooky stuff . . . for October!