WHY DOES THE DEVIL POSSESS PEOPLE?

February 5, 2020

There ae three main reasons why the devil tries to possess human bodies.

The first reason he possesses bodies is malice.  Simply said, the devil enjoys causing peole pain and sorrow, which is part of every demon's scheme of self-aggrandizement and control over humans.  When a demon enters a person's body, he causes significant interior chaos, hoping to eventually cause the person to despair of God's Mercy and reject God's grace.

The second reason for possession is envy.  Here, the devil attempts to play the part of the human soul to the body.  He is supremely jealous of God's love for man and seeks to ape the Incarnation of Christ.  The New Testament writings of St. John witness that the Eternal Word united with human flesh and became visible to man.  The devil knows that the union of God with man is the central mystery of our Faith, and, in his envy, he tries to create his own false version of this union, as if to say, "I can be visible too."  However, the devil can never be truly united with flesh.  He can penetrate it, pierce it and violate it, but he is incapable of uniting respectfully with the flesh of man in the way that God and His Holy Spirit can.

The third reason for possession is pride. Since the body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit, the devil only wants to violate and pollute it and claim it for his own.  The Holy Spirit rightfully "indwells" therein; so the devil, called a "transgressor" by the ritual, enters in and attempts to claim ownership to defile the holy temple where God dwells. When the devil was cast out of heaven, he wanted a temple of his own to glorify himself, but hell isn't much of a temple!  He thus tries to steal something that belongs to God and make it his own.  If God did not assign a guardian angel to each of us, perhaps no one's temple would ever be safe from the defiling presence of the devil.

Fr. Thomas J. Euteneuer "Exorcism and The Church Militant" page 39.