Welcome to our daily rosary meditation. Let's begin in the name of the Father and the

Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. And let's call to mind all those we've promised to

pray for. Today we meditate on the sacrament of reconciliation.

We begin with a true account of an exorcism that took place in Erling, Iowa in

1928.

After all the psychological and psychiatric testing was completed, it was determined there indeed was a case

of demonic possession and an exorcist was called in.

Men of the parish were asked to assist because when the exorcism began,

the possessed person became very violent and had to be restrained.

However, the devil took a new strategy and fought back in a very surprising way

by revealing the deepest, darkest sins of those present in the room,

making them so embarrassed, they fled for shame.

And after this took place many times one person blurted out to the demon why do you say nothing about the priest?

To which the devil responded,

what has been confessed, I do not know.

You see, scripture calls the devil the accuser, who accuses us day and night before the throne

of God.

However, Satan apparently only knows the sins we have not confessed.

What has been confessed is out of his reach and he can't use against us.

The exorcist made a practice of regular confession, therefore the

devil had no ammunition to use against him. But when we don't go to confession, the guilt piles up and the devil uses it against us.

The devil accuses us to discourage us and he uses discouragement to drive us away from God.

...