Once in a While when we become aware of improper thoughts, we may subconsciously say to our Guardian Angel, “I wish you’d get rid of that.”, and feel some movement in our mind like a hooked fish that’s fighting on the end of the line to stay in the water. The thing from which we’re asking to be set free is alive, and as comfortable in the little hole it’s make for itself in our mind as is a fish hidden in seaweed. It doesn’t like it when we want to pull it out of its comfortable home within us. Like a fish in the water, it will fight to remain there.
Just as a fish in the water waits quietly until it sees something edible close to it, so the evil spirit in our mind waits until it can insert some disruptive, God-denying or God-distancing thought into our thinking. As we become aware that such thoughts do not spring unbidden to consciousness, we realize that there is a living, animating force behind them. That living virus is the source of the thought that troubled us, and it can be removed. To facilitate the removal, we may wish to memorize, so that we can recall whenever necessary, the prayer to St. Michael the Archangel:
“St. Michael the Archangel, defend
us in battle, be our protection
against the wickedness and snares
of the devil. May God rebuke him,
we humbly pray; and do thou, O
Prince of The Heavenly Host, by the
Power of God, cast into hell Satan
and all evil spirits who wander through
the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen”
This is a powerful prayer, hated by the virus and all the lesser evil spirits who spread his destructiveness wherever they can. One may resist praying for oneself, on the grounds that “There are a lot of people a lot worse off than I am, and I don’t want to interrupt God and His angels from providing help for those who need it far more.” That sort of thinking is wrong. The all-powerful God who loves and wants to help us can bring instantly as many angels as necessary, with all the power they need, to bear instantly on any problem that any believer has.
To not pray for deliverance from the imps, sprites, and demons within is a way of denying that He has the power or desire to help us. Therefore, such thoughts, themselves, are from one of the little viruses in our minds, leading us astray at every opportunity. We should, upon becoming aware of the thought that God may not want to help us recognize the living source of that thought, and then, say the prayer above so that particularly vile little beast will be driven from us forever.
