The Devil in designer jeans...

My friend from college, Paul, has finally moved back in NJ. I spoke to him last night. He was living in California for what seemed like forever, but was actually only a few years. How did he wind up there? He had been traveling a lot for his job and loved what he saw in California, especially northern CA, and got an internal promotion/transfer to his company’s Los Angeles office.

Well, LA just wasn’t far enough north, I guess, and he wound up not really loving it the way he could have. I went out there to visit him in October 2005 for a week. We started and ending the vacation in LA, but we were on the road a lot of the time. Paul was a great host—he showed me everything a first-time visitor to California needed to see. I called it the “sampler tour.” We went to Monterey, Carmel, San Simeon, San Francisco, Napa, and other places in between. It was great.

While on this vacation, I happened to notice that the devil lives in LA. It was almost palpable—I could feel the evil. I could see it in people. I’m not one to start making those proclamations easily, so I needed to take that feeling seriously. The devil travels too, for sure, but he has set up special residence in Los Angeles, CA. Is that ironic given what “Los Angeles” means, or is it even more likely?

Imagine, if you will, a woman hanging out of the passenger-side window of a blue Honda, flicking a bottle of holy water all over as much of the Hollywood Hills that her arm could reach yelling, “Flee demon,” and “Jesus, heal this place.” Now cast me in the role as the woman. It happened. I’m not kidding, ask Paul. Anyone who knows me knows I am not that zealous on the day to day so I had to be feeling something to go that far. What prompted me to pack a bottle of holy water to take on my vacation in the first place? The fact that I had been warned by others.

People have different takes on the devil. The take that I know, and that the Catholic Church teaches, is that he is real. I am not going to go on and on and list reasons why I think the devil has set up special residence in LA, because you all are smart people. Today, I just want everyone to take a few minutes to think about LA, Hollywood, the entertainment industry that thrives there, the drugs we hear about, the violence, and just think about whether you think what I’m saying is possible.

Then think about other areas of the country, where you live, your life. Does he visit those places too? In what way? Finally, today I ask you to pray that God heals all those places, and that Jesus, in his holy name, forces the devil to flee from those places the devil is touching.