With Halloween just past, the hanging corpses and tombstones adorning many neighborhood yards for the past month or more have begun, finally, to disappear.  Each year about this time I revel in the changes in the air and scenery, as Halloween horrors are gradually replaced by Christmas decorations.  I find it highly symbolic: where death reigned, we now see signs of Life bursting forth in the world.  The Savior is born, that He might “trample down death by death.”

Still, the “ghosts” haven’t all disappeared yet. One question that a priest is sometimes asked is, “Do ghosts really exist?”  That is, are there really malicious spirits lurking about, and, if so, what are they? How does one deal with them?

The answer to the last question is to be found precisely in Christmas. We’ll return to that. As for the earlier questions, there is a clear testimony in the New Testament regarding fallen spirits.  There are many accounts in the Gospel and the book of Acts that speak of demons.  We hear, for example, of the man who was possessed by a whole “legion” of demons, which the Lord cast into the herd of swine. The swine, however, fled immediately into the sea; this gives a striking indication of the demonic character of senseless death and destruction, whether self-inflicted or otherwise.  This account also serves as a graphic portrayal of how evil spirits afflict human beings, from within or without.

These spirits, however, are fallen angels, and not human beings forced to haunt earthly dwellings. There is no tradition in the Church of human spirits haunting this world after departing from the body. Rather, the teaching of the Church is that at death the soul departs from this world and goes to meet the Divine Judge, for which reason we repeatedly (and with great hope) beseech God’s mercy and forgiveness for our departed loved ones. We “look for” their resurrection one day, but there is no reason for us to fear that they may become ghosts. The only ghost we believe in is the Holy Ghost (as the King James calls the Holy Spirit).

So what ought we to do if we feel an evil presence? The simple answer is: “make the sign of the Cross with faith and call upon the name of the Lord!” The birth of our Savior-King means the end of the reign of the prince of darkness. In other words, just by being born into this world, our Lord sent shockwaves through the kingdom of death and signaled the obliteration of demonic power. Christmas swallows up Halloween as we behold a tiny Child who will smash the gates of Hades.  The Saints bear universal witness to the fact that all the legions of demons put together are no match for the power found in the name of Jesus Christ and the image of the Cross. As He proves when He casts the demons out, the Lord is infinitely more powerful than they are. So they may make mischief, but we have absolutely no reason to fear them as long as we cling to Christ in humility and love.  Fear of God casts out every other kind of fear, and delivers from every fearful thing.

The enemy wishes to see either arrogance or cowardice in us. Either one can prevent us from drawing near to the Christ Child. But “poverty of spirit” that comes from seeing our smallness next to God’s greatness at every moment, frees us from the enemy’s clutches. Then, like the poor shepherds, we are able to draw near to Emanuel – “God with us” – and to come under His wonderful protection.