I have a dog, Buster. A Golden Doodle. (Go ahead and laugh at me. I love the big idiot.) He’s more entertaining than anything on TV. He’s more loyal than seems possible. And he’s missing something.
Buster is the kind of dog that needs a little boy and little girl to make him a Dog in Full.
He’s the kind of dog a boy would run with, fight with, and work with. A boy would strap odd bits of building materials on his back and use him as a pack animal. A boy would explore the woods with Buster, venturing deeper into the forest because trusty Buster is at his side. A boy would bring out all the dogliness Buster has to offer.
But it’s the little girl who would love Buster beyond reason. She would invent fantastical tales about Buster’s adventures as Prince of Doodledom. Prince Buster, to her, would be a valiant fighter for justice, a rescuer of woodland creatures under attack from an evil witch, and world-class ballroom dancer who wouldn’t be embarrassed to wear her plastic (but very real looking) tiara on the ballroom floor to show his allegiance to her. She would tell her mom she intends to marry Buster one day, and she would paint his toenails hot pink. And Buster would sit there panting patiently while she did it, just happy for the attention.
I thought of all this imaginary girl, oddly enough, when I saw this horrible tweet. [Content Warning]:
In my imagination, I saw this girl as a four-year-old, about to enter kindergarten. She was sweet and happy and had a dog like Buster whom she treated like a Prince, yelled at like a brother, and pedicured. She would run to her daddy carrying her favorite book—the one he’d read to her seemingly every day since she was born—for one more, urgent reading.
Somewhere between that idyllic scene and today, she met her demons. Maybe she was abused (all too common). Maybe in middle school a friend introduced her to the ouija board. Maybe her mother or father passed along a generational spirit. Or, maybe, her dog, the Prince, died, and she rejected God because of it.
Whatever the cause, she is no longer the happy, imaginative little girl who once climbed up on Daddy’s lap to hear him read about a choo-choo or a princess or a mischievous rabbit in Mr. MacGregor’s garden. Now, she’s an angry, mutilated woman whose mind is full of terrifying, dark images. Her thoughts are malicious. Her soul is tortured.
I imagined her mom or dad seeing this video, recognizing their daughter through the hideous contacts, piercings, paint, and tattoos. They remember her as that silly, loving little girl. They cry.
They want their daughter back.
It’s so easy to hate her and other like her. It’s easy to mock and ridicule her—I’ve ridiculed so many like her and received lots of positive feedback for doing so.
But I couldn’t mock her tonight. I felt like her father. I imagined a man, somewhere, hiding his tears, his shame, his guilt. Wondering what he did that drove her to this—this pit of misery and murder.
There are many like her in the world today. Overly affluent, deeply sad, resentful, and mean. But those are behaviors that likely result from near-constant demonic abuse. I have no doubt this poor soul has demons bothering her 24/7. When she acts out, the demons leave her alone for little bit. So, she acts out.
Somewhere inside, she knows that Jesus will drive her demons away if she would only ask. But she doesn’t ask because she doesn’t trust He will arrive before the demons exact revenge. She likely does not know that Our Lady’s presence would send the demons scattering.
Her mockery of God pleases her demons. Notice how she laughs when mocking God? She knows that will buy her a few moments of peace.
I pray that in such a moment of peace when the demons are quiet, she will cry out to heaven for deliverance from the evil spirits that have brought her to this point. I pray she will ask the Blessed Virgin to simply show herself to the demons. I pray she remembers being a little girl who loved to hear her daddy read stories about puppies and knights and princesses. And, I pray she accepts the mercy God offers. (Pride has a way of rejecting proffered mercy.)
You had to know that the demise of Roe v. Wade would incite the preternatural world. We’re seeing it. Please, please remember (and pray that I remember) that every progressive spouting evil was once a little boy or girl with a dog they loved who somehow came under the influence of demons and cut themselves off from the graces of God. While we resist and reject and condemn their actions and aims, we must pray that they, by God’s grace, break from those demons and rush into the loving arms of Jesus Christ who will dry their tears and fill their hearts with love if only they would repent and ask.
Our struggle is not against flesh and blood. Our struggle is to free flesh and blood from malignant spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.
This tortured young woman is the lost sheep from Sunday’s Gospel. Pray the Shepherd finds her.