In the same way, the exorcist continued, “in the spiritual life our vampires are our bad habits, especially vices. They enter our lives slowly, like a narcotic; when we are asleep, they begin to suck our plasma, little by little. We start losing energy, strength, motivation, will, courage, enthusiasm, attitude.”
“We can even be living with good habits,” he pointed out, “such as going to church, but only out of habit, without any inner life that motivates us. The conscience falls into a deep sleep and nothing awakens it. We can even lose our sense of good and evil. We stop having pangs of conscience and thus we die spiritually.”
“I believe that all of us, at some point in our lives, have been victims of vampires: alcohol, drugs, the idolatry of money, sexual vices, morally prohibited relationships, addiction to social media, pride and arrogance, the vice of working like a dog, seriously neglecting the family,” he continued.
Given this reality, the Mexican priest asked: “What vampire has injected me with his poison and is consuming my blood?”
The ‘repellent’ to the attacks of the devil during Advent
Hayen explained that “Jesus frees you from the vampire: If we fall asleep, the monster will approach to sink his fangs to our necks. We then need to be awake so that it doesn’t get close. Christ is the only one who can keep us attentive, vigilant. ‘Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come’ (Mk 13:33).”