Evil is personal. Demons are real.

They are not vague forces or bad feelings; they are intelligent beings, and they hate you.

All discussion of mass violence is empty if it does not confront this reality head-on.

If you are reluctant to talk about evil and need a pep talk, consult the stirring final chapter of St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians:

"For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."

If you have ever been tempted by the deliberate efforts of another human person, you can at least have a guess at how vastly more skilled demons are. They need not bother with your senses. They can go straight to your imagination.

It would be naïve to dismiss the massacres that are now so much a part of our news cycle as merely the actions of racists or the mentally afflicted.

For very good reason the Church exhorts us to make it a fair fight by seeking the help of St. Michael and his angels to defend us in spiritual combat. For very good reason the Church warns us to avoid the occult.

So if you want to do something about mass violence, avail yourself with abandon of the many means of grace the Church has given us: sacramentals like scapulars, miraculous medals, and holy water; devotions like consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary; and above all, avail yourself regularly of those means of grace instituted by Our Lord himself: daily Communion and frequent confession.

Evil is personal. Demons are real.

Stay close to Jesus; he wins.