The Exorcist

Last year I signed up with LoveFilm.
I pay the minimum monthly payment of £3.99 and for that I can rent up to 2 DVDs a month. I thought this would be an excellent way to kickstart a little judicious film watching into my "downtime" ( ha! such optimism!)
The problem I have been having is that the start time of my "downtime" is getting later and later, and if it's after 10pm before all interruptions have ceased, the dishwashers running, table wiped and other sundry chores are done , I'm not wanting to commit another 2 hours or so to staying awake long enough to watch a film.
And so I start to resent the dratted little envelope with the DVD in it.
It feels like another job waiting for me.

When I added The Exorcist to my wishlist I was thinking that, since it is a film "classic" that is often referenced in popular culture, not having seen it was a bit of a gap in my cultural education.
Furthermore, being in the bad habit of scanning and not reading properly, I misunderstood this website as saying that The Exorcist was on the Vaticans "top 45 recommended films" list ( I was wrong. That list is here) That misunderstanding emboldened me somewhat.
But I don't like scary films so when it actually arrived ( around September last year. Yes, that would be before I even had the baby ) I couldn't bring myself to watch it.
It just sat there on my bookshelf reproaching me, while £3.99 continued to be deducted each passing month for the DVDs I was no longer renting.
I know. I should have just sent it back and let the other films on my wishlist roll, but I didn't want to do that either. Darn it. All I needed was 2 hours to sit and watch the blasted film and the monkey would be off my back.
But every time a moment did present itself, I'd find something else to do with my precious leisure time. Like blogging.
I was a bit scared of watching this film . Husband dear didn't want to watch it and I was scared of watching it alone.
Tonight I decided not to be such a big girls blouse.
Reader I finally watched The Exorcist.
Phew.
I'm glad that's out of the way.

It was ok. I coped. But I did hold my rosary beads throughout and make the sign of the cross several times.
Yes, I know it's a film and not 'real'. But being mindful that the forces of wickedness are not merely a Hollywood fancy, I was reminding myself to Whom I belong .

Until about 17 years ago I was inclined to believe that the being we called "the devil" was likely to be a rather crude explanation for the potential for darkness that lay within all of us. A sort of personification of all within us that opposes the good.
It's another long story that I may tell later, but one night back then I was fully persuaded that the devil is more than a psychological construct of our imaginations.

So after watching the film, I said my prayers and then watched this interview with Fr.Thomas Euteneuer. As a palate cleanser, and also to get a little perspective on the whole exorcism business.
( Fr Euteneuer is President of Human Life International and an exorcist authorized to perform exorcisms in several states, and highlights in his books/work the connection between the Abortion Industry and demonic influences.)

And I'm hoping that LoveFilm will have lined up A Prairie Home Companion for me next. I don't think that will sit on my shelf spooking me