But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, "What is this? A new teaching! With authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him." And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee. - Mark 1:25-28 (RSVCE)
Our Lord imposes silence on the unclean spirit, and orders it to quit its victim. The devil throws the possessed on the ground in an agony of pain, and then leaves him unharmed. The spectators in awe and amazement ask themselves who this can be who has authority even over the powers of darkness.
One word from Jesus, and the unclean spirit is rebuked and holds its peace. How is it, then, that in spite of our appeals to Him, the evil spirits refuse to cease their whispers of temptation, their foul suggestions? It may be because we give them some excuse by our carelessness in not avoiding occasions of sin. It may be that our Lord desires to humble us, and make us feel our weakness and our need of Him. Anyhow, He will give us the graces necessary to resist our foe; and the fiercer the temptation the greater will be our final reward. Courage, then, courage!
The devil, when about to go out, tears his victim and throws him on the ground. He will not go out without a struggle. In temptations, the very fact that the repugnance is strongest and the suffering most acute, is often the clearest proof that the devil is about to depart. It is the impotent malice of one who knows that his time is short.
When the struggle is over and the devil expelled, the prisoner, freed from his persecution, has suffered no harm. So temptation, however horrible, if resisted, leaves no stain upon the soul; the enemy has harassed and persecuted us, but we have gained strength, not lost it by the conflict. O, Christ, may I always bravely resist, and through Thy word escape unscathed.
- taken from The Ministry of Jesus Christ: Short Meditations on the Public Life of Our Lord, by Father Richard Frederick Clarke, SJ