Hello there! It's been a while!

So just as soon as I set up a page on Facebook to help get the word out there about whatever happens to be on my mind when I write blogs, I went off to seminary and all my time got consumed by formation. As of writing this I am just finishing up my first year of Pre-Theology, and after the second year I will move onto Theology for four years before getting ordained to the Priesthood in 2027. That all assumes I don't discern out somewhere along the way.

Suffice to say, I have had a very fruitful and grace-filled first year, and that got me to thinking about something that will help me keep this blog going strong. I must confess that I am not very engaged when I write school papers, however I do find that writing fiction is something refreshing rather than tiring. To that end I decided to start posting a series of emails, which I like to think of as a modern re-telling of The Screwtape Letters.

For those of you who don't know, these letters were a collection written by C.S. Lewis, in which a more experienced devil was messaging his nephew on how to tempt the 'patient' that the junior demon was assigned to. I have read/listened to them frequently, and they are both amusing and insightful. So that got me thinking: "What if we had a modern re-telling of that same style?"

Hence, I cam up with something I like to call: DMail. That name will probably change at some point, and maybe I will publish it someday, but for now to try and keep this temporarily inactive blog alive, I will be posting as frequently as I can the emails between two demons and how I think their correspondences might go. We start with an introduction from a fictional Priest who worked as an assigned exorcist for a time. I hope you enjoy this!

DISCLAIMER: THIS IS A WORK OF FICTION, AND SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN AS A REAL CORRESPONDENCE.

These emails started appearing in my inbox approximately 2 months after I started an assignment as an exorcist for another Diocese. Ordinarily I would elect to not share these emails, evidently between demons, with all but a select few. There are plenty of valid and holy reasons to be reticent about the work of an official exorcist.

First, there are many cultural misconceptions about exorcists, for example that we are wizards with special power to tap into the spirit world and drive demons out. This is patently false. Our power to exorcise comes from Mother Church, and every priest is given a share in that power. It just so happens that bishops will assign particular priests to the especially difficult cases that arise when dealing with the demonic. Second, curiosity when applied to demons and their manifestations in the physical world can lead to them holding greater sway over the one who pries too deep. Curiosity can be healthy, but obsession never is, and it is downright damning when applied to demons.

However, given the value of and reasons by which these emails fell into my lap, as it were, it seems prudent to share these with the general public, with a few caveats.

First ,I have changed the names of the demons as they appeared in the original emails to monikers which I judge to still fit their characters, and yet which will provoke no danger to the reader should he decide to search or invoke these names.

Second, I would like the reader to keep in mind that while knowledge of the enemy, namely Satan and all his works, can be a useful spiritual exercise, it is never a substitute for prayer and dialogue with God. We are his beloved sons, and I hope that these emails by showing the hatred of Hell will be contrasted with the Love of the Triune God for all creation by the reader. It is only in accepting our beloved sonship and being Christ-like that we will enter paradise and avoid the Hell that these emails came from.

In Christ

- Rev. Douglas Mayweather

Diocese of Cheyenne