Sacred Scripture makes very
clear that there is a war on for souls, a
battle between the forces of Light and the forces of Darkness:
Ephesians 6:10-16
Finally, brethren, be strengthened in the Lord, and in the
might of his
power. Put you on the armour of God, that you may be able to stand
against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not
against flesh and blood; but against principalities and power, against
the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of
wickedness in the high places.
Therefore take unto you the armour
of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in
all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about
with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, And your feet
shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace: In all things taking
the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the
fiery darts of the most wicked one.
We put on that
"armour of God" by first loving God with all our heart, mind, soul, and
strength,
and loving our neighbors as ourselves -- i.e., following the "Two Great Commandments."
Having a prayer life -- one with both formal and informal prayer, and,
when possible, praying not just alone and with others, but praying for
others and asking others to pray
for
you -- and following the six
precepts of the Church are our mainstays, the six precepts being to
go to Mass and refrain from servile work on Sundays and holy days; to
go to Confession at least once a year (traditionally done during Lent);
to receive the Eucharist at least once a year, during the Easter
Season; to observe the days of fasting and abstinence; to help to
provide for the needs of the Church according to one's abilities and
station in life; and to obey the marriage laws of the Church. Those
precepts are the bare minimum. Much more frequent confession (as
needed) is absolutely encouraged.
The Church has provided us with many other ways to repel, and to command to be driven out -- to
"exorcize" -- evil spirit. Now, when most people hear the word,
"exorcism," they think of the "Solemn" or "Major" Rite of exorcism
that's used to
liberate those who are possessed, a Rite that will be discussed on the
next page of this sub-section on the preternatural world.
But in addition to that Solemn Rite are the sorts of exorcisms
Catholics use or are exposed to as a matter of course. Every Catholic baptized in the traditional rite has
undergone exorcism (this is not
true of the new Rite of Baptism!). Even before the person to be
baptized enters into
the church, the priest will blow on him three times, in the shape of
the
Cross, during the "Exsufflation". He will say these words:
Priest: Exi ab
eo (ea), immunde spiritus, et da locum Spiritui Sancto Paraclito.
Priest: Go forth from him (her), unclean spirit, and give
place to the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.
After entering
the church comes a formal exorcism:
Priest: Exorcizo
te, immunde spiritus, in nomine Patris + et Filii + et Spiritus +
Sancti, ut exeas, et recedas ab hoc famulo (hac famula) Dei N.: ipse
enim tibi imperat, maledicte damnate, qui pedibus super mare ambulavit,
et Petro mergenti dexteram porrexit. Ergo, maledicte diabole,
recognosce sententiam tuam, et da honorem Deo vivo et vero, da honorem
Iesu Christo Filio eius, et Spiritui Sancto, et recede ab hoc famulo
(hac famula) Dei N, quia istum (-am) sibi Deus et Dominus noster Iesus
Christus ad suam sanctam gratiam, et benedictionem, fontemque
Baptismatis vocare dignatus est.
Priest: I exorcise thee, unclean spirit, in the name of the
Father + and of the Son, + and of the Holy + Spirit, that thou goest
out and depart from this servant of God, N. For He commands Thee,
accursed one, Who walked upon the sea, and stretched out His right hand
to Peter about to sink. Therefore, accursed devil, acknowledge thy
sentence, and give honor to the living and true God: give honor to
Jesus Christ His Son, and to the Holy Spirit; and depart from this
servant of God, N. because God and our Lord Jesus Christ hath
vouchsafed to call him (her) to His holy grace and benediction and to
the font of Baptism.
The water, oil,
and salt used by the priest in the solemn rite of
Baptism in the traditional rite (not
in the new rite) have also been
exorcized, and these susbtances are used in many ways by the Church and
the faithful in blessing or exorcizing. Water and salt, especially, are
used by the laity, along with numerous other sacramentals in order to drive out
evil spirit. Just a few of these sacramentals and prayers are:
Prayer to St. Michael
Prayer to your Guardian Angel
St. Benedict Medal
The Miraculous
Medal
St. Anthony's Brief
Palm Branches
Holy Water
Holy Oil
Blessed Salt
Crucifixes
Icons
The Rosary
The Sign of the Cross
Scapulars
Calling on the Holy Name
Ejaculatory prayer
Other things you
can do to arm yourself and protect your home are to engage in periodic fasting; having your home
blessed once a year, especially on the
Epiphany and when moving into a
new home, and consecrating your home to the Sacred
Heart, especially on the
Feast of Christ the King.
In addition to charity, receiving the Sacraments, praying,
and making use of sacramentals, it's also necessary to refrain from
sin. Developing good habits and
refraining from entering into
situations that are occasions of sin are crucial. An "occasion of sin"
is a situation in which you're likely to be tempted. What's an occasion
of sin for one person might not be an occasion of sin for another. For
ex., if you're prone to gluttony, avoiding that stop at the bakery
might be a good idea, or if you're prone to lust, learning to keep a
"custody of the eyes" and not allowing yourself to be alone with a
person you're sexually attracted to are ways to keep from
falling. Because what constitutes an occasion of sin is different for
everyone, knowing yourself, knowing your weaknesses, being very
cognizant of the situations in which you're likely to stumble, and then
avoiding those situations are what's called for. A nightly Examination of Conscience
during which you reflect on what the situations
were like when you
sinned throughout the day could go far in helping you to realize what
are occasions of sin for you.
Making the Morning Offering when
you wake up the next morning would be a good way to start your day in
order to stay on the right track as well.
Another thing that might help some people is having some sort of a
support system, especially for sins involving addictions and bad
habits. Having a "buddy" who has the same sort of problem or, better,
who'd had the same sort of problem in the past but has conquered it,
and asking that person to hold you accountable, to listen to and help
you, to pray for you, etc. could be a great thing to have. As always,
of course, repenting of your sins to a priest
when you do stumble is imperative!
Of special importance, too, is keeping away from occultic practices
that are forbidden by Scripture and the Church. Using Ouija boards to
contact spirits, using tarot cards to foretell the future, using
astrology to not just come up with natal charts to find possible
planetary influences on one's personality and inclinations (a perfectly legitimate practice, to the
surprise of many), but in any
way that denies free will -- to wit,
any form of divination, necromancy (the calling on of the spirits of
the dead that goes beyond praying for them and asking their prayers for
you), or magic (attempting to perform feats beyond the power of
man but not through the power of God) -- are strictly forbidden.
Properly disposing of cursed objects is also important when relevant.
Just as objects can be blessed, they can also be cursed. Such objects
can be recognized by noticing what happens in their proximity, by
finding
correlations between their presence and demonic obsession, demonic
oppression, strange sicknesses, nightmares, what looks like incessant
"bad luck," etc. Of
course, correlation isn't causation, so don't get silly about this, but
cursed objects aren't simply merely correlated
with bad things
happening; they cause those
bad things -- rather, the demons
associated
with them do. Exorcists have said that many times drug cartels and some
vendors of other objects will sometimes curse their wares to increase
the stronghold they have over those who purchase them. To properly get
rid of a cursed object, follow these instructions: Disposing of Cursed
Objects.
People can be cursed as well. Some types of Satanists, and
practitioners of Voudun
("Voodoo"), Santeria, and some other forms
of witchcraft place curses on those they consider their enemies. The
ancient belief in the Evil Eye, known to
Italians and Italian-Americans
as the "malocchio," is one
sort of curse, a curse that is given, intentionally or unintentionally,
through the glance or stare of someone who wishes you harm or is
envious of you (the person giving the
Eye is known as a "jettatore").
To diagnose it, Italian believers drop three droplets of water into a
bowl of olive
oil in order to see if they form three distinct globules instead of
joining together. If they do,
you're cursed, they believe, and the cure, according to the
superstitious, involves
the wearing of cornicelli,
the "Italian horns" often seen on necklaces,
or the making of a gesture -- either the mano in fica (the fig) or the mano cornuta (the horned hand),
shown in that order at right.1 The mano cornuta is the true origin of
the much-maligned, misunderstood "rock on!" hand sign made at rock
concerts, begun when Italian-American heavy metal front man, Ronnie
James
Dio -- who learned it from his Italian grandmother -- made it during a
show. It isn't a means to hail Satan, as some Evangelical sects
frustratingly seem to think, a belief which many silly Satanist-types
seem to have picked up on, "flashing the horns" menacingly as they're
wont to do -- most likely in order to frighten those Evangelicals. In
fact, it's rather the opposite, meant not to summon, but to ward off
evil. To truly ward off the Evil Eye, though, simply make the Sign of
the Cross, call on Christ, etc. If you're a fellow Italian or
Italian-American, wear a cornicello
or make the hand signs out of ethnic
tradition if you want, but couple
them
with Catholic prayer; don't depend on a cornicello or a hand gesture
themselves to protect you. They will not,
and such superstition is an invitation to the demonic.
To
combat all such curses made on people, simply stay in a state of grace
and stay "prayed up." Do the sorts of things outlined above and make a
special devotion to the Archangel Michael, our warrior angel against
the Evil One. Know the Prayer to St Michael
by heart!
Whatever you do, do not resort to self-professed "white witches"; there
is no
such thing. There may well be plenty of self-proclaimed witches who
have good intentions and are basically benevolent-hearted, but any form
of true magic (as opposed to stage magic, or prestidigitation), by definition,
derives its power from demons. The use of sacramentals might look like "magic" to outsiders --
our sprinkling of salt around our properties, our blessing ourselves
with holy water, our use of St. Joseph
statues to sell houses, etc.,
and many other Catholic phenomena might resemble it as well on the
surface,
such as our asking for roses from St.
Therese of Lisieux. But our
sacramentals are blessed by God
and derive their power from Him
and from His Church, not from
the demonic realm. While our sacramentals might look like "Christian magic" to the
ignorant, they aren't and can't
be given the very definition of
"magic," which is the endeavoring to accomplish feats beyond man's
natural capabilities, but without
calling on the power of the One True God. To ward off Evil
Spirit, we don't resort to Evil Spirit, mere objects that are unblessed
or used without calling on Christ, or ritual that doesn't call on
Christ or His Holy Angels! We resort to God, His Church,
and the means He's given us to defeat the Evil One, including those
means that involve ritual and objects that might look like "magic" to
the uninformed. To the Italian streghe,
the Mexican brujas, etc. --
just say no.
Now, there may well be people with such things referred to as
"paranormal" powers -- e.g.,
extra-sensory perception, clairvoyance, etc. Some of these abilities
may be gifts that are truly supernatural in
origin -- i.e., from God. Or some of those powers might be natural and
not
scientifically explained as yet. Or they could derive from demons. If
you ever consult
with anyone with paranormal abilities who does not fully intellectually
submit to Catholic teaching, who does not give gratitude
to the God of
Abraham and Isaac for her gifts, who does not call on the Holy Name of
Christ Jesus, who "channels" spirits, who performs rituals without
calling on the power of Christ, His Holy Angels, and the Church, then
you are asking for trouble. Big
trouble! We are told to test the spirits. I John 4:1-3 tells us:
Dearly beloved,
believe not every spirit, but try the spirits if they be of God:
because many false prophets are gone out into the world. By this is the
spirit of God known. Every spirit which confesseth that Jesus Christ is
come in the flesh, is of God: And every spirit that dissolveth Jesus,
is not of God: and this is Antichrist, of whom you have heard that he
cometh, and he is now already in the world.
Note here how
he refers to "false" prophets, which he's obviously contrasting with
true prophets. The Holy Ghost does grant gifts. I Corinthians
12:4-10:
And there are
diversities of operations, but the same God, who worketh all in all.
And the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man unto profit.
To one indeed, by the Spirit, is given the word of wisdom: and to
another, the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit; To
another, faith in the same spirit; to another, the grace of healing in
one Spirit; To another, the working of miracles; to another,
prophecy; to another, the discerning of spirits; to another, diverse
kinds of tongues; to another, interpretation of speeches. But all these
things one and the same Spirit worketh, dividing to every one according
as he will.
So those
Christians who scoff at the very idea of such abilities are not
believing what Sacred Scripture itself says. But those who consult with
those who have such abilities but get them from nature (if such powers
can be simply natural) and
who don't submit to the Church, or
who get them from demons are
leaving themselves wide open to demonic assault. If such assaults go so
far as possession, then Exorcism is needed...
Helpful Video
This video comes from Sensum Fidelium (link to their Youtube channel
will open in a new browser window).
The prayers
mentioned in the video above:
In the Name of
Jesus, I bind you, spirit of [blank], and send you to the foot of the
Cross to be judged by Our Lord.
In the Name of Jesus, I bind any spirit here that is not of the Holy
Spirit, and send you to the foot of the Cross to be judged by Our Lord.
Precious Blood wash over me and protect me from the wickedness and
snares of the devil.
Footnotes:
1 Note that both
the mano cornuto and the mano in fica -- the latter thought
to resemble female genitals -- are highly
insulting when directed at
someone. The mano cornuto,
when directed at a man, implies he's been cuckolded.
Move on to:
Index
Angels
Demons
Obsession,
Oppression, and Possession
Spiritual Warfare
Exorcism
Ghosts
Dreams
Back to Being Catholic
Index
|