There is wide interest today in the topic of exorcism. The publication a couple of years of the The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist by Matt Baglio, and the subsequent movie and interviews with Fr. Gary Thomas have sparked some of this interest. Prior to this other books such as An Exorcist Tells His Story by Fr. Gabriel Amorth and other such books had paved the way for the renewed interest.
But frankly, another reason is that, as our world becomes more secular, families disintegrate and the outright celebration of sinful practices spreads, bondage to sinful drives, psychological trauma, and openness to demonic influence is also on the increase.
Sadly a whole generation of priests were often taught to distrust traditional understandings of trauma and dysfunction that gave significant weight to spiritual causes. These priests were often trained to see most such things as merely psychological in nature and, thus the only recommended course was psychotherapy. Parishioners were sent, often without even a prayer being said.
Gratefully the tide is turning back to a more balanced approach and Catholics are right asking for spiritual help, along with other helpful approaches such as psychotherapy and the use of psychtropic medicines.
But with the renewed emphasis on exorcism in the news and other sources, it must be said that some of the increased requests for the formal Rite of Exorcism, often manifests and misunderstanding of that rite, and also a lack of information on other avenues for healing.
For the truth is, outright demonic possession is rare, and that is what the formal Rite of Exorcism is meant to address. Most people who present themselves, or someone they love, to the Church are not possessed by the devil or demons. There may be lesser forms of trouble such as obsession, oppression or torment at work, along with psychological trauma, and other more natural sources of struggle.
For such people, who are not possessed, what is needed is deliverance, not exorcism.
What is deliverance? Deliverance is prayer and on-going ministry that uses numerous approaches to bring healing and wholeness to those who, in some way after baptism, have come to struggle significantly with bondage to sin, the influence of demons, sinful drives, or the effects of significant psychological and/or spiritual trauma.
Deliverance involves taking hold of the full freedom that God is given us, of helping the faithful who struggle to lay hold of the glorious freedom of the children of God (cf Rom 8:21). St. Paul says, that the Father has rescued us from the power of darkness and has brought us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins (Colossians 1:13 – 14).
There is also a magnificent passage in the Acts of the Apostles where St. Paul is told of his mission to the Gentiles by the Lord: I am sending you to [the Gentiles] to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God. Acts 26:17–18.
This fundamentally is a description of the ongoing work of deliverance that the whole Church must accomplish for God’s chosen people. Deliverance seeks to take people out from under Satan’s power and place them under the Authority and Lordship of Jesus Christ. It is to bring people to, or restore them to, their true identity as sons and daughters of God.
For, even after baptism, it is possible that we open doors to Satan, and he is able to gain some degree of access to our hearts and minds. When this is the case, a Christian, working with others, clergy and fellow believers alike, must take a stand against the schemes of the devil by repenting of sin, and renouncing any form of agreement with the deceptions of the enemy.
Deliverance involves coming to an understanding of the tactics of the evil one and also the flawed thinking which often infects our minds. It involves coming to know and name these tactics of the evil one, and these deep drives of sin within us. It involves repenting of them, and steadily renouncing their influence so that we come to greater serenity, peace, and healing; in other words, to deliverance.
This deliverance is effected in many ways: by the Word of God proclaimed and devoutly read, through the frequent reception of sacraments of Holy Communion and confession, through spiritual direction, through the experience of the Sacred Liturgy, praise and worship, through authentic and close fellowship with other believers, through personal prayer, through psychotherapy where necessary, and through what might be called a deliverance ministry that often involves both clergy and lay people praying together with those who struggle, and offering support, and encouragement.
Here is therefore, the description of a wider ministry of deliverance that looks past exorcism, alone, (and which only applies rather rare circumstances of possession). Deliverance ministry seeks to broaden healing to the large number of people, (to some extent all of us a certain times) who need healing and deliverance.
Who needs deliverance? While everyone can benefit from such a ministry in a general sort of a way, there are more particularly those among us who go through intense crises and need special and focused ministry. This ministry may occasionally involve formal exorcism, but it usually involves a more general need that we would call a need for deliverance. And this deliverance should be a multidisciplinary approach as described just above.
My own experience with the need for deliverance ministry, is quite personal. For I myself, at a critical point in my life, needed deliverance. The specific area where I needed deliverance concerned grave, and increasingly debilitating bouts with severe anxiety.
This significant torment had begun for me, at an early age. As early as age 10, I began to experience long periods of sleeplessness due to extreme worry. At the time in my family there were many crises underway, related to my sister’s severe mental illness and my parents’ struggle with alcohol. These bouts of extreme anxiety I began to endure, usually lasting for months at a time, were sporadic at first, coming in going somewhat mysteriously.
Through my teenage years these episodes of extreme anxiety became more frequent, and troublesome enough that my parents placed me in outpatient psychotherapeutic counseling and I was prescribed psychotropic medicines. Some benefits were attained hereby, and my college and seminary years were largely serene.
But for me a major crisis ensued in my 33rd year, when, as a young priest, I was asked to take a very challenging assignment. While I initially agreed to the assignment, I was soon assailed by extreme anxiety, sleeplessness, frequent panic attacks, almost non-stop rumination and depression. I was certain that I was losing my mind. This led to brief hospitalization, and the need to step back from the assignment.
But my crisis only deepened into post traumatic stress syndrome and into deeper and darker depression. I also began to experience a demonic presence. Even on sunny days my peripheral vision was shrouded in a palpable darkness and I experienced demonic presence in my bedroom, a brooding dark presence, which tormented me throughout the night. I found it necessary to sleep in my outer room with the door open for fear of this presence.
Knowing and seeing my declining condition, a brother priest prayed with me and insisted that I seek help. It was clear that I was in need of deliverance that I was not living the normal and promised Christian life. I was tormented by fear and locked in depression, and self-loathing. My accuser, the evil one, had shown his face and largely robbed me of the glorious freedom of the children of God. Deliverance was needed, and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.
Eighteen years later, I want to tell you I have been delivered, Thank you Jesus! I rarely worry about anything now.
But I also want to say that deliverance takes time, and involves a multidisciplinary approach. Unfortunately most people just seek relief, but God is in the healing business, and healing takes time, courage, lots of prayer, patience and waiting on the Lord.
The elements of my deliverance and healing included daily Mass, daily prayer and the reading of Scripture, spiritual direction, psychotherapy, group therapy, weekly Alanon meetings, weekly confession, deliverance prayers, and walking in fellowship with the people of God. Slowly, through all these means, the dark moments grew briefer the light grew brighter. My priestly ministry also grew richer and I became more compassionate and more able to help others in their struggles
One of the things I had to discover was that my deliverance was linked to uncovering and naming sinful drives, and distorted thinking, which provided doorways for the devil to rob me of my freedom.
The primary sinful drive with which I struggled was that of control, which is a form of pride. Growing up in an often troubled home, one of my strategies had been to carve out small areas in my life that I could strictly control. For example I kept my room very clean, and often kept it locked when I was away from the house. There were many other such things that I did, and the little areas of life I could control gave me some sense of safety.
But as I grew older and my responsibilities increased, I took this attitude of control into those areas and often insisted unreasonably in being in control of things that cannot reasonably be controlled. Finally, I was given a challenging assignment, and realizing I could never possibly keep everything under control, I went into great crisis.
Ultimately I needed to repent of my strong drive to control and see it for the pride that it was. I needed to learn to rely on God more. But striving to rely on someone other than myself, even God, was frankly terrifying. It took lots of repentance, growing self-knowledge, and learning the moves of pride and control, as well as developing better and more reasonable strrategies that accepted the fact that there are many things I cannot control.
And through it all, there were great battles with Satan who did not want to easily relax his grip. Thanks be to God I had many helpers, many counselors and people who were praying for me. Deliverance did come. It came slowly at first, but with increasing speed.
This is deliverance ministry. And yes it takes time, and many helpers from many disciplines. Sacraments are essential and fundamental, as is prayer, and the Word of God. But deliverance, in most cases also requires psycho-therapeutic and medical interventions as well. This was my journey to deliverance.
In my years as a priest I have had also had to walk with others, slowly helping them to find serenity and to appreciate that there is a big difference between relief and healing. Little by little, building trust and striving to increase the “healing team” I have seen many make progress similar to my own. But, frankly, it takes time. It is a journey and God proceeds very delicately in these matters, often waiting till we are ready. For, healing takes courage, and God often waits till we are ready.
So, while recent interest in exorcism is encouraging, it is also necessary to have care that we not focus too much on what is rare, even exotic, and thereby overlook what is often more necessary and applicable to most cases: deliverance prayer and ministry.
A few resources to recommend to you.
Two excellent books on deliverance have been written by Neal Lozano:
Unbound: A Practical Guide to Deliverance
Resisting the Devil: A Catholic Perspective on Deliverance
Here are some deliverance prayers and I others in this work often prayer with the faithful and encourage them to pray with others: Deliverance prayers
Here is a minor exorcism prayer that Pope Leo XIII made available for priests to say. Please note, this is not from the prayers of formal exorcism that only an exorcist authorized by the Bishop may pray. This is a minor exorcism prayer that assists priests in vigorously denouncing the presence and incursions of demons in a general sort of way and it should not be confused with a solemn exorcism performed on an individual whom the Church has deemed likely to be possessed :
To be said by a priest: Prayer Against Satan and the Rebellious Angels For a Priest to Say
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7) I am a witness.
Thank you Msgr. Pope.
Your descriptions of control issues as a youth and young man describe my youngest son’s behavior. His mother had personality issues as a result of her dysfunctional family and being an adult child of an alcoholic. This eventually led to her chronic medical issues of unexplained pains, migranes, multiple exploratory surgeries over the years, addiction to pain medications, depression and several rehab stays and arrests for obtaining prescription drugs by fraudulent means when the doctors discontinued her prescriptions. A councelor I had seen when her addiction first came to light told me he had one bit of advice. Take the kids and leave and don’t look back. I couldn’t really see that as a solution seeing we were married in the Church and the vows we had made before God. We have been married for thirty years now and our three children, one of which I adopted from her previous marriage, are grown and out of the house with families of their own. This with the exception of the youngest son who is single, agnostic, with anxiety issues and a compulsive control disorder. He is very intelligent, kind and respectable but lacks inner peace and humility. I have done what I can to demonstrate my faith and belief consistently. The rest I have to suffer at God’s will. I don’t believe I made the wrong decision in not taking the councelor’s advice back in 1991, but still we have all been affected by my wife’s emotional, psychological and medical history. Support is what a family is does, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, till death do you part. Life is a passion play. Deliverance is between God and oneself. My children have become as so many friends, I share my life experiences and beliefs and they live theirs as refugees of it.
dear msgr pope- i hear you loud and clear. thankfully your’s look place early in your priesthood; mine started when i was around 55 years of age- “i made a decision that i was going to get my act together in god”.
when my wife and myself would minister to people in a p/w service we have seen a couple of “spontaneous” deliverance happen before our eyes without anything being said.
it is very sad for me to encounter priests late in their ministery who have major personal issues and yet this is the road for them, not only in ministering, but to work out their own salvation. god bless you, msgr.pope.
May St. Michael pray for those priests God has called to be exorcists. +JMJ+
Thank you Msgr. for addressing this topic of evil, deliverance and healing.
It is at the heart of the gospels and weaves a pattern through human history.
To all sufferers, hang on and rest in Jesus and trust in His great mercy.
Consecration to Mary and Jesus
The sacraments
YOU CANNOT GO WRONG
You are a lovely soul mgr
GOD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU WITHIN HIS MOST SACRED 7 PRECIOUS HEART
Thank you, Monsignor Pope for your courageous witness.
The tide of battle seems high. We have lived in a terrible time when evil, plain and sure, was denied as being before our very eyes.
Deliver us, O Lord from darkness and evil.
Only You are God, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
In the unity of God, Our Father and The Holy Spirit, deliver us from evil. Amen.
Something I read Co-Dependency No More is a good book on how the control is formed in the innocent through evil in the hearts of the adults around them. The author is making well due with the information she has and to connect it with what you have written here would be ideal. My experience with insanity is that if comes on from a lack of God and an embrace by sinful pleasures. In the Bible we read about casting out demons. Now we call it by different words and they sell us potions to rid out the demons. But it is very simple to reinstate Jesus Christ in our lives and remove sin. I changed the course of my life from an addicted parent by stopping all contact with that evil one. This lead to my conversion while other siblings still foster their insanity by trying to control the situation. If they do not wish to cast out their demons do not allow them into your house. And we do not need potions but better apostles who can cast out the demons when asked. I understand that is part of what you stated here.
Wow! Thank you! Fabulous piece… and so needed by myself and so many others. I can relate to just about everyting you wrote here, especially the anxiety and the awareness of a demonic presence. And like you, I have been delivered. Praise God!!
I learned through some difficult experiences that the enemy takes advantage of man when man is at his weakest. My second child was born with cancer and I was reeling from that – physically and emotionally – and it occured during a time in my life when I wasn’t very spiritual. I was exhausted and stressed. Let’s just say that the enemy did everything in his power to push me over the edge! A very wise man told me at the time to make sure I took good care of myself – take vitamins, eat healthy, get rest whenever possible. The other advice I got from a relative was to keep my mind focused on Jesus. So I would call out to Him silently throughout the day, imploring His help. There was a point where I knew that if I took my mind off of the Lord for even a moment, I would suffer a nervous breakdown.
I learned many powerful lessons from this ordeal. Today, I am witnessing other family members suffering from oppression. I fast and pray for them(including novenas), and have “sacrificed” things that I care about. I remind the Lord daily that I trust Him, that I’m waiting on Him, and I thank Him for giving me the gift of persistance.
Monsignor and Readers – please, let’s remember each other in prayer!!!
As Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen stated: a/the most powerful prayer for us against Evil is to call upon “Your Holy Name, Jesus, Your Most Precious Blood, and Our Lady’s intercession!” And lest not forget the Terror Of Demons, Saint Joseph-Ora pro nobis!, protect us.
Also, see the resource started by two exorcists at http://www.AuxiliumChristianorum.org
Another book that is making the rounds in this area is Healing of Families written by Fr. Yozefu. It can be found at http://www.HealingofFamilies.com
Thank you so much for this witness, and your wonderful reflections on St. Paul’s letters on love. I have been to a couple of healing Masses and have learned some of the prayers of deliverance. Although I went looking for physical healing, what I’ve been given is much more — spiritual healing — and trust and abandonment to God’s will. I think many of us struggle with wanting to control our lives. I’m glad I’m finally learning.
I’ll second everything Tess said above.
God bless you.
Thank you for your courageous witness Msgr. May God bless you.
Msgr,
Can I ask a personal question? Did your parents turn to alcohol to help them cope with the stress caused by your older sister’s difficulties?
Yes, isn’t that usually the case that those who struggle addiction are “self medicating” !!
Monsignor, your post was so needed today. My little sister of whom I wrote a few weeks ago when you were writing about your sister…suddenly contacted our dad on Monday, full of stories of her neighbor spying on her with cameras and such, weeping, exhausted from financial woes (though she has two part-time jobs), and nearly at the end of her rope. It has been almost a year since she dropped out of our lives without a word (the 1st Friday of Lent actually). We have been in constant prayer for her safety — my dad had actually just finished a specific novena for her. My dad’s reaction: to invite her to come live with him for as long as she needed and that they would work things out one day at a time. It was a great relief to my dad to come to the realization that he was not to blame for her mental health issues — and, through the sacrament of confession, was empowered by a more focused prayer.
Today, he is moving her back to our childhood home. After the initial relief of having his daughter return, he has experienced some 3 a.m. regret (“What have I done? My life is going to be disrupted now…” he told me on Wednesday) So my prayer is for St. Monica to give my dad the strength a parent needs in such situations.
My brothers and I are united in assisting financially for her to receive finally the treatment she has needed for so long but I know it will be a long long battle.
Years ago, when she lived with myself, my husband and children, I would often go into her bedroom when she wasn’t there, kneel down, and pray for her deliverance from the evil one. These are powerful prayers.
I thank you for your assistance today. You are doing a good work for many who will never post here, but will gain God’s strength to continue…and to not give up ever until the last breath… This is a far-worse suffering than poverty, but not many want to walk with those who suffer.
God bless you.
Thank You Msgr. for your witness. It is truly sad that one has to turn to the internet to find such clarity and truth.
There are few priests that acknowledge the existence of satan, it seems to be an embarrassment for them, in this age of secular humanism. I cannot recall the last time I heard reference to the existence of satan and deliverance , in a homily. As a prior detective and soldier, I have witnessed satans work many times and on a few occasions, was in his presence more than once.
Please keep up your witness, pray that it will be legitimized throughout the Holy Church.
Pax Christi
Kevin H.
Although demonic possession is officially considered rare, we have seen the Church put an exorcist in each diocese and even installed hotlines to handle the demand (most recently, Milan). There seems to be an evident need. . . clearly, something is happening.
Call it what you want, the Devil is real and is on the prowl to steal souls. So be careful not minimize the influence and works of evil. Not all can be explained as addictions or mental illness. Sin is rampant. The Ten Commandments matter and regular Confession is critical. The Devil’s work is evident everywhere and throughout time.
The Catechism states “When the Church asks publically and authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ that a person or object be protected against the power of the Evil One and withdrawn from his dominion, it is called an exorcism.” That reads like a universal mission statement.
I forgot to add, your article, Msgr., is terrific and extremely necessary for all of us.
To be certain, in the second paragraph of my post starting with “So be careful. . . ” I am referring to all of us in general, not you or your article. So you know, I am delighted with the distinctions you make.
Msgr.,
I can see why the demons attack you and your family, it is because they know that you will be a great witness for Jesus Christ. I really believe this. I’ve been tormented myself with anixety and questioning my faith. I wish I have perfect faith. Sometimes it’s strong, sometimes it’s weak. I envy the saints like St. Faustina because she saw Christ Himself, but then I sure wouldn’t want her sufferings. I think the enemy just want to wear us down so that we’re not that productive.
Thank you so much, Msgr.
This post gives a really good reason to avoid sin, especially serious sin: to keep the devil as much as possible out of one’s life.
Maybe there is such a thing as an addictive personality that other people don’t have or maybe every one has an addictive personality in one way or another. So, suppose someone admits that he has an addictive personality. He decides to addict himself to play solitaire on his computer and listening to music. Neither activity is a sin. But then, he injures his shoulder and hand from playing so much solitaire. He could be tempted to go back to the sin he turned away from. This explains why some people will pray two, three, or even four–or more–rosaries a day. No repetitive motion injury and active battle against ‘stinking thinking’. –and supernatural benefits, as well. Also, praying the rosary is probably the safest activity that one can engage in while driving a car.
One danger in fighting and overcoming a serious sin is that someone might overcome one serious sin and turn around and pick up an even worse serious sin. I am sure that there are some people who didn’t expect that to happen when it did happen.
Another excellent book on deliverance is called Deliverance from Evil Spirits by Francis MacNutt; he has a very interesting epilogue about the experiences of a priest from India with delivering persons afflicted by Hindu deities!
Belief in the presence and power of saints, demons, miracles, prayer, relics, rosaries, novenas, blessings, etc. very much went by the boards after Vatican II. So where do we find many young people going today–to New Age religion. wicca, pagan ritual, etc. where there seems to be tremendous belief in the presence of spritual power and its breaking into our everyday lives–beliefs that used to be an integral part of our Catholic Heritage, but that now gets looked down on by some elitist Catholics as “superstitious.” More postings and comments like here today are needed to re-awaken many Catholics to spiritual realities and power and the spiritual combat that is ongoing between the demonic forces of evil and the angelic forces of good.
About three years ago, God allowed the devil to inflict a mystical death on me that was inconceivable.
I was living alone in a room, and I was convinced that I was damned for all eternity and that I could do nothing about it (I was convinced that I committed the unforgivable sin, even though I could not recall nor put my finger on what it was).
I could feel the devil’s increasing crushing vice on me, and I was convinced that that would be progressive and inevitable.
Images of the hell that awaited me, that the devil put in my mind, were infinitely more terrible than anything I had ever read or thought about before.
I was convinced that I was the “Beast” (rider on the pale green horse, simply called “Death”) responsible for all the unraveling of society in modern times, far worse than the Antichrist – the devil told me that even though Antichrist is destined for the extreme of perdition, his sufferings would be light in comparison with mine, and I would suffer more than all the damned and demons put together. I felt I was inevitability headed to the singularity of a black hole (the “Second Death” after the General Judgment), where I would suffer infinite pain which would increase infinitely at every instant all through eternity.
This happened during the Lent of 2010, where I did not even go to Mass because I thought God Himself excommunicated me from the Church. I could not even say the Hail Mary because I believed that me praying that prayer was an offense to her – that was the most existential Lent of my life!
However, that cleared up just before Easter (at God’s command), so that I could celebrate Easter with joy.
I now know that God’s invisible and sure support was all through that, as something always carried me on, even though I was convinced that I would fall through the bottom any day.
The greater the death, the greater the subsequent resurrection, as from that God has drawn a grace for me beyond all understanding.
Msgr Pope,
Thank you for opening up and having an honest conversation with us,
Peace and Blessings
Thanks for a great post, Msgr. Pope. Perhaps you could comment on a question it raises for me. I don’t deny that psychotherapy helps, but why does it help? If deliverance is a spiritual work, and psychology is a natural science, it seems that spiritual problems are beyond psychology’s capacity to help. Is it simply that malevolent forces have effects on the person’s mind, and psychotherapy can address those issues, even if they don’t address the ultimate cause?
The premise that deliverance is a spiritual work needs some clarification. That something is a spiritual work does not mean it ignores the natural or physical. If that were the case we would have no sacraments for all the sacraments make use of natural elements such as water, bread, wine, oil, laying on of hands etc. And thus deliverance can and should make use of natural and supernatural helps, and also spiritual and physical things. Further spiritual problems still interact with and are influenced many aspects of who we are: our mind, brain, memories, soul, spirit, central nervous system, personality, perception, genetic factors, family of origin, thinking patterns, etc…. Frankly, we human beings are a complicated mix of many things and thus a multivariate approach would seem essential.
Also, thanks for the deliverance prayers. Do a lot of the faithful say them? Should people (especially we lay-folks) take any precautions while saying them?
Well, the deliverance prayers are a frequent feature of many who are familiar with deliverance ministry. They have some origin in the charismatic movement as well. As for precautions, I suppose that one ought not pray them only alone or seek to make the journey of deliverance alone. Some consultation with a trusted priest and skilled laity is important. But I don’t think there is anything inherently dangerous in the deliverance prayers. The second prayer I post is for priests to say only.
I’m so sorry for all your struggles Monsignor. I think I suffered from anxiety since first grade (long time ago), then fell into a sinful life and opened the door to evil through the occult. I got out of the mess by first, a good confession, deliverance ministry of Fr. John Hampsch, and daily prayers of the Auxilium Christianorum. Thanks for this excellent teaching.
I also found Fr. Chad Ripperger’s lectures on demons extremely helpful. He’s at Sensus Traditionis.
Excellent witness Msgr Pope. Peace. 🙂
Thank you, Father. This was very helpful. If you ever write more about the practical ways to identify and uncover the primary sinful drives, and how to be rid of them, that would be even more helpful. May God bless you.
I had troubles similar to some of those you described (feeling a presence in my room at night, looking at me, etc.). I got a Benedictine priest to pray the exorcism prayer, in Latin, over some St. Benedict medals, and from that point on, the troubles rapidly retreated. I still wear one of those medals, and am still free from the worst of those persecutions. The Benedictines seem to have given permission for any priest to say the prayers now, in English, but I am not positive the prayers given on the website are the same that were said over my medals. http://www.osb.org/gen/medal.html
Thank you, Msgr. Pope, for your blessed transparency. It is all too easy to settle for a superficial, criplingly secular view of this battle. Your victory is a heartening guide.
I would just like to say that deliverance is not something everyone can do. It is only for those who are trained properly in this ministry. The book ‘Unbound’ that you mentioned above also contains a section on dealing with manifestations which is very dangerous for those who are very vulnerable. Deliverance is not childs play, we simply cannot tell demons to stop ‘hassling us’ if they give us trouble. This is very naieve. As Catholics we have the Holy Eucharist which is the presence of Jesus Christ in our midst. It is not mentioned in this book ‘Unbound’. It would be far better for people to go and spend more time in Adoration or in front of Jesus in the Tabernacle and ask for the gift of renewed faith in His almighty and powerful presence. We also have the Sacrament of Confession where a very open and transparent confession releases us from sin. If we have habitual problems, go to Confession regularly. If your problems go deeper and may be caused by other outside influence, then go and see someone who is properly trained in Christ centred counselling or deliverance if needed. To put too much attention on evil spirits is not healthy but to put all our attention on Christ brings wholeness and freedom. Any form of healing (in the Catholic Church) that does not centre on the Eucharist, I would question.
I have found this sermon very helpful:
http://catholicchampion.blogspot.com/2010/12/podcast-sermon-satan-is-real-how-do-we.html
Kindly pray For KAYAGA MARGRET MARIA mother of my son Forbes, She need deliverance from evil spirits, Curses, Jinxes , Hexes that came because of the names she was given, and the clan, her practice of witch craft, and evil commitments of wealth and taming me, running into men here and there, that are blocking my Godly blessings of work and Family Progress,
I have been asked to leave her but I have faith that with joint prayers she will change and be a woman of luck and blessing to my family
I pray that her life should turn to be a blessing to me and my entire family and children forever
I pray she completely stop practicing any form of evil acts, Witch craft, Running into men, Let the holy God Change her life for ever so that I use my blessings to provide the best for her and my children and family as well as giving a hand to the community and the needy
I pray that this pray breaks all evil spirits that follow her and completely leave our family and never to cause any trouble to my family
Lastly I pray that she only loves me the father of her son and never to love any other man a part from me,
And that she finds rest in me only and not any other man,
I want her to rest me, and Begin Treasuring me for the rest of her life
AMEN
I came to this article this morning by a comment or on RCSpiritualDirection site. We have been discussing about Patti McGuire’s article there on the interview with a parish priest and an exorcism he was called to do for a family. It raised several questions for me…. http://rcspiritualdirection.com/blog/2014/02/18/exorcist-interview-recent-possession?utm_source=Catholic+Spiritual+Direction&utm_campaign=8506714968-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_9dd96593f8-8506714968-59832461
After reading this article by Msgr Pope, I wanted to ask how would someone know if the needed deliverance and how does one discern whether certain behaviors are result of oppression or being overscrupulous ?
Thanks to anyone who can offer trustworthy answers to these questions.
I’m in that torment now…I feel oppressed at times…thank you for this – my prayer life needs to be expanded greatly
Thank you very much Msgr. Pope for your testimony. I especially was grateful to hear that Alanon was able to help you. I got a lot of help from that program also.