As Christians we are called to follow Christ and the Gospel. To put our faith, our hope and our trust in Jesus who is all powerful. In some circles there is a strange fascination with praying against evil spirits, binding evil spirits and deliverance prayers. But I have never read anything in the Saints writings about deliverance ministries or about binding evil spirits except of course in relation to the ministry of exorcism which is for Priests alone. St. Jean Vianney and St. Padre Pio for instance endured many direct attacks from the evil one. But they simply concentrated their lives on Christ, the celebration of the Holy Sacraments, and praying to Our Lady and the Saints. The evil one hated them because they were saving many souls through their lives of prayer and sanctity.
Jesus, Mary, the Saints and the Angels will protect us and fight for us on our behalf when we turn to them in prayer. We have the Sacraments of Confession and the Holy Eucharist, the Rosary and Sacramentals (holy water, scapulars, relics etc). We have great treasures in our Church. I think we have to be very careful and wary of praying directly against evil spirits and using deliverance prayers. This should be left to a Priest who is trained in this area if someone needs help. When we think of the Saints such as St. Jean Vianney, St. Padre Pio, St. Faustina, St. Therese, St. John of the Cross and so many more, none of them mention deliverance ministries or how to bind evil spirits. Their lives were centred on Christ and the Gospel, and that is all they needed. The Holy Mass, regular Confession, Eucharistic Adoration, the Rosary, devotion to Our Lady, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, Prayers to St. Michael and the Angels, living a life of honesty and simplicity, doing the works of mercy, reading the Bible and the lives of the Saints and staying away from sin - these are our remedies against evil...
John 8:12
“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
As Christians we are called to follow Christ and the Gospel. To put our faith, our hope and our trust in Jesus who is all powerful. In some circles there is a strange fascination with praying against evil spirits, binding evil spirits and deliverance prayers. But I have never read anything in the Saints writings about deliverance ministries or about binding evil spirits except of course in relation to the ministry of exorcism which is for Priests alone. St. Jean Vianney and St. Padre Pio for instance endured many direct attacks from the evil one. But they simply concentrated their lives on Christ, the celebration of the Holy Sacraments, and praying to Our Lady and the Saints. The evil one hated them because they were saving many souls through their lives of prayer and sanctity.
Interesting. But in Gospel it is written to "pray one for another and will be healed in the name of Jesus". Maybe we dont't pray for each other enought.
ReplyDeleteFrom the Saint Therese of Lisieux book "Story of a Soul" I remmember the most when she told: The Satan was so afraid of me, me, little child :), he ran away from my look, from our house. Just because the heart of St. Therese was so pure.
Interesting. But in Gospel it is written to "pray one for another and will be healed in the name of Jesus". Maybe we dont't pray for each other enought.
ReplyDeleteFrom the Saint Therese of Lisieux book "Story of a Soul" I remmember the most when she told: The Satan was so afraid of me, me, little child :), he ran away from my look, from our house. Just because the heart of St. Therese was so pure.
Yes we can and should always pray for one another. I was just referring to people praying deliverance prayers and also praying directly against the evil spirits. This should only be left to the Priests who deal in this ministry. For us we have the Holy Mass, the Eucharist, the Divine Mercy prayers, prayers to St.Michael, Holy water etc to protect us from evil.
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