My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian witnesses and writers in reflecting on life, encounters, and various situations, in a desire to enhance our understanding of what it means to be a missionary disciple of Jesus Christ at the service of the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.
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This reflection is in response to heartfelt cries for help from the parents of young families - in addition to the normal challenges of their daily routine - who are faced with unexpected and frightening troubles which, when they accumulate, can take on an appearance of evil.
I understand that you and your family are anxious because of all that has happened and is happening to you. I believe that you and and your spouse have yet to discover the full dignity and capacity you have received from God our Father to live as his children in the world. Jesus has commissioned all of us, and this includes each of you, to go out and labour confidently as his missionary disciples in the world. As we try to live in God, the Holy Spirit makes us "light for the world" and "salt for the Earth". I know you are comforted and encouraged by the presence and visit of the priest. I think you don't fully realize that Jesus gave not only to bishops, priests, and deacons, but to us all a share in his authority over the darkness, to dispel it, because He is victorious over sin, death, and the evil one. Jesus wants all of us to become, in the power of the Holy Spirit, his missionary disciples to carry the light of his love into all the dark places in the world.
There is no such thing as "evil eye", which is an idea, image, or feeling left over from pagan times when people had no understanding of the order that exists in the universe under God our Creator and Father. That is only one among many images, ideas, or phenomena which make up what we can call the "shadows" where evil lurks, waiting to pounce on unwary victims. You must know and understand that there is no true power in the universe apart from the power of God. To his creatures, like the angels (which includes the rebellious or disobedient angels which we call demons), He has given a share, but only a partial share, in his power. His human children, that's us, He has made free, and the demons have no power over us except through fear, if we give in to it.
Italy is one place where, like in Haiti, there persists what is called syncretism, which is an attempt to mix Christianity with the old pagan beliefs and superstitions. This never works because by making room for pagan beliefs and superstitions, we never actually put all our trust in God. Pagan ways only have power over us through fear. When we surrender ourselves to fear, or give in to fear, or focus on fear, or allow ourselves to become obsessed with fear; then we open the door of our mind, heart, body, imagination, and soul to the darkness. When we accept to play the role of victim, then we can experience bad things that we don't need to experience.
There are already enough bad things in life without opening the door to the darkness through fear or playing with any of the various occult practices: ouija board, tarot cards, fortune tellers, reading tea leaves, seances, spells, witchcraft black of white, etc. etc. One of the most dangerous and wide open traps rapidly spreading throughout the world right now is every form of pornography. This includes what maskerades as art but in fact denigrates the dignity and beauty of the human body and person. Every form of porn or false art denies the beauty, goodness, and truth embedded in our human nature by God our Creator, and tries to distract our attention away from our true identity and dignity as children of God and tries to seduce us to another way of living, which in the end can only lead to loneliness and death. The proof is everywhere around us in the wholesale slaughter of the innocents in the womb.
More innocent lives have been ripped from the womb and deprived of their right to be born and live than all the victims of wars and violence throughout the world in the 20th century, which is hard to believe but true. We cannot assign blame to women who have abortions without asking: "Where are the men? Why are the men not taking responsibility for themselves, and why are they abandoning the women they pretended to love and care for? What happened to the mothering and fathering of children that has produced human beings so insecure in themselves that they need to have recourse to sex in a desperate attempt to feel some human warmth and intimacy; however shallow and fleeting?
God our Creator and Father made our human sexuality as only one part of our human life. It is beautiful and powerful and adds colour to life, in addition to generating new life. It is designed to "cement" husband and wife to each other, to strengthen them against all the trials and troubles of life.Whenever we use our sexuality outside of the bond of husband and wife, the power of sex binds us to other things: selfishness, situations and combinations that are not part of God's plan for human life and happiness, exploitation, violence, and the destruction of the innocence of children and youth.
We must renounce ALL these things, all these forms of evil and the occult, and all degraded forms of sex and false and empty intimacy, and get them out of our houses, purge all our electronic devices, and put all of this trash out of our minds, imaginations, and memories, confess having used them, or even having entertained such thoughts and ideas. We renounce all these forms of darkness and evil when we renew our baptismal promises every Easter. We also do it at the beginning of every Holy Mass and also every time we pray the prayer that Jesus, Our Lord, taught us... the "Our Father".
We need to go in the opposite direction of the fear, the dark images, the dark feelings, the temptations, the threats, the shadows where evil lurks trying to intimidate us, and instead go in the opposite direction and walk towards God our loving Father, and keep deciding to put our trust in Him and in his Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, the one and only Saviour of the world.
That is why I recommend to you some practices for you and your spouse and your children as a family. Don't try to do all those things by yourself, if you are the wife and mother, but tell your husband that you need his support and leadership as head of your home. If you who are reading this are the husband and father, please also don't try to do these things by yourself, but first chat with your wife, and let her know that you don't want to do anything without her consent and support. You each have a part to play. It is up to each of you to decide to practice faith and putting trust in God through prayer and practicing silence, meditation, and the peace given by the Holy Spirit deep within us, but only if we want it.
God never imposes, but only offers. It is up to us to want it, to ask for it, to do it, to receive it, and to accept it; to live it. This is how, by dwelling in love and in God, it is God Himself who pushes away the darkness from inside of us. The darkness outside will remain until the end of time at the final victory of Jesus Christ; we need to understand that life will always be a battle between light and dark, and the battle line runs through the middle of our mind, heart, body, and soul.
God wants us to do battle and have the satisfaction of participating in the victory Jesus won; remember that first He suffered and died, and only then did He win the victory. God our Father wanted to demonstrate to all of humanity that even when evil would do its worst against Jesus, even killing Him; still, evil could not have a definitive victory. It was through dying that Jesus overcame death itself. It was by taking all the bad effects of sin on Himself that Jesus overcame sin. In the end, all that remains is the powerful and victorious love of God.
Here, then, are the practices I encourage you to do together.
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Priests are generally glad to visit your family and home, but please remember that God wants you to do your part; you cannot expect the priest to solve all your problems without doing your part to take responsibility for yourselves, your lives, your marriage, your family, your home, and every aspect of your lives.
In the meantime, don't wait, but, first of all, the best you can all do as a family is to go to confession regularly, all of you, in order to allow darkness not to get any foothold within you. No matter how often we must confess a similar sin, we refuse to give up or be discouraged, and by continuing to confess, we practice putting our trust not in our own power to be perfect but in God's mercy and love.
Second, obtain some holy water in a jar from the church (for the purpose of going through your entire house sprinkling it generously and abundantly, and praying the Rosary at the same time - see "fourth").
Third, pray together as a family. You could pray the Rosary together every day for a month, and it could become a good daily habit. (If your girls are to learn to live with God, you need to show them by doing it yourselves and also doing it with them.)
Fourth, while praying the Rosary, go around the house sprinkling the holy water in each and every room, closet, and cupboard, sprinkling with clean hands into all the corners of each space.
Finish with joining hands and praying in thanksgiving to God: one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be.... Then, give each other the sign and kiss of peace. Our Father wants us to be filled with his peace and joy; even in the face of troubles, threats, dangers, and sufferings.
How to pray the Rosary by meditating on the Mysteries of the Rosary - events in the life of Jesus and Mary, which the Holy Spirit uses to make connections with our own daily lives....
After praying the prayers connected to the Crucifix, the first bead, the next 3 beads, and the last bead, before starting the first decade, read the text for the first mystery in the set of mysteries you have chosen. Then pray each prayer in the decade, contemplating the mystery as you say the prayers. Do this for each decade. At the end, pray the "Hail, Holy Queen", the "Prayer to St. Michael", and any other prayer(s) you may wish to add.
By praying together as a family, the Lord Jesus will definitely be with you and drive away any dark influences.
I and all the bishops, priests, and deacons - including and especially Pope Fancis - are with you all in spirit. The role of the priest is to lead and show the way, but each baptized person must then actually walk in the way... and Jesus said: "I am the way, the truth, and the life." To see the way He walks and walk in it, to perceive Him as the truth and take it into us to absorb it, and to receive Jesus with the Father and the Holy Spirit and have their life within us... for all of this, we need to look at Jesus, begin to notice that He looks at us with love, let Him touch our hearts, let Him bring his light into our mind, let the Holy Spirit fill us with the peace that comes from the love of the Father and the Son....
All other ideas, fears, troubles, trials, feelings... they are all distractions trying to make us forget to keep looking to Jesus, to keep welcoming Him into us.... Don't be fooled by the superficial trials of life... they are only opportunities for us to practice putting our trust in God while we do our best to do what is in our power to do. What isn't in our power, that's what we put into God's hands, trusting that He will take care of his part, when and how He decides to do that. Our part is to hope and wait with confidence; while continuing to do what is ours to do, especially to pray and visit with God often during the day as we go about our occupations.
God doesn't want us to suffer going through life as though we were alone, or as orphans... but instead to make room for God in our mind and heart as we go about our occupations; knowing He is looking on us with love all day long and all through the night....
Please show this to your spouse, chat together, ask God to guide you, and decide what steps you will take. Then, let your priest know what you are doing together about all of this. Good priests who are good shepherds are glad to know what the faithful are doing to walk in the ways of the Lord, and are glad to offer counsel and encouragement. As you prepare and take good steps, know that the whole Church, the Bride of Christ, the entire Body of Christ consisting of all the baptized, all the ordained, and all the religious, are constantly praying for you all and with you in the Holy Spirit, 24/7!
In Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,
Fr. Gilles
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My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian witnesses and writers in reflecting on life, encounters, and various situations, in a desire to enhance our understanding of what it means to be a missionary disciple of Jesus Christ at the service of the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.
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© 2004-2024 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal QC
© 2004-2024 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
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