Remember when Illinois gave the F-finger to God and passed same-sex marriage? Bp. Paprocki of Springfield performed an exorcism over the state. For which he is to be applauded.
Catholics – traditionally – not so much today – use exorcisms.
There are exorcisms for the elements of Holy Water in the traditional form of its blessing. The salt to be mixed with the water, and the water itself, as directly spoken to, as “you” and they are exorcised before they are blessed.
The traditional form of infant baptism has several powerful exorcisms, each an awesome moment. For example, the priest breathes three times on the child tracing a Cross with his breath and says, “Depart from him unclean spirit and give place to the Holy Spirit, the Consoler”. The priest places his hand on the child and says, “Free him from the snares of Satan which until now have held him.” The salt to be placed in the child’s mouth is exorcised. The priest says, that the salt will be “a health giving Sacrament to put the enemy to flight”. Soon after the priest says, “I exorcise you, unclean spirit … Come forth, depart from this servant of God, for He Commands you, accursed and damned spirit…. Therefore accursed devil, acknowledge your condemnation and pay homage to the true and living God…. depart from this servant of God…”. Father makes the Sign of the Cross on the forehead of the child, and says, “Accursed devil, never dare to desecrate this sign of the holy cross which we are tracing upon his forehead.” The rite moves into the church, where Father says, 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.
They then all renounce Satan, in a way similar to the Novus Ordo ritual.
And just before baptism, with an annointing, the priest says:
Almighty and ever-living God, you sent your only Son into the world to cast out the power of Satan, spirit of evil, to rescue man from the kingdom of darkness, and bring him into the splendor of your kingdom of light. We pray for this child: set him (her) free from original sin, make him (her) a temple of your glory, and send your Holy Spirit to dwell with him (her). We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Catholics do not shrink away from or excuse exorcisms or pooh-poo them. We embrace them. Folks, ask your priests to baptize with the older, traditional form.
The Roman Ritual has exorcisms for places, not just for people. Demons can dominate places because of sins that were committed there. And the places don’t have to be one little patch of ground or room or one building.
From WND:
NATIONWIDE ‘EXORCISM’ PROMPTS WARNINGS
For what is believed to be the first time ever in Mexico, an exorcism has been performed to chase demons from the entire nation.
But several pastors who are versed on the biblical warnings about the devil and his minions say the territory into which leaders of the Catholic Church recently ventured is unstable. [?]
According to a number of reports, the nationwide exorcism against demons blamed for crime and violence in Mexico was performed by Cardinal Juan Sandoval Íñiguez and other clergy, including a Spanish exorcist and demonologist, behind the close doors of the cathedral of San Luis Potosí.
Archbishop Jesús Carlos Cabrero explained the ritual as a “blessing for the people.” [Ummm….]
But exorcist Fr. José Antonio Fortea said the purpose of the rite, known as the “Exorcismo Magno,” was to combat demons who “tempt” people as “sin increases more and more in a country.”
He described the effort as the “first ever carried out in Mexico … to exorcise the powers of darkness, not from a person, but from the whole country.”
Pastor Karl Payne of Antioch Bible Church, who served as chaplain for the Seattle Seahawks football team for 21 years until just recently and is the author of “Spiritual Warfare: Christians, Demonization, and Deliverance,” urges caution in matters of demonology and exorcism. [Right, because when there is an issue of demonic activity, to whom do people turn? Antioch Bible Church was founded… when?]
Payne said, “There is much about demons and deliverance that I do not understand.” And says he has never met “anyone who owns the block or even the corner on this subject.”
He told WND: “I have never heard of a country-wide exorcism. [Well… la dee da.] I do believe that Daniel 10:10-13 indicates that countries can have demonic hosts assigned to undermine the work of God and the people of God doing that work. But I do not see any New Testament teaching on exorcisms being attempted on countries rather than people. This may reflect my lack of understanding on the subject, or someone else’s attempt to extrapolate beyond Scripture.” [For example, the “biblical teaching” that we can only use the Bible alone? Whoops! Not there.]
[…]Catholic clergy have been highly critical of a rise in occult practices in Mexico, particularly the cult of Santa Muerte (Saint Death), which has been growing in recent years. Pope Francis had also blamed satanic forces for violence in Mexico in March, stating, “I think the devil is punishing Mexico with great fury” during an interview with Mexican television.
[…]
Think of all the hideous stuff that has happened in Mexico, and is happening there now.
Think of all the hideous stuff that is happing in these USA!
Where you are!
Yes, I think exorcisms are just the thing.
I invite all the bishops reading this to consider doing an exorcism over their own dioceses, with the older Roman Ritual. It doesn’t have to be public. It doesn’t have to be just one.
¡Hagan lío!
Just to play for a moment with the word “lather”, which can also mean “to beat”…
Lather, Rinse and Repeat.
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It’s no surprise that demonic activity is high in Mexico given that so much of the foundational work in the development of contraceptives occurred there. Our Lady of Guadalupe, ora pro nobis!
I shared the article about Mexico on Drudge with some people online, and many responded that it should be the US next.
Between the drugs, the abortions, the pornography, more serious steps need to be taken.
Please, Bishops, take up this task.
It’s worse than the sexual and reproductive atrocities that afflict the whole of the Western world. Huitzilopochtli has returned as Santa Muerte, and is worshipped with human sacrifice again. The supernatural is real, and supernatural evil is horrible beyond our imaginations.
I shared this as well, and remember, Bishop Paprocki in the Springfield Diocese did a diocesan exorcism in November of 2013. A nationwide one is absolutely needed–and bishops could do this.
Even the pagans, when they brush up with undeniable and terrifying evil, know that you call a Catholic priest.
In this country, I could see the ACLU suing the Church for exorcisms performed for entire geographic areas. After all, some people in the area concerned would not believe in God, the devil, or the Church’s power to cast out demons. The Bishops should still do it.
Yes, thank you, Father. I hope bishops listen to you. We are in great need of exorcisms.
Places, things, maybe even computers? Who knows how much evil enters homes through computers and/or televisions.
PAmom:
I was reading about this, too, on the NCR(egister) and most of the comments were also, that it must be done in the USA. It is the people who seem more aware of these dangers than the hierarchy.
Abortion has become the chosen sacrifice of our children for the selfish lives of many, just as the Aztec God of rain (Tlaloc) was offered infant sacrifice as were the Gods of Mayan and Incan cultures, so too, we now do the same thing to the Gods of self-convenience.
Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared on the Hill of Tepeyac
Curious:
“On Tepeyac Hill, where Our Lady of Guadalupe first appeared to St. Juan Diego, is where an Aztec goddess was worshiped by the Aztecs. The natives, to appease the evil goddess, offered human sacrifices.”
Our Lady of Guadalupe appears as a woman with child. The black band on her wrist proclaims it so in the Aztec culture. And this is where she appeared and asked that a shrine be built. She replaced infanticide with conversions and the Sacrifice of the Mass, bringing Our Lord to replace this infanticide.
I so fear, that if this evil continues in Mexico, her image will gradually fade away and with it Her Protection of this once predominantly, courageous Catholic country.
Re: comment by EoinOBolguidhir: Huitzilopochtli was far from the only Aztec deity that was worshipped with human sacrifice, though of course the whole pyramids plus human hearts thing was flashier than all the thousands of children thrown into wells, and all the other horrible things done to unfortunates.
The cult of Santa Muerte is pretty much a parade of the horribles. All sorts of good Christian concepts, like praying for a happy, holy death, have been turned into something sickening.
Re: the Antioch Bible Church guy – To be fair, it sounds like the reporter called him up and he came out with generalized boilerplate, and then the reporter gave him more information and he tried to think on the fly about something he’d never heard anything about. Pretty ridiculous attempt by the reporter to find an opposing source, and I feel sorry for the guy being put on the spot. Heck, we don’t even know if his answers were even elicited by the article’s questions, as the whole thing seems weirdly disjointed.
Too bad we couldn’t have some actual exorcists weigh in on this one : They’re the ones who have a more profound insight on this matter in terms of practicality.
Father Gabriele Amorth is among the world’s foremost exorcists. . . a couple of very interesting articles – one, an interview with him, and the other an excerpt ( The Power of Satan) from one of his books An Exorcist Tells His Story lnked below –
Iterview with Father Gabriele Amorth
excerpt from An Exorcist Tells His Story; Ignatius Insight
The Devil does his best work when people cease to believe in his existence . I can’t recall offhand whether the author was St. Theresa of Avila or St Jean Vianney , but their wisdom proffered on demonic activity which I’m paraphrasing, expressed the sentiment:
Often the smokescreen of confusion is used to obscure his activity.
If the devil can make use of the elements, of inanimate objects, of human beings, of a herd of over 2000 pigs . . . and if entire nations can be consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, why couldn’t there be a prayer of exorcism extending into/over the same realm intended to impede Satan and his plans for the ruin of so many souls ?
I’d be willing to bet that 9 times out of 10, whoever would be praying that particular prayer or performing the rite ,would simultaneously recognize their own need to strive for personal holiness (as should we) to augment such prayers.
As Fr. Z so vigilantly posts on his blog , Confession is always a great place to ground oneself – it can do us a world of good in avoiding an eternity of harm.
Just read the article and it always amazes me how the Protestant fight the Catholic Church at every turn.
It is called “Collective Possession”, when a group, city, state, or country is possessed.
Bear in mind that bishops who do this may do it behind closed doors and without publicity. Wise bishops may do so repeatedly.
I will be sharing this post with my bishop and asking him to do this in conjunction
with the other bishops in the state.
Being that the leaders of Mexico a long time ago choose to accept the evils of Freemasonry, it is not surprising that there has been so much turmoil and evil there. Mexico needs to reclaim her roots as a Catholic country. Hopefully this exorcism will banish the evil from the land.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Pray for Us. St. Padre Miguel Pro, Pray for Us.
Then perhaps our Bishops can do the the same thing in the US followed the Canadians and Quebecois to reclaim all of North America from evil.
Thank you Fr. Z for this very important post and treatment. Inspired, I searched for an exorcism prayer that can be said by lay people, and found the link below. St. Michael, defend us!
http://catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com/Exorcism.html
[Lay people should avoid doing anything that resembles an exorcism.]
Regarding the St Michael exorcism prayer, the former Cardinal Ratzinger warned that this prayer must never be used by the faithful:
“2. From these prescriptions it follows that it is not even licit that the faithful use the formula of exorcism against Satan and the fallen angels, extracted from the one published by order of the Supreme Pontiff Leo XIII, and even less that they use the integral text of this exorcism. Bishops should take care to warn the faithful, if necessary, of this.”
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19850924_exorcism_en.html
Thank you Fr. Z and StWinefride for clearing this up and giving proper warning that the faithful should steer clear doing anything resembling an exorcism.
Oremus pro invicem.