A secular book about exorcism says that one thing rankles demons.Posted on 05/31/2007 8:43:12 AM PDT by NYer
A secular book about exorcism says that one thing rankles demons.
"The devil doesn't like Latin," writes Tracy Wilkinson in The Vatican's Exorcists. "That is one of the first things I learned from Father Gabriele Amorth, long known as Rome's chief exorcist, even though that has never been his formal title.
"Now past the age of eighty, Father Amorth has dedicated the last decades of his life to regaining a measure of respectability for exorcism. Despite his advancing age, he continues to perform the rite several times a week at his office in Rome.
"Scores of people seek him out. He prefers to use Latin when he conducts exorcisms, he says, because it is most effective in challenging the devil."
That tidbit comes to us at a time when Benedict XVI is ready to loosen restrictions on Latin Mass. It's in the new book -- a secular and sometimes skeptical but fascinating glimpse into the world of Italian priests who see their job as casting out demons.
While the numbers dwindle in countries like the Canada, France, and the U.S., exorcists are on the rise on the Vatican's home turf -- thanks largely to priests such as Father Amorth.
In Italy the number of exorcists has grown tenfold in the past decade, according to the priest (who is himself author of two bestsellers, An Exorcist Tells His Story and An Exorcist: More Stories). Credit is also due to the legacy of John Paul II -- who made the notion of exorcism, which was founded by Jesus Himself, respectable again.
Father Amorth was born in Modena in northern Italy and has been a priest since 1954. In 1986 he began performing exorcisms under the tutelage of the vicar for Rome.
According to Wilkinson, Father Amorth accepted the task "after praying to the Virgin Mary for her steadfast guidance and protection."
"On the walls of Amorth's exorcism chamber, eight Crucifixes and pictures of the Madonna are hanging, plus a picture of Saint Michael the Archangel," says the book. "A two-foot-high statue of the Virgin Mary, the Madonna of Fatima, sits on a corner table.
"There are also pictures of the late Pope John Paul II; the popular saint Padre Pio; Amorth's mentor, Father Candido; and Father Giacomo Alberione, the founder of the Society of Saint Paul Congregation."
Father Amorth calls them "my protectors," adding that "the more recent addition of John Paul's has been especially effective and helpful."
"The demons become very agitated at his presence," Father Amorth says of the late Pope -- who himself performed several exorcisms during his pontificate and warned of the rise of dark forces both in 1977 and then in 2005 just days before he lapsed in his final bout with illness.
How is exorcism done? There is the Crucifix. There is the Holy Water. There are the ritual prayers. Many times, those afflicted have to come back on a regular basis -- the process a gradual one.
In Father Amorth's appointment book, women outnumber men by three to one. That is perhaps because they are more in tune with the spiritual, says the exorcist, or because they are special targets as the descendants of Eve.
The very word "hysteria" -- so often seen in the possessed -- comes from the Greek word hyster for womb. Greeks believed it was caused by abnormalities in the uterus.
"I maintain that in part, the reason is because women are the ones who do the most praying," says the priest. "Another reason is women are more inclined to approach a priest than are men, in case of need."
In some cases, say other exorcists, the devil attempts to mask possession as insanity. This sets up conflict with the far newer practice of psychology -- which looks down on exorcism as the psychiatrist's couch has replaced the confessional.
"An exorcism is the residue of a medieval practice completely devoid of any foundation in reason," the book quotes Sergio Moravia, a philosopher at the University of Florence, as saying. "I don't think it's crazy. It's worse."
Exorcists counter that psychological diagnoses such as "multiple personality" and "schizophrenia" are clinical covers for an infestation.
That opinion is shared by the many who have sought the services of Father Amorth -- finding relief when the devil was cast away after years of frustration at the hands of psychiatrists who saw their problems so differently.
Blessed salt and Holy Water are often used not just by the exorcists themselves, but by those who have been exorcised -- to stave off further disturbances.
Extraordinary strength, preternatural knowledge, speaking in foreign tongues unknown to the victim, vomiting of strange objects, and violent aversion to holy objects make pure psychological explanations suspect in strong cases.
Prayer, of course, also chases the devil and his manifestations away -- apparently, Latin in particular.
Bishop Andrea Gemma of Isernia -- who himself performs exorcisms -- ascribes the Church's move from Latin as part of a global plot to undermine Christianity.
"The devil is happy with the near-disappearance of Latin," said the bishop.
Does exorcism mask psychological illness with the supernatural, or is psychology itself a ruse, at least in certain instances, to prevent deliverance?
We have only to study the ministry of Jesus to know the answer.
Christ is not a perpetual sacrifice.
From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." -- Hebrews 10:12-14"But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
I couldn't help it. 8~))
I am thrilled at the attacks against the unity of the Church, such as those seen on FR.
No, really, I am!
No, really and truly! (and no '/sarc' label here)
It shows the truth of the statement that 'the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.'
When supposed Bible believers act in direct opposition to scripture (e.g., Titus 3:10, Rom 16:17-18, I Cor 3, etc.) like this, it shows me that Satan is truly quaking in his boots. After all, why would he waste his limited resources struggling against a movement that wasn't healthy and growing.
The Church grows and prospers, historically, against opposition and persecution. Sure, the seeds that land on rock may blow away, but the seeds planted in good ground need to struggle against gravity to grow up strong and tall.
The increased opposition the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, the Bride of Christ, that we are seeing in recent years, including (especially) by others who call themselves Christian, should just be seen as a sign of something great! But it will be God who gives the increase and it will be done within our individual weakness...so that the power will be known to be of God and not of man.
So I wouldn't suggest letting the factious (using the Biblical term) (trolls, using the Internet term) get under your skin. Let 'em roar. For in doing so, they reveal themselves (John 8 style).
I don’t have time to go back and find your other post—the one about being in the Adoration chapel and finding peace there.
I have done that very thing often. I am so happy to be in church, which is open all the time for us to come and go day and night. Even in the early hours of the morning people drop in to pray. In the Adoration chapel after 11:30 at night, there is often an influx of people coming in to pray after they get off the night shift—people in their “scrubs” and other working clothes.
It brings such peace to be with the Lord.
I’m sorry that I missed some of the thread and what has been called “one of the best posts.” You have always written posts that were inspiring. I hope you will go right on doing so.
May you and yours be always blessed.
James 5:16
ROE
Better read Isaiah 44:15-20 before you do.
Amen.
"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." -- 2 Timothy 2:15
Jesus, though he was the Word made flesh, quoted it, condemned others for not knowing and believing it, and used it as the authority for His preaching. Never, ever, did He speak ill of God's revelation to man. And if you are indeed a Christian, you do believe that all scripture is the inspired word of God. You can replace it with mystical feelings like many do, and go about worshiping stones and rocks, but then you will be an idolator.
It is a very readable work, despite its length. As a testimony to its quality, I first read it back in the mid 70s (an earlier edition), and it is still printed and updated to this day.
If you have any questions, please feel free to FReepmail.
May the Holy Ghost be your guide as you discern your path. May you be filled with every grace and blessing, so that your fears may be alleviated, and that you may bear all the crosses that will likely come your way.
If I may make a suggestion, you could start with the Baltimore Catechism or the Catechism of Trent, on line here, or My Catholic Faith, some of which is on line here, and can be purchased here.
That speaks for the Old Testament but what about the New Testament which wasn’t yet written when Jesus walked the earth?
Nothing is in the New Testament that isn’t found in the Old. The NT is the revealing of God come down to mankind as promised, the revelation of Jesus Christ. It is the culmination of all the prophecy revealed to men of God, the Plan of Salvation.
"And it hath served men for fuel: he took thereof, and warmed himself: and he kindled it, and baked bread: but of the rest he made a god, and adored it: he made a graven thing, and bowed down before it. Part of it he burnt with fire, and with part of it he dressed his meat: he boiled pottage, and was filled, and was warmed, and said: Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire. But the residue thereof he made a god, and a graven thing for himself: he boweth down before it, and adoreth it, and prayeth unto it, saying: Deliver me, for thou art my God. They have not known, nor understood: for their eyes are covered that they may not see, and that they may not understand with their heart. They do not consider in their mind, nor know, nor have the thought to say: I have burnt part of it in the fire, and I have baked bread upon the coals thereof: I have broiled flesh and have eaten, and of the residue thereof shall I make an idol? shall I fall down before the stock of a tree? Part thereof is ashes: his foolish heart adoreth it, and he will not save his soul, nor say: Perhaps there is a lie in my right hand."
And what specifically are you relating the above to?
"For from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts."
Malachias 1:11
It is strange. Always puzzles me.
"For from the rising of the sun even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts."
"The sacrifice which we offer to God is the Passion of Our Lord Himself."
-St. Cyprian, 3rd century A.D.
It has been said that persecution is the unofficial "fifth" mark of the Church.
I don’t subscribe to your interpretation on what a graven image is or what an idol is. The matter was settled nearly a millenium before your “fathers” in the “Reformation” revived the error.
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