Beware of "Spirit Guides" . . .

 

. . . they may not be who they say they are.

--------------------

"The Catholic Church has long taught that each of us has a guardian angel to guide us throughout our lives on our way to God's Kingdom. In a demonic inversion of the sacred, some occultists posit that you have a personal spirit or a spirit guide."

In his latest blog post on The Exorcist Diary, Msgr. Stephen Rossetti reminds us to be ever vigilant of deceptive spirits, and to never try to communicate with our guardian angel via New Age or occult practices.

Read the whole post here.

Angels and Exorcisms

 

Domenico Ghirlandaio, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

It's comforting to reflect on how the angels are always with us in all our needs and circumstances. In his latest blog post, Msgr. Stephen Rossetti tells us how comforting and beneficial it is to him and his deliverance team to have angelic defenders present at exorcisms. 

--------------------------------------------------

Exorcist Diary #237: Angelic Powers in an Exorcism

One of our afflicted persons has been particularly violent in sessions and needs strong restraints. At one point, he managed to break free and started to swing his arms wildly. The exorcist was justly alarmed and prayed aloud: "I ask the holy angels to restraint this man until we can secure him!" Immediately, his arms dropped to his side and remained motionless until he was restrained again. After being restrained, he again began to thrash, but was safely secured.

A particularly gifted individual told us that we have at least one angel from the angelic ranks of Powers at each of our exorcism sessions . . .
Read the entire post here.

Help For Financial Curses

Demons will try to take everything from you ... including your money. In this fascinating blog post repeated below, exorcist Msgr. Stephen Rossetti shares wisdom and warnings about the demonic and financial curses.

-------------------------------------

Exorcist Diary #226: Financially Cursed

A man's cry for help to us caught my eye. He said:

"I own my own business. Large amounts of money come through but

I can never keep any of it. If it looks like I will have a little profit from a job,

something unexpected will ALWAYS pop up and take it, like a vehicle breaking

down, even though there was absolutely nothing wrong with it before. Recently a

customer wanted to pay their final payment with a credit card. I have three

different credit card systems, each under different companies, but the day I went

to collect the payment none of them would work...."

These were just a few of his examples. He had many more!

Read the entire post here.

An Exorcism in 1907

 

From Catholic Exchange:

"They carry enormous weights that two men could hardly lift (the girls are about sixteen years old). They understand Latin while in their fits, and they even speak it sometimes. They reveal the secret sins of the school children, etc. Sometimes they are lifted off the ground in spite of the sisters holding them. A few days before, while the sisters were holding Germana, she shouted, “I am on fire!” The sisters withdrew and saw the girl’s dress ablaze. Another time, her bed began to burn also, although there was no fire nearby. And so on . . ."

Read the entire article at Catholic Exchange >>

St.Michael, Prince of Angels

 

From Mary's Blog:

"During the summer just past, I was rudely awoken one night by a strong stench of burning. The air around my bed seemed heavy and thick with particles of scorched earth. In my sleepiness, I thought that someone had left a pot of earth-encrusted potatoes on the boil too long and that their muddy skins were now burning. But as I tried to move from bed, the smell of earth-on-fire came at me with a violent power that pushed me backwards and I wondered how I could even raise my voice to cry out that something was on fire. Then the ferocity of the stench struck me as not being of a natural origin and I realized that it was a variety of demonic attack and my soul shrieked, HOLY MICHAEL, PRAY FOR ME . . ."

Read more at Mary's Blog >>

An Angel in Chattanooga?

 

Photo by Fabrizio Rinaldi (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

"Was it . . . an angel?

One of the most incredible accounts I’ve heard involved a Christian chemist named Vincent Tan Ban Soon, who emigrated from Singapore. He was working in a laboratory late the night of March 25, 1993, this in Tennessee, and about 1:30 a.m., as he readied to leave, he happened to look out the door and spot a man standing next to his car, on the passenger side.

It was a tough part of town, known for its crime . . ."

Read more at SpiritDaily.com>>

St. John Henry Newman and the Angels

Newly canonized Cardinal John Henry Newman had an extraordinary devotion to the holy angels. In Sermon Notes he wrote:

“Many wonderful things in this world, but an angel more wonderful than all. If a creature so wonderful, what the Creator?”

In 1853, he wrote a beautiful poem to his guardian angel. Please take a minute to read it, with a prayerful attitude if possible. Your angel will be glad you did.


“Guardian Angel”

MY oldest friend, mine from the hour
When first I drew my breath;
My faithful friend, that shall be mine,
Unfailing, till my death;

No beating heart in holy prayer,
No faith, inform’d aright,
Gave me to Joseph’s tutelage,
Or Michael’s conquering might.

Nor patron Saint, nor Mary’s love,
The dearest and the best,
Has known my being, as thou hast known,
And blest, as thou hast blest.

Thou wast my sponsor at the font;
And thou, each budding year,
Didst whisper elements of truth
Into my childish ear.

And when, ere boyhood yet was gone,
My rebel spirit fell,
Ah! thou didst see, and shudder too,
Yet bear each deed of Hell.

And then in turn, when judgments came,
And scared me back again,
Thy quick soft breath was near to soothe
And hallow every pain.

Oh! who of all thy toils and cares
Can tell the tale complete,
To place me under Mary’s smile,
And Peter’s royal feet!

And thou wilt hang about my bed,
When life is ebbing low;
Of doubt, impatience, and of gloom,
The jealous sleepless foe.

Mine, when I stand before the Judge;
And mine, if spared to stay
Within the golden furnace, till
My sin is burn’d away.

And mine, O Brother of my soul,
When my release shall come;
Thy gentle arms shall lift me then,
Thy wings shall waft me home.

(The Oratory, 1853).

St. Apollonia (check out the pincers!)

Creative Commons license CC BY 4.0 

St. Apollonia

The Martyrology reads: "At Alexandria the holy virgin Apollonia—under the Emperor Decius (249-251) her teeth were beaten out; then the executioners built and lit a funeral pyre, and threatened to burn her alive unless she would repeat their blasphemies. After some reflection she suddenly tore herself loose from her tormentors and threw herself into the flames. The fire of the Holy Spirit that glowed within her was more intense than the burning pyre. Her executioners were astounded to see a weak woman willingly embracing death with such determination before they were ready to carry out their threats."

The saint was already well on in years. An account of St. Apollonia's martyrdom was written by Bishop Dionysius of Alexandria (died 265), a contemporary. She is honored as the patroness against toothache.

Apollonia, it might seem, committed suicide. Her act was used by the ancients as proof that it is permitted to escape dishonor or persecution through voluntary death. But the most authoritative moralists, including Saint Augustine, declare that even in such cases suicide is not permitted, and seek to justify Apollonia's heroic act by assuming that she acted according to a special mandate from God; without such a divine injunction no one is allowed to follow her example. The saints are not to be imitated on every point.

— Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch

Patron: Dentists, tooth disease, toothache.

Symbols: Deaconess holding a set of pincers which often holds a tooth; gilded tooth; pincers grabbing a tooth; pincers; tooth and a palm branch; tooth; woman wearing a golden tooth on a chain.

Things to Do:

• Pray to St. Apollonia for a courageous and holy death. The elderly especially may beseech her to strengthen their faith as they weaken and approach death.

St. John Bosco's Guardian Angel Advice

"Take courage and pray; your guardian angel will also pray for you, and your prayers will be answered. Pray to your guardian angel. Invoke his aid if you should find yourself in any serious danger of body or soul, and I assure you that he will help and protect you."

St. John Bosco and the Big Gray Dog

On various occasions throughout his life, St. John Bosco found himself aided by a mysterious, yet gentle and loyal, large gray dog. The dog would appear unbidden when St. John was passing through dangerous neighborhoods, traveling on foot through the dark countryside, or, most famously, once when attacked by thugs. (The dog chased the thugs away after giving them a good scare with his not-so-little teeth.) St. John called his intermittent companion Il Grigio, Italian for "The Gray One."

A mysteriously as he appeared, the dog would trot away after accomplishing his duty. Not once did St. John ever see the dog take food or water. And on at least one occasion, the dog somehow disappeared from a cottage in which all the doors and windows were shut.

St. John had no doubt as to the origin of his furry friend: "It sounds ridiculous to call him an angel, yet he is no ordinary dog." Indeed, the saint firmly believed that had it not been for the big gray dog, his work would have been severely hindered, if not stopped altogether.

John Bosco, of course, went on to institute and organize the Salesians, a religious order for men and women under the patronage of St. Francis de Sales. Il Grigio reportedly retained a fondness for the Salesians long after John Bosco left the world. Between 1893 and 1930, sisters of the Salesian order testified that they had received the gray dog's protection on at least three separate occasions.

(A summary of information from Partners in Holiness: Guardian Angels in the Lives of the Saints)