Hi All, 

In the last 3 weeks I have received at least one email per day from parents asking what to do about a child who seems to be in the grip of evil. Historically this is the most common question I receive from people around the country. On October 4th I'll be giving a thorough answer to this question in my webinar, "Gird thy loins...How to go to spiritual war." (visit the calendar page of this website to register) In the meantime, I want to suggest three great first steps to take when we suspect Satans actions in a particularly strong way. 
1. Renew their baptismal promises. Just like you did at their baptism. Pray those special prayers again. Of course if your child is an adult you cannot do all the fighting for them but it is a reminder to the kingdom of darkness that your child belongs to God. 
2. Consecrate your family to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Again, if your child is an adult you can't make the consecration for them but you could add in this special prayer, "Oh Mary I know that my Son or Daughter is not able to give themselves to you at this moment but I also know that you want Him or Her for your Son. So please dear Mother, apply any merits I might attain through this consecration to them as much as possible. "
3. Remember that Love is exorcistic. Hold them close. Love them. Love until it hursts. Love breaks chains. 

Fight for your children. 

         I cannot remember the exact quote, but Satan once remarked to St. Anthony the Great, something to the effect, that he was once at peace in the desert. Now Anthony has filled it with monks! To understand the Devil's complaint, you would need to know that the monk's very purpose for being there was combat. Those monks were aggressors traveling into the desert to battle the Devil. Of course, "Aggressor" should be the disposition of all Christians against the kingdom of darkness.

        This anecdote has me wondering what the Devil thinks about Catholic parishes dotting the surface of the globe. Does the Devil bemoan the founding of a parish and rejoice at the closing of a church? Of course. Could parishes do more to be centers of spiritual warfare? Of course, again!

Here are seven powerful and easy ways a parish could become an effective aggressor in spiritual warfare and drive the Devil away:

1.         Intentional and Strategic Marian Consecration. One of the things I have done and earnestly encourage parishes to do is put a Marian Consecration on the main parish calendar. Choose a feast day and try to get the whole parish to join in the 33 days of preparation and consecration. When I am at a parish, I use a particular format which I will post soon. (Basically: Talks, Mass, Scapular investiture, sacramentals, etc.) Marian consecration is one of the most powerful things you can do to combat Satan. If the clergy becomes intentional about leading and guiding it, then the Devil better watch out.
2.          Teach people how to repent and go to Confession. I would formalize a schedule of "non-holiday" based penance services. One difference from a standard penance service is that I would try to make it more of a "big tent revival" type event. Find a great preacher on repentance and an even more excellent teacher on how to go to Confession. Give them each 15 minutes. Then have as many Priests as possible on hand to administer the sacrament. Teach people how to repent and go to Confession often and then plan these events throughout the year. 
3.          Have a formalized program for pornography addiction. Trust me on this. I have been watching the Devil work, studying his ways more closely than almost anyone for the past twenty years. Pornography is destroying your parish, whether you know it or not. There are ways to combat it anonymously and effectively. (If you can't find a program, email me and I will help you)
4.          Dust off the Relics, Statues, and Shrines. Start acknowledging the Saints and devotions already enshrined in your parish. Have homilies and events teaching the people and lead devotions that are present within the physical building. I cannot tell you how many parishes I have spoken at where I see reliquaries tucked away and dusty in a sacristy. God desires to communicate grace through these powerful sacramentals. Start blessing people with them, and displaying them for devotional purposes. If you have statues and shrines, make sure to include them in the Church's devotional life. God, very often, uses sacramentals and the intercession of Saints to give us victory in our battle with evil. 
5.          Have an annual Angelic campaign at your parish. Start reintroducing the concept, devotions, and theology of Angels to your parish.  Take a few weeks each year, teach and preach about the Angels, have devotional materials available, and have some communal devotional events. 
6.          Teach people how to pray the "Our Father."  A Christian who understands and enters fully into the Our Father is a spiritual force to be reckoned with. It is an ideal prayer for spiritual warfare. 
7.          Institute the praying of the short form St. Michael prayer at the end of Mass. This is one of the easiest and most effective ways to engage your parish in more intentional spiritual warfare. You will find it incredibly pedagogical as well. Parishioners will be wondering why and you will have a chance to tell them.

Want more information on engaging your parish in spiritual warfare? A more detailed “Step by Step Guide to Engaging your Parish in Spiritual Warfare” will be on my patreon account soon! To become on of my patreon supporters and get full access to all the demonology content go to the link below:

     Imagine trying to learn rocket science from watching the Space Shuttle launch in Cape Canaveral. You might try learn about the lives and habits of the astronauts themselves. You might learn all about the space shuttle with pictures and diagrams. You might even read countless stories of space flights and the different anecdotes that happen. You could read every article written by an astronaut or rocket scientist. Unfortunately, none of these would be a sufficient way to learn Rocket Science because you are jumping ahead in education about twenty years. Rocket Science begins with physics and simple things such as understanding gravity and propulsion and ends with the Space shuttle launch. This is an extreme example, but this is often the mistake we make when learning about spiritual warfare. 
     I travel all over the country and speak about Catholic Demonology. I can tell you, at least anecdotally, that the majority of what faithful Catholics know about the topic of spiritual warfare comes from books written by exorcists and from legends. I cannot count the amount of times that Fr. Gabriel Amorth has been quoted to me as proof of a point. Now there is nothing wrong with the books of Fr. Amorth. In fact, they are excellent, but his work is the Space Shuttle launch in the example and we need grade school Physical Science. If we are planning to fly the Space shuttle, then we should begin by experimenting with a backyard rocket and learning a whole lot of physics. 
 
Here are some ways people tend to learn about spiritual warfare that CAN impoverish our understanding of it: 
 

• Reading every book about exorcism available. 
• Following the legends (For example, a common one I hear: “Demons can’t go in to Churches.”)
• Taking anecdotal stories and drawing universal principles from them. (For example, hearing that a particular Saint intervened in an exorcism and deciding that Saint will be the only one you invoke in your spiritual battles. )
• Reading the pertinent Gospel stories without reading commentary from qualified sources. 
• Reading mainly extra-biblical sources on the topic. 
• Drawing only or mostly from the far sidelines of the Church (the more Charismatic or more Traditional)

 
     So how should we try to understand and learn about spiritual warfare? I’ll recommend some things under two different umbrellas: Study and Practice.
 
First some recommendations about Study: 
 

• Read everything you can about Baptism. Start with the catechism and get as deep into the theology as you can. 
• Read about spiritual warfare from the heart of the Churches Tradition first and foremost. What do the councils say? What have the Popes written? Again, start at the catechism and go deeper…
• For every legend or quote about spiritual warfare, find the source and if it can be a Universal principle supported theologically. 
• Read the Gospels over and over and over again and pay particular attention to the relationship between Jesus and the Devil. Then try to read excellent commentary on the Gospels. Start with the Fathers of the Church and keep going…

 
Second some simple recommendations on Practice: 
 

• Be a Saint! Really try to be Holy. The spoil of the spiritual battle is the heart of man. We learn spiritual warfare by fighting the battle for our own heart. 
• Spend some time in hands on Pro-Life ministry. Spend an hour a week praying in front of an abortion clinic, and you will learn a lot about the practice of spiritual warfare. 
• Practice Works of Mercy hands on. The Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy are in a sense the “currency of the Kingdom of Heaven”. Practice the works of Mercy and over time you will see how the Kingdom advances on the darkness and brings it into the Light. 

 
It is high time we shine the light on the Theology and practice of Spiritual Warfare. We need to learn once again the art of participation in the Angelic warfare for our souls. 

"‘Spiritual combat’ is [an] element of life which needs to be taught anew and proposed once more to all Christians today. It is a secret and interior art, an invisible struggle in which (we) engage every day…” ~ Pope St. John Paul II
 
For those who are interested in learning more, my Patreon supporters will be receiving a special document of Catechism references that are pertinent to Spiritual Warfare this week. Each week my Patreon supporters will be receiving exclusive content to learn more about spiritual warfare and its theological foundations. There is no premium and all of my content will be available to any level of support.

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