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October 29, 2023Halloween is upon us, which makes this a prudent opportunity to be reminded of the dangers of the occult and why we need to avoid certain things as disciples of Jesus. Let’s begin with a premise that should be obvious: the spiritual world exists. I hope it’s obvious to believers in God that both a spiritual and a physical world co-exist together. We know as disciples of Jesus that God is all-good, all-present, all-knowing, all-powerful, and eternal. God cannot be these things and only exist in our physical world that is bound by space and time. God exists outside space and time, which is the spiritual world. Let’s dive a little deeper into the spiritual world through our Catholic worldview.
We believe as Catholic disciples of Jesus that there is one God in three divine persons: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The second person of the Blessed Trinity, Jesus (God the Son), left heaven and came to earth to save us from our sins. After rising from the dead, He ascended back into heaven and sent the third person of the Blessed Trinity, the Holy Spirit, to continue the mission of Jesus through the Church, the Body of Christ, that Jesus formed. Part of that formation was the naming and consecrating of Apostles and their successors who are responsible for celebrating the Seven Sacraments, which are ways God gives us His grace to continue His plan of salvation for the whole world. It is through the Seven Sacraments that heaven and earth, the spiritual and physical worlds, continue colliding and interacting with each other to accomplish the work of Salvation begun by God.
God not only created a physical world with the goal of His creation to love Him in return, but God also created beings in the spiritual world to love Him in return called Angels. Some of these Angels (1/3 reported in Revelation 12:4) chose not to love God and fell from heaven. We call these fallen angels’ “demons” and their leader is named Lucifer/Satan. Their goal is to stop God’s work of salvation by taking souls away from God and ending the celebration of the Seven Sacraments. They stop at nothing to distract, manipulate, lie, distort, and tempt us to turn away from God and find “happiness” elsewhere.
Now, there are plenty of “spiritual practices” that exist in the world and if they’re not part of the Catholic Church then they are, in some way, demonic/evil. Think about it. If you go to a Tarot Card Reader, try communicating with the dead, practice or have received Reiki, play with a Ouija board, believe in the magic of crystals, burn sage, believe in horoscopes, and any other occult practice you know that you’re trying to connect to the spiritual world and there’s only One God with good angels and bad angels in the spiritual world. If these practices are outside of the Catholic Church, then obviously God and the good angels aren’t part of it…so who does that leave to communicate with? Demons. If you have done any of those things listed above or any other occult rituals then you must bring that to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
The Sacrament of Confession is not only about the forgiveness of sins, but it is primarily a Sacrament of healing. So, even if you didn’t know what you were doing was demonic/evil you still need to bring it up in the Sacrament of Confession so God’s grace can heal spiritual wounds caused by whatever occult activity you took part in. If you still own any objects involved in the occult like a Ouija board, tarot cards, rabbits foot, dream catcher, any sage, candles or incense used for occult rituals or whatever else you may have, get rid of it! In fact, don’t just throw it away, destroy it by breaking them or better yet burning them. If it’s meant to connect you to the spiritual world and it’s not part of our Catholic tradition, then the spirits you’re communicating with are not God nor the angels and saints in heaven. You’re communicating with demons who want to destroy your life and separate you from God.
If you have any questions or would like clarification, or if you feel like your house needs to be blessed, you can always reach out to your parish priest. If you, or someone you know, may be experiencing something extraordinary, the Archdiocese Spiritual Healing Ministry is the group to contact. You can find their information on the Archdiocese website (www.archchicago.org) under the “Offices and Ministries” tab.
Stop messing around with the occult and get to the Sacraments of Confession and the Eucharist often. Any good exorcist will tell you 1 good Confession is more powerful than 1 million exorcisms.
