There is no mistaking that there is a veil of spookiness that seems to surround us come October. The air is cool and crisp, and seems to invoke goosebumps by its very presence. The days become shorter so darkness and shadows are seen to fall and dance about everywhere, and we have a propensity to let our imaginations run wild. Humans are bonafide romantics, and make no mistake about it, The great Deceiver and his minions are quick to take advantage of our human condition and are happy to nudge those active imaginations along, provided the outcome is ultimately taking credit and adoration from its rightful owner!
I will be the first to admit that I have a very active imagination, and it LOVES to be fed, and one of my mind's favorite flights-of-fancy is a good old fashioned fright! I love ghost stories, and books and movies about haunting, and poltergeists, possession, and just about anything supernatural or paranormal. But that's where it has to end for me, as a flight of fancy. As a Catholic, I know that these things are all to real, and to play around with any of them (seance, ouija, etc.) is to invite evil into my life, family and home. I have said before in past posts that as a Christian father and husband, I am accountable for the souls of those The Father has seen fit to entrust me with, and for too many, the false guarantees and misguided rewards that the diabolical ones promise to people who fall into these traps, do not outweigh the eternal salvation promised us by the Blood of the Crucified.
On discussing spiritism and the calling up of the dead, In his book The Devil, Does He Exist and What Does He Do? Father Delaporte of the Society of Mercy says;
"When the spirits... are asked to indicate their name and quality, they very frequently declare themselves to be the soul of such and such a dead person, and if invoked under that name, they willingly answer. On this account it is that a numerous class of spiritualists deny the existence of pure spirits, good or bad, and replace them by the souls of the departed.
We are far from denying the possibility of apparitions of the dead. The history, even of Catholicity, presents examples enough of such apparitions. St. Peter appears to Attila, and frightens him; St. Aloysius Gonzagua appears to St. Catherine in the splendor of celestial glory... Holy Scripture itself relates the apparition of Samuel to Saul, that of Onias and Jeremiah to Judas Maccabeus, and that of the Crucified to Paul, on the road to Damascus.
Evocation is not even condemned if it be inspired by God, and effected in His name. The Roman Breviary relates a memorable example thereof, on the day of the 7th of May, Feast of St. Stanislaus, Bishop. Poland had for her king Boleslaus, whome the saint had deeply offended, by publicly reproving his notorious misconduct. The prince, in a solemn assembly of the kingdom, cited the bishop before him, as the wrongful possessor of a small farm, bought in the name of his Church. The title deeds were wanting; the witnesses did not dare to speak. Stanislaus promises that, in three days, he will bring the original owner of the farm, who was dead three years. The promise is greeted with laughter (as it would be now;) but the man of God, after three days fasting and prayer, orders the farmer to rise from his sepulchre. The latter comes to life again, follows the bishop to court, and before the king and his terror-stricken courtiers, declares that he really sold his field to the bishop, and was by him paid... he then slept again in the Lord."
"Relations between this world and the world beyond the tomb are not impossible; but the illusion of the spiritists consists in persuading themselves that by means of certain formula the barrier which has hitherto separated them can be broken down. This error dates from the highest antiquity. It is noticed by St Agustine in these terms: "Those spirits are deceivers, not by nature, but by malice. They make themselves gods and souls of the departed, but they do not make themselves devils, for they really are so." (City of God, X, ii.)"
Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host -
by the Divine Power of God -
cast into hell, satan and all the evil spirits,
who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.
Paul Kemp Jr.
Devoted Husband, Loving Father, Hockey Fanatic, Passionate Catholic.
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