You get in line for Communion with a clean heart. Then, somewhere between the pew and the altar, your mind fills with thoughts you would never choose, and you walk back feeling like a fraud.
If that has happened to you, you are not the only one. And the timing may be the most important clue.
Fr. Chad Ripperger, an exorcist, was asked whether ugly thoughts that pop up in the middle of the rosary can come from demons. He answered with a woman he once worked with. Everything was fine, he said, right up to one moment:
"AS SOON AS SHE WENT TO GO UP TO COMMUNION SHE JUST GOT FLOODED WITH ALL THESE IMPURE THOUGHTS."
She turned out to be possessed by Beelzebub, the demon of impurity. So he commanded the demon to answer one question, because she needed to be able to receive Communion in peace:
"I SAID ARE YOU THE GUY CAUSING THAT? HE JUST LOOKS UP. HE SAYS YEAH, THAT'S ME."
Fr. Ripperger does not blame every stray thought on a demon. Sometimes, he says, it is just the mind making old associations:
"SOMETIMES THAT CAN ACTUALLY BE A PSYCHOLOGICAL THING."
But he does not stop there:
"A LOT OF TIMES IT'S ACTUALLY DIABOLIC IN NATURE."
And he named what ordinary people can do about it:
"CONSECRATING THEIR PRAYER, SAYING BINDING PRAYERS BEFORE THE PRAYER."
Here is what that means for you. A thought you did not invite and did not consent to, at the very moment you approach God, is not a sin you chose. It may even be a sign that what you are about to do matters a great deal. Nobody bothers to interrupt the things that do not count.
So before your next rosary, and before your next Communion, take fifteen seconds. Hand the prayer to God before you begin. Quietly, in the pew:
"Lord Jesus, I give You this prayer before I start. Mary, take it and offer it for me. In the name of Jesus, I bind every spirit that wants to pull my mind away, and I command it to leave. Amen."
Then go up anyway. Do not let a thought you never wanted keep you in the pew.
If the thoughts follow you everywhere, not only at prayer, bring them to a priest in confession and to your doctor. Both are worth the conversation.
���� One word if you will hand your next prayer to God before you start: GIVEN.
Credit: Father Chad Ripperger Community
Tu Relación con DIOS no es una Obligación ¡Es un PRIVILEGIO!
Es el Único Lugar donde No necesitas fingir, ni ser Autosuficiente.
Él te AMA en tu peor Momento, con el Mismo Amor como en tu Mejor Día. No porque lo merezcas, sino porque ese es su carácter: Fiel, Constante y Eterno.
Si la gente honrara a nuestro Señor y creyese el Él, se tomaría más en serio la verdad, la amaría y comprendería, que el mundo está construida sobre la mentira, sobre el padre de ellas, satanás.
El mundo moderno es un entramado de mentiras, sin Dios y contra Dios
¿Qué ocurre con la fe cuando la vida nos golpea con la pérdida de un hijo? Una conversación profunda y conmovedora con Francesc Torralba sobre el dolor, la pérdida, la esperanza y la búsqueda de sentido cuando parece que todo se rompe.
Un vídeo que invita a escuchar, reflexionar y sentir. ❤️
Stay With Me, Lord
Prayer of St. Pio of Pietrelcina
Stay with me, Lord, for it is necessary to have You present so that I do not forget You. You know how easily I abandon You.
Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak
and I need Your strength,
that I may not fall so often.
Stay with me, Lord, for You are my life,
and without You, I am without fervor.
Stay with me, Lord, for You are my light,
and without You, I am in darkness.
Stay with me, Lord, to show me Your will.
Stay with me, Lord, so that I hear Your voice
and follow You.
Stay with me, Lord, for I desire to love You
very much, and always be in Your company.
Stay with me, Lord, if You wish me to be faithful to You.
Stay with me, Lord, for as poor as my soul is,
I want it to be a place of consolation for You, a nest of love.
Stay with me, Jesus, for it is getting late and the day is coming to a close, and life passes;
death, judgment, eternity approaches. It is necessary to renew my strength,
so that I will not stop along the way and for that, I need You.
Stay with me tonight, Jesus, in life with all it’s dangers. I need You.
Let me recognize You as Your disciples did at the breaking of the bread,
so that the Eucharistic Communion be the Light which disperses the darkness,
the force which sustains me, the unique joy of my heart.
Stay with me, Lord, because at the hour of my death, I want to remain united to You,
if not by communion, at least by grace and love.
Stay with me, Jesus, I do not ask for divine consolation, because I do not merit it,
but the gift of Your Presence, oh yes, I ask this of You!
Stay with me, Lord, for it is You alone I look for, Your Love, Your Grace, Your Will, Your Heart, Your Spirit, because I love You and ask no other reward but to love You more and more.
With a firm love, I will love You with all my heart while on earth
and continue to love You perfectly during all eternity. Amen
Nuestra Señora de Fátima le dijo a Jacinta, “Se introducirán ciertas modas que ofenderán gravemente a Mi Hijo”. Jacinta también dijo, “Las personas que sirven a Dios no deberían seguir las modas. La Iglesia no tiene modas! Nuestro Señor es siempre el mismo”.
Revelaciones privadas recibidas por Santa Jacinta Marto poco antes de su fallecimiento en 1920
The connection between Catholicism and the society of the Argentine Empire never ceases to amaze me. It's time to recognize that we're on another level. 🇦🇷✝