Text Box: the Orthodox Church troops to encompass the Roman Church side of the mountain of morality.

But every time this is attempted, the Roman troops attack the Orthodox troops.

You are the key to a holy world.

Have you prayed to make it better? Have you prayed for others who are living? for the dead? Do you pray regularly, and do you pray thinking about the person or people and what you perceive to be their needs and ask God to fill in the blanks, or do you just squeeze your eyes shut like the fakes on TV.  Do you pray for yourself and accept and follow the direction given to you by God?

Do you attend Divine Liturgy at least every Sunday, and if you have a Western or Gregorian Rite available where Divine Liturgy is prayed daily, do you avail yourself of that? Or do you say: Sunday is all that is required, and that is enough?

If the world is to be saved, we must lead the way by our own consistent good moral example. Always remember that we and our families are part of the world; so in attempting to save the world we are also attempting to save ourselves and our families.

Ref: James 1:17-21; John 16:5-14

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Text Box: EXORCISM

A series of articles regarding exorcism including the old Roman Catholic ritual and the Orthodox Catholic rituals.

(The Roman Ritual is taken from: THE ROMAN RITUAL In Latin and English With Rubrics and Plainchant Notation, Translated and Edited With Introduction and Notes by THE REVEREND PHILIP T. WELLER, Volume II)


Man, above all the Christian, must reckon with the realm of the prince of darkness and his legions, not presuming that Satan has no experience outside of the product of fable, superstition, or figment -- an error endemic in materialists of any age -- not minimizing his power over the human person or in human affairs, without on the other hand seeing him lurk in every nook and crevice, like some of the ancient desert fathers, or for that matter like certain exotic cults of the present day. There is a world of demons, as revealed religion teaches, and even if revelation were not so absolute, we could conjecture that the devil is a real person and that his sway is tremendous -- a legitimate inference from the magnitude of evil to which our times, no less than past history, bears witness.

Francois Mauriac, referred to in somewhat supercilious fashion as one of the contemporary novelists of despair, sees the problem of evil as a burden too heavy to be borne by the shoulders of man alone. “Evil is Someone, Someone who is multiple and whose name is legion. . . . It is one thing to be in the realm of the demons, as we all are when we have lost the state of grace, and quite another to be held and surrounded, literally possessed by him.” (Mauriac, St. Margaret of Cortona.)

But God in Holy Writ long ago forestalled that the question be left to purely idle human speculation and experimentation, giving His inspired word on which the Church from the Text Box: beginning has based her positive teaching regarding the evil spirits. The Old Testament dealt with demonology to some extent, but the subject was amplified considerably in the New. (Cf. M. Hagen, S.J., “Die Lehere der Heiligen Schrift uber den Teufel,” Simmens aus Maria Laach, Vol. 55, p. 368 ff.) “And there was a great battle in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels. . . Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you that dwell therein. Woe to the earth, and to the sea, because the devil is come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that hath but a short time. . . . And I saw from the mouth of the dragon, and from the mouth of the beast, and from the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. For they are the spirits of devils working signs, and they go forth into the kings of the whole earth, to gather them to battle against the great day of the Almighty God.” (Apoc. 12:7, 12; 16:13-14) And after hell is created for the angels fallen from heaven, the devil like a roaring lion roams about seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. 5:8-9); so that through the sin of our first parents, who felt the sting of the ancient serpent, mankind is made subject to the domain of Satan, prince of this world.

Christ overcame Satan on the Cross, and the latter’s kingdom is shaken. “For this purpose, the Son of God appeared, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” (1 john 3:18) Man is delivered from the power of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of the Son. (Cf. Col. 1:13) Yet the devil is not completely vanquished nor trodden underfoot, and the warfare against him is carried on by Christ and His members until the end of time. “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore, take unto you the armour of God, that you may be able to resist the evil day and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your Text Box: How many vehicles can a person drive at one time, or roofs sleep under at one time? The happy person is the one who has what