A front page news item in the June 12, 2013, issue of the Inquirer about a Roman Catholic priest exorcist caught my attention and interest.
According to the news item written by Jocelyn R. Uy, Rome-based theologian and exorcist Fr. Joseph Iannuzzi advised his Filipino Catholic audience during his series of lectures to “wear scapulars and the Benedictine cross, use holy water, oil or salt” to protect themselves against evil. These are called sacramentals, which refer “to sacred objects, actions or blessings that give grace to believers through the prayers of the Church.”
Medieval slant
What caught my attention was the obvious medieval slant of his thinking, in which he blamed the devil for almost everything bad that man experiences on earth.
“Any sense of fear or anxiety is an evil spirit,” he was quoted as saying. “Even nightmares might be the doing of the devil.”
As I have often said, I really pity the poor devil in this country, because he is always blamed by the clergy for something he may not be responsible for, or credited for something he may not have done.
Can you imagine blaming the devil for such common psychological conditions as anxieties and nightmares? I am quite sure even Fr. Iannuzzi must have experienced anxiety or nightmares at least once in his life. If he has gone through Manila traffic, he cannot escape being anxious or having nightmares! Are these the works of diabolical forces?
During the medieval era, anything strange that couldn’t be explained rationally was attributed to the devil, such as seeing the future, hearing voices or receiving messages from the dead. If the office of the Holy Inquisition still existed today, people experiencing such things would surely have been burned at the stake.
Special dispensation
Another thing that may be worth pointing out is that not every Catholic priest is an exorcist, or knows how to cast out evil from houses or from possessed persons. To be an exorcist priest requires training and special dispensation from the bishop.
A priest’s mere blessing of a haunted place with holy water is not always enough to drive out evil spirits. We have gone to a haunted house that has been blessed three times by a Catholic priest, and yet the evil spirits still remained there. Not only that, when we visited the place, there were more evil spirits manifesting themselves than before.
To be a successful exorcist, one must be a clairvoyant, too—that is, one whose Third Eye is open and who can see and communicate with the spirits. Otherwise, it is a useless exercise.
This is the reason I don’t do exorcism by myself, I am not that clairvoyant. I always go with a proven clairvoyant who knows how to deal with negative entities and can actually see them.
However, positive or benign entities should not be exorcised or forced out of a place because they do no harm, although they may initially scare people who don’t understand them. Often, they can be gently persuaded to leave the person or place and move on.
It is not clear from the news item if Fr. Iannuzzi is a clairvoyant or not. If he is not, then he is as blind as the victims of the evil spirits he is trying to exorcise.
Note:
Attend my next Basic ESP and Intuition Development Seminar on June 29-30 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and my next Practical Mind Dynamics Seminar on July 13-14 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Rm. 308 Prince Plaza I, Legazpi St., Greenbelt, Makati City. For details, call tel. nos. 8107245/ 8159890 or 0908-3537885. E-mail [email protected]. Visit www.jimmylicauco.com
