Slaying Dragons, page 20
These questions are crucial to ensuring you are not under any deception of the evil one, and to protect your spiritual life, allowing it to grow and flourish. When we treat God as a light issue and a small matter, we prevent Him from imparting His blessings to us. When we refuse to let Him fully into our lives, or push Him away by our deeds, we prevent Him from protecting us from the evils of this world. The Church has offered, by God’s inspiration and according to His will, countless and, today, an untold number of blessings and sacramentals that the faithful should eagerly seek out. These blessings are forgotten by most Catholics, and rarely preached by most priests, even those who appear to be very traditional. Regardless of the reason behind this grave oversight, these blessings are in the life of the Church, and the faithful do obtain real positive benefits from their use.
The teachings of experienced priests and exorcists shed tremendous light on our spiritual battles, and their insights are critical to understanding an aspect of our lives that is invisible and craftily hidden. May Our Lord illuminate our intellects and open our wills to conform us more perfectly to what He teaches and bestows upon us through our Holy Mother, the Church. May our journey through this book leave us convicted regarding the work that is before us, and the spiritual weapons that are available to us, as we fight against the invisible forces who work for our damnation.
I conclude here with the words of Saint Paul:
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; above all taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.”[1]
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Ephesians 6:10-18 ↵
References
The prayer in the Appendix, used with permission, comes from a book published by Fr. Ripperger, called Deliverance Prayers: For Use by the Laity. It is available on Amazon in paperback and in Kindle edition. It contains many excellent prayers that address the spiritual needs of the faithful, such as many of those discussed in this book. It is an invaluable resource and a must-have for serious Catholics today.
The following are the spiritual conferences, articles, and books which served as the sources of the teachings of the many exorcists cited in this book.
Talks by Fr. Chad Ripperger
“Conference on Exorcism – Fr. Ripperger” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ffe_p6kKXqw
Nov 19, 2013
“Fr. Chad Ripperger – Spiritual Warfare Conference – Demons and Possession” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiLDxPf0vBg
Nov 5, 2015
“Spiritual Theology Series: Demons (Part 1) ~ Fr. Ripperger” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v33wu9lPOlE
July 14, 2018
“Spiritual Theology Series: Demons (Part 2) ~ Fr. Ripperger” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGi9ZQ21sTQ
July 14, 2018
“Spiritual Warfare Conference 1: Angels & Demons ~ Fr. Ripperger” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt_eTbkrR-g
March 9, 2018
“Spiritual Warfare Pt. 1 – Exorcist Fr. Chad Ripperger” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiYh96TrITE
June 6, 2015
“Spiritual Warfare Pt. TWO – Exorcist Fr. Chad Ripperger” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJc6WGOwtsQ&t=3s
June 7, 2015
“Generational Spirits Conference: Part 1 Introduction ~ Fr. Chad Ripperger” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OVhMBuhFo8
Mar 12, 2017
“Generational Spirits Conference: Part 2 Discernment – Fr. Chad Ripperger” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1NZovyfad0
Mar 12, 2017
“Generational Spirits 3/3~ Fr. Ripperger” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDpMfT5Way8
Mar 10, 2017
“Levels of Spiritual Warfare ~ Fr. Ripperger” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMcvZaiBwe4
Nov 12, 2018
Talks by Fr. Gary Thomas
Fr. Gary Thomas – Interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_wbro4KGZQ
July 17, 2015
Fr. Gary Thomas – Presentation: Exorcist Tells His Story https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PV4FpKX5HNU
March 18, 2013
Fr. Gary Thomas – On the Freemasons https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5X3fXIGVX8
January 16, 2018
Talk by Fr. Jeffrey Grob
Fr. Jeffrey Grob – Talk About Exorcism at UIC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPs8ExKc8fs
St. John Paul II Newman Center
Published on Nov 28, 2016
Video with Fr. Cesar Truqui
Inside Story: The Ministry of an Exorcist – EWTN Vaticano Special https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHDjVPKi0QU
April 6, 2018
Interview with Fr. Randall Weber
The Catholic Rite of Exorcism, the Diocesan Exorcist Speaks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv_0gRjUuFo
Joan Jerkovich Show. March 10, 2012
Talk by Fr. Carlos Martins
Exorcism Discussion with Fr. Carlos Martins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18pg4ugjMoE
March 14, 2011
Articles referenced:
Fr. Piero Catalano Fr. Piero Catalano article by Gelsomino Del Guercio, for Aleteia.org, from an interview originally published by the Corriere Della Sera, Dec. 2017, by Antonio Crispino.
https://aleteia.org/2018/02/14/padre-pio-is-often-with-me-during-exorcisms-and-the-devil-fears-him/
Fr. Gary Thomas https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/interview-with-an-exorcist(acc. 7/26/2019)
Fr. Jose Fortea http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/halloween-the-catholic-faith-and-the-occult (acc. 7/26/2019)
Fr. Jeffrey Grob https://adoremus.org/2018/01/14/understanding-exorcism-interview-father-jeffrey-grob-specialist-rite-exorcism/
Msgr. Esseff http://www.ncregister.com/blog/armstrong/exorcist-says-this-problem-is-far-worse-than-satan(6/15/2019)
Fr. Cesar Truqui https://cruxnow.com/global-church/2017/10/28/exorcist-says-theres-demon-targets-family/
Fr. Carlos Martins http://www.courageouspriest.com/warning-attempt-exorcism-home(accessed 7/23/2019)
https://www.catholicsun.org/2019/02/10/theres-plenty-in-a-name-especially-the-one-that-is-above-every-name/
Books
Amorth, Fr. Gabriele. An Exorcist Explains the Demonic. Sophia Institute Press, Manchester, 2016. (footnoted as “Amorth”)
Amorth, Fr. Gabriele. An Exorcist Tells His Story. Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 1999. (footnoted as “Amorth, Exorcist Tells”)
Amorth, Fr. Gabriele. An Exorcist: More Stories. Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 2002. (footnoted as “Amorth, More Stories”)
Blai, Adam. Hauntings, Possessions, and Exorcisms. Emmaus Road Publishing, Steubenville, 2017.
Carlin, Fr. Paolo. An Exorcist Explains How to Heal the Possessed. Sophia Institute Press, Manchester, 2017.
Fortea, Fr. Jose Antonio. Interview with an Exorcist. Ascension Press, West Chester, 2006.
Glenn, Msgr. Paul J. A Tour of the Summa. TAN Books, Rockford, 1978.
The Roman Ritual. SanctaMissa.org and EWTN.com (accessed August 1, 2019)
The Raccolta.http://www.liturgialatina.org/raccolta and https://archive.org/details/theraccoltaorcol00unknuoft/page/n6 (accessed August 1, 2019)
St. Alphonsus Liguori, and Rev. Robert A. Coffin. The Glories of Mary. Ascetical Works, Vol. VII. Charlotte: Tan Books, 2012.
St. Alphonsus Liguori. Preparation for Death. Ascetical Works, Vol. I, Grimm Ed., 1926.
St. Alphonsus Liguori. The True Spouse of Christ. Ascetical Works, Vol. X, Grimm Ed., 1888. Accessed via https://archive.org.
St. Francis de Sales. Introduction to the Devout Life. CCEL. https://www.ccel.org/ccel/desales/devout_life.pdf, (accessed August 1, 2019)
St. John of the Cross. Dark Night of the Soul. CCEL, https://www.ccel.org/ccel/john_cross/dark_night.pdf, (accessed August 1, 2019)
St. Louis de Montfort. True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Montfort Publications, New York, 1996.
St. Louis de Montfort, Hymns. http://www.montfort.org/content/uploads/pdf/PDF_EN_85_1.pdf, (accessed August 1, 2019)
St. Teresa of Avila. The Life of Teresa of Jesus. http://www.carmelitemonks.org/Vocation/teresa_life.pdf, (accessed August 1, 2019)
Sermons of St. Alphonsus Liguori, 4th Edition, Tan Books, Rockford, 1982.
Additional Resources
Summa Theologiae of St. Thomas, http://www.newadvent.org/summa/index.html, (accessed August 1, 2019)
Catena Aurea and Gospel Commentaries of St. Thomas, https://dhspriory.org/thomas, (accessed August 1, 2019)
Appendix
Consecration of One’s Exterior Goods to the Blessed Virgin Mary
I, (Name), a faithless sinner, renew and ratify today in thy hands the vows of my Baptism; I renounce forever Satan, his pomps and works; and I give myself entirely to Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Wisdom, to carry my cross after Him all the days of my life, and to be more faithful to Him than I have ever been before. In the presence of all the heavenly court, I choose thee, O Mary, this day for my Mother and Mistress. Knowing that I have received rights over all my exterior goods by the promulgation of the Natural Law by the Divine Author, I deliver and consecrate to thee, as thy slave, all of my exterior goods, past, present and future; I relinquish into thy hands, my Heavenly Mother, all rights over my exterior goods, including my health, finances, relationships, possessions, property, my job and my earthly success and I retain for myself no right of disposing the goods that come to me but leave to thee the entire and full right of disposing of all that belongs to me, without exception, according to thy good pleasure, for the greater glory of God in time and in eternity. As I now interiorly relinquish what belongs to me exteriorly into thy hands, I entrust to thee the protection of those exterior goods against the evil one, so that, knowing that they now belong to thee, he cannot touch them. Receive, O good and pious Virgin, this little offering of what little is, in honor of, and in union with, that subjection which the Eternal Wisdom deigned to have to thy maternity; in homage to the power which both of you have over this poor sinner, and in thanksgiving for the privileges with which the Holy Trinity has favored thee. Trusting in the providential care of God the Father and thy maternal care, I have full confidence that thou wilst take care of me as to the necessities of this life and will not leave me forsaken. God the Father, increase my trust in Thy Son’s Mother; Our Lady of Fair Love, give me perfect confidence in the providence of Thy Son. Amen.[1]
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From “Deliverance Prayers: For Use by the Laity” by Fr. Chad Ripperger, on Amazon. ↵
About the Author
Charles D. Fraune was the founding Theology teacher of Christ the King Catholic High School in Huntersville, NC and has been a Theology teacher there for eight years. In addition, he has taught nearly every grade level, from second grade to adult, including on the college and Diocesan level. He spent three semesters in seminary with the Diocese of Raleigh at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Pennsylvania. This completed a nine-year discernment of the priesthood and religious life after which he discerned that Our Lord was not calling him to the priesthood. He has a Master of Arts in Theology from the Christendom College Graduate School, as well as an Advanced Apostolic Catechetical Diploma. His enjoyment of writing began over twenty years ago, and finally culminated in his first completed book, Come Away By Yourselves . In addition to this, he has been working on books related to various aspects of the Catholic Faith, and to the powerful story of his return to the Catholic Faith after a time struggling with illness and depression. Charles is also a dedicated “backyard farmer.” He lives in the Diocese of Charlotte, NC with his wife and three young children.
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Charles D Fraune, Slaying Dragons
