Science and technology have taken marvelous stints in the preceding epoch. Man has initiated using classy electronic doodads to formulate his life enhanced and straightforward. Accepted wisdom of contemporary man has also been altered with the encroachment in science as well as many sacraments of religion as well as cultures have been left at the back by him. Although we allege that we have been converted into up to date and our set-up about religion and beliefs has undergone radical alteration but still there are some matters that are in practice and about them we have no response. Science falls short to give any verification about their subsistence. One such conviction is possession and its alleviation by exorcism. We have no corroboration scientifically about whether demons survive and can they be in actuality evicted out. Many legends as well as folklores are admired in dissimilar cultures and religions.
Possession can be portrayed as a status when Satan penetrates any human body and acquires control over the mental and physical propensities of the victim but the soul and the will of the possessed individual remain complimentary. Satan executes all the devilish actions through the body of the victim and the victim remains unacquainted of all such activities so is impolite about all what erroneous is going on with him. Satan does not proceed unaided in annihilating the victim. Satan works side by side and also escorts himself with the other evil spirits like the spirits of spirits of envy, abhorrence, obliteration, suicide, retribution, antagonism, apprehension, distraction, bereavement and ordeal. The Holy Bible bestows an exceptionally excellent instance about it. Luke 8:30 represents about the story of a possessed man who was trounced by a territory of evil spirits in the Gerasenes. When Jesus asked the man his name he responded that I am Legion as countless evil spirits were in attendance in the body of the obsessed.
Satan has a gigantic militia of the wicked spirits which are always geared up to demolish any person inclusively whenever they desire. Today’s contemporary world embodies a more sympathetic ambiance for possession as well as obsession than ever before because people are much more fascinated in pornography, sex, money, material possessions, drugs, and alcohol. The Satanic communications can be effortlessly conveyed through television, Internet, radio, music, and even the clothing we wear and the children are at a superior jeopardy of being enticed by these sophisticated magnetisms. Money, television, music, and sex are the prime Gods of the current world. Exorcism is normally judged as an old twisted practice today as recent people regard it as an illicit practice which obliterates humans and compels them to obligate suicide.
The Roman Ritual of Exorcism symbolizes a numeral of warning signs which are shown by the individuals obsessed by evil spirits. One of the common indications shown by the possessed person is that he articulates strange languages which he has never learned ever before. The victim also knows about the concealed stuffs and can even forecast prospect affairs. The sufferer starts to hate consecrated things and shows massive potency regardless of his age. Father Gabriele Amorth’s inscribed a book entitled An Exorcist More Stories which was made public by IGNATIUS. The book was liberated in 2002 and it pacts with satanic ciphers shown by the possessed individuals. The book botched to offer any apparent notification about exorcism and possession.
The possessed individuals experience a number of corporeal torments for instance peripheral twinge. The peripheral soreness embraces beatings, scourging, and wounds reigned by unfathomable pushing, falling objects as perceived by many admired saints like Curé of Ars, Saint Paul of the Cross, and Padre Pio. Devil normally strives to devastate the body superficially and any interior smash up may be due to assured nature of commotion and is transitory. Diabolic possession is one of the most treacherous behaviours conceded out by fiend and it permits the evil spirit to persist inside the human body. The evil signs may or may not be incessant but may crop up at convinced intermissions of time. Demonic possession entails momentary epochs of suspension of mental, intellectual, affective, and volitive faculties. The symptoms may also comprise speaking of mysterious languages, superhuman potency, and the aptitude to know the occult or someone else’s thoughts. Abhorrence to the sanctified gears is incredibly frequent.
Another warning sign is diabolic oppression which is a variety of ransom distress. The oppression can wallop health, job, affections, rapport with others, and so on. The symptoms become shoddier as time passes and they can impinge on both individual as well as a group of people. Another allied symptom is diabolic obsession which encompasses gash persona. The determinations of the individual linger complimentary but the contemplations are incarcerated by the demonic spirit. The sufferer tries to get rid of from them but is incapable to do so. The victim recurrently tries to consign suicide. Commitment of suicide may be due to both diabolic oppression as well as obsession. Diabolic infestation is another situation which ultimately concerns man. Diabolic subjugation is a state where the victim tries to put forward lordship to the demon. Both the fore cited categories are discerned in the nastiest crates of possession.
In the current setting the exorcists are on the threshold of extermination. No one neither a religious nor a lay man is fascinated to think on the actuality that Satan is animate and it flattens souls. Many religions still do not believe on possession and many people merely panic from the evil spirits. Most religions fright from Satan as fright is the finest acquaintance of Satan and he engrosses humans when they put their further conviction on God who can do all the things. When an entity horrors from Satan he gets an opportunity to surmount him. Satan’s prime fear is affirmation more than exorcism. A priest who eavesdrops to confession also abides the supremacy of exorcism.
The appendix of the Roman Ritual has some edicts that must be pursued by the exorcist prior to exorcism. The crucial precondition is that the priest must be dressed in an alb and a purple stole and then he should make the symbol of the cross on the head of the sufferer. The ends of the stole must be kept around the neck of the possessed. Two stoles may be sewn in concert in order to make it long so that the ends may accomplish the victim’s neck. It is appealing to remind that a blessed stole tranquil and controls the victim. The blessed stole signifies the influence of the priesthood. The encounter of the priest with the victim during the ritual of exorcism may be too aggressive that one cannot imagine. The Holy Bible also designates that Jesus used to wear stole by which He controlled the evils. The next law of exorcism tells that the priest must put his right hand over the head of the possessed in the same way as Jesus used to put over the sick. The Roman Catholic Church considers that the imposition of hands has an undeviating connection in healing. Jesus blessed the children in the same way. Many individuals have witnessed that the hands of the priest have calmed them. If an assistant priest is in attendance then he must also put his hands over the head of the victim. A Holy Bible containing both the Old and the New Testaments must be present on the hand of the priest while asking questions and imposing the demon to counter.
The next is step is invoking Holy Spirit and it results in astounding rejoinder and verification which are the keys to opening up and freeing of the victim. For instance a woman who had been a war orphan exposed that she has not been baptized. Another lady opened the Bible to Tobias and stated that she had not been married in the church. A couple opened the Bible to the Old Testament reading on abortion and confessed about the unforgiven sin. One girl indicated the story of Jacob and Essau in the Old Testament of Bible and committed that she became the initial as her twin brother was exterminated at three months of age. The Rite of Exorcism uses passages especially John 1:1-14, Mark 16:15-18, Luke 1:17-20, Luke 11:14-22 and also other passages alarmed with Holy Spirit. Invoking Holy Spirit helps to unknot many enigmatic queries. It is always superior to have an inclusive set of prayers that can be repeated by both the main as well as assistant priests. The Raccolta has a good collection of prayers.
The inviolability of the priest is of leading magnitude as the possessed mends quicker. The Act of Apostles of the New Testament of the Holy Bible spotlights that the handkerchiefs used by Saint Paul were stroked on the wounds of the ill for healing as well as the shadow of Saint Peter has healed many people. The Blessed Sacrament embraces the Body and Blood of Jesus, True God and True Man which can be used adjacent to the sick as well as the possessed. According to the imperatives of exorcism in the number 13 of the Roman Ritual, the Blessed Sacrament should not used over head or any fraction of body of the possessed as it may mislay its blessedness. This rule cannot be trailed in those circumstances where the person is diplomatic.
It is shocking to note down that the course of exorcism may take countless days and the priest is constantly recommended to lug the Blessed Sacrament around his neck. A Franciscan forenamed Father Dominic Szymanski while working with a Benedictine priest saw him wearing the medal of St. Benedict. He told the Benedictine priest that he has seen devil in the figure of blue luminosity moving around him in loops but was incapable to stroke the priest just because of that medal. The St. Benedict medal can be pinned to the clothes to anyone who covets fortification from demons. The use of scapular of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and the Rosary are two sacramental used in the Vatican II manuscript on the church Lumen Gentium. The blessing of the rosary illustrates that life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ hoards us from all the supremacies of devil. St. Dominic has saved a person from 1,500 devils. It has been scrutinized that the demons get aggravated from the rosary and in colossal annoyance they can even annihilate the rosary. The rosary bears the authority to tie Satan. Another medal of great significance is the Miraculous Medal promulgated by St. Maximillian Kolbe and used by the initiator of Legion of Mary-Frank Duff. The medal is consigned around the neck and command from the Holy Mother is asked to defend from the demons. The person wearing the medal must have sturdy reliance in God.
The subsequent imperative precondition is the occurrence of the crucifix. The victim may gaze at the cross and may be compelled to shift away from the cross. Cross is emblem of trounce of Satan through the death of Jesus Christ. The extended prayer of Solemn Blessing of the Crucifix is read. With the facilitation of the crucifix the evil spirits are swayed to depart the body of the victim. There are Rules of the Roman Ritual of Exorcism and the vital ones will be quoted here. According to Rule 1the priest who is going to execute exorcism must take acquiescence from the bishop. He also guarantees the bishop that he will set free the victim only by the power of God and has no self-indulgence in any type of matters correlated with the victim. The priest must be middle-aged and have an excellent status in the public. Rule 5 states that the priest must be conscious of the swindles to know the precision from the evil spirits as they lie first and coerce the priest to abscond the victim with them. Sometimes the victim shows the signs that he is customary and is not possessed at all.
Rule 6 states that sometimes the spirit repudiates about its presence and conceals itself. The time the demon veils itself the victim senses that he is free of charge and is not seized at all. The spectacular panorama crafted by the spirit should not be trusted by the exorcist unless and until he sees the signs of emancipation of the demon from the body of the possessed. Rule 10 forecasts that the exorcist must retain information that there is an assemblage of evil spirits which can’t be banished out without accurate prayer and fasting. He and the assistant priest must pursue the principles as given by the Holy Fathers. Rule 20 says that the priest must use words from the Holy Bible rather than his own. He must command the evil spirit to pronounce why it has penetrated the body of victim. For a triumphant exorcism the possessed must capitulate himself to the priest. If the possessed has gulped something then he must gag it up. The exorcist must be unassuming so that he can coerce the Satan out of the body of the victim. He must rely only on God not on himself. Sometimes God forces the evil present inside the body of the possessed to speak out the truth. The exorcist must not believe on whatever the devil the verbalizing as it lies in the very beginning. The victim can be made free only through the clout of God, meekness of exorcist and his fortitude.
The use of sacramentals is very significant while praying for healing as well as deliverance of any person. Sacramentals facilitate to alleviate the ailing as well as also banish the evil out of the body of the possessed. The use of olive oil is very effectual as it encloses the prayer of exorcism when the ritual is ongoing. The possessed person straight away counters to the sacramentals and the evil spirits extreme dislike them. A number of accounts are there to shore up this actuality for instance when amber coloured glass loaded with blessed oil and an indistinguishable glass filled with holy water were placed in obverse of one and a half year old child she snubbed the consecrated oil and preferred the holy water. The experiment was replicated a dozen times and equivalent rejoinder of the child was discerned every time. According to one more incidences when a school boy tormented by elevated fever was daubed with blessed oil restored to health straight away. Demons also fright from an additional sacramental identified as holy water. Incense is very infuriating to the demons and it is excellent to have exalted candles present at the time of exorcism. The Medal of St. Benedict is also believed as consecrated as it is encumbered with the prayer of exorcism. The medal has some initials over it. On the medal there are four letters on the angles of the cross. These letters are C.S.P.B. which stands for The Cross of the Holy Father Benedict. The vertical bar of the cross has C.S.S.M.L and the horizontal bar has N.D.S.M.D which designates holy Cross be my light and let not the dragon be my guide. The round margins of the medal have V.R.S.N.S.M.V and S.M.Q.L.I.V.B which stand for Begone, Satan suggest not vain things to me and evil are the cup thou offerest, drink thou thine own poison. In many instances the medal generates a tranquilizing outcome instantly after it is worn. Some individuals often sense a blazing impression after wearing it. The blessing and imposition of the scapular of Saint Michael the Archangel are also feared by evils.
Our thinking on evil spirits, their confiscation through exorcism as well as credence on mystical supremacies has undergone a radical alteration. At present we don’t even think on these issues as our mind has been much more centered on research and other frivolous themes. I sense that it is actually very rigid and intricate to believe on such obsessions which require any scientific evidence. More research and awareness is necessitated in this area to arrive at a prolific wrapping up.
Navodita Maurice