Unlocking Jonathan: A mother helps her disabled son find his voice

Imagine living in a world in which you have no voice. You sit and watch and take things in, but you have no way of relaying a thought, an idea, an opinion, or even a little sense of humor. Worse, most people assume that you’re not capable of even experiencing these things.

This was the life of 10-year-old Jonathan Bryan until two years ago, when his mother Chantal discovered a way to communicate with him. Jonathan’s story is not simply remarkable and heart-warming, it reveals the inner strength of a clever and loving boy, and the determination of his family to give him his “voice.” And what a voice he has!

Jonathan was born early at 36 weeks by emergency C-section after Chantal was in a car accident. Her placenta had detached itself from her womb, depriving Jonathan of oxygen. The outlook was bleak; Jonathan was born with failing kidneys and a brain scan revealed that he would be extremely disabled, unable to walk, talk, eat, in addition to other activities most of us take for granted. In a blog post about Jonathan’s story, Chantal recalls one of the hospital’s doctors saying, “It’s one of the worst scans of a brain the technician has seen.” Although Chantal and her husband, Christopher, an Anglican vicar, had consulted with experts about whether Jonathan’s treatment should be stopped, Chantal says “there was something about him. A knowing look. The look of someone who was ‘in there’.”

Eventually Jonathan came home, but he was in and out of the hospital regularly due to his failing kidneys. He received a kidney transplant just before his 4th birthday, but unfortunately this led to a severe lung infection resulting in Jonathan’s need for 24/7 oxygen to keep him alive.

He fought on.

Seemingly “locked-in” and with cerebral palsy and weak lungs, Jonathan was enrolled in a special school, where he was described as having “profound and multiple learning difficulties.” Chantal believes this is fundamentally where the problem lies, at least in her native England: children who are non-verbal and physically handicapped are labeled incorrectly and attend these schools to essentially be “babysat.” And this is where Jonathan’s—and Chantal’s—incredible story really begins.

On the day after Chantal, Christopher, Jonathan, and his younger sisters, Susannah (seven) and Jemima (four) came back from their summer vacation, the siblings were all playing in a tent in the backyard, and I was fortunate enough to sit down with Chantal for a lengthy conversation. I asked her how they managed to go on vacation given Jonathan’s many requirements (he needs constant care day and night). She explained that they stayed fairly close to home—just in case—and that Jonathan joined the family on walks along the sometimes rugged pathways in his over-sized three-wheeler. Immediately it’s clear: despite Jonathan’s severe disabilities, he’s an integral part of their family life, not just in the extra care he requires, but because of his “big personality,” as Chantal describes it.

As Jonathan played with his sisters, Chantal shared the journey the family has taken so far, how Jonathan’s “unlocking” has revealed a little boy with big ideas about helping others, and how a visit to “Jesus’ garden” has brought hope and excitement for what lies ahead.

Breaking through

Despite all his disabilities, Jonathan was still very much “engaged with the world and keen to learn” from an early age. He could communicate with what his mom calls a “clear ‘yes’ and ‘no’ face.” And it’s this ability to choose that would allow Jonathan to emerge from his silence.

From a young age, Jonathan had a taste of mainstream education mixed with spending time at his local special needs school. While obviously grateful that her son’s physical needs were being attended to, Chantal believed something was lacking in terms of his mental development. So when he was seven and a half, Chantal made a decision that would turn Jonathan and his family’s life around: She decided to homeschool him every day for over an hour in the morning before he headed off to his special needs school.

Photo courtesy: Chantal Bryan

Jonathan learning to communicate with his spelling board. 

Chantal worked closely with Jonathan to see if he could develop letter recognition and start to read and write. With his mom gently supporting his head to steady his movement, Jonathan was able to look at words and phrases carefully selected and placed on a large plastic board to help create sentences. Chantal could see the desire and pleasure Jonathan took in learning. Although he had attempted to use an “Eye Gaze” computer, where the computer registers the movement of the eye to communicate, it proved insufficient as the machine found it hard to capture Jonathan’s eye movements due to a divergent squint and the medication Jonathan was on. However, it did show that Jonathan was able to make choices and group letters to make words. So Chantal painstakingly created a system of phonics, words, and letters. Jonathan would then select a letter or word and confirm it, all by using his eyes. (This is a very simplified account of the system Chantal developed with some advice from Marion Stanton, a specialist teacher for children with complex communication for Jonathan. More details can be found on Jonathan’s blog.)

When I exclaimed to Chantal that she must have the patience of a saint, she said she’s “not patient, but determined; I’m not a saintly mother!” But her determination began to pay off, so the family decided Jonathan should be homeschooled for five full mornings and join the mainstream primary school four afternoons a week, leaving him with just one afternoon at his special school to see his best friend (who Jonathan believes can be “unlocked,” too). From there Jonathan took off.

A powerful and expressive voice

Chantal found that her son’s vocabulary was pretty extensive, in part thanks to the many books his family had read to him throughout his lengthy illnesses, so the word boards she had created were not quite sufficient for Jonathan to express himself. She soon realized he wanted to spell, and not long afterwards, he was writing sentences that would surprise any 4th grade teacher. Jonathan’s whole world had been unlocked and he was finally able to express the thoughts that had been trapped inside him for nine years. What he comes out with is both profound and perceptive. Jonathan explained to his mom that “I watch people and I pray; I watch and I look.” And through this process Jonathan has gleaned perhaps more insight than other young people his age.

Photo courtesy: Chantal Bryan

Jonathan with his family at the top of the Malvern Hills, August 2016, England. 

Jonathan has also been able to reveal things he wasn’t so happy with. He could finally say how “the most frustrating thing was having his face washed”—not quite what you’d expect from a child confined to a wheelchair attached to an oxygen tank. And he could also start asking for things—Chantal fondly remembers Jonathan spelling out, “I need a brother!”

Jonathan has also expressed his desire to “bake every day, forever.” He spelled out, “I love baking for other people and making people happy.” This love of baking (helped by his family), is indicative of his beautiful personality, one of loving and giving, especially when we consider that Jonathan is unable to eat solid food himself and has to be fed through a tube in his stomach. He seems to be a boy with a tremendous heart and a fantastic outlook on life, making the most of what life has to offer. As Chantal says, Jonathan takes part in dance lessons at school in his wheelchair; the fact his friends are helping him move his arms feels to him like he is dancing.

Jesus’ garden

One of the most beautiful things Jonathan has been able to do is tell his parents about his visit to “Jesus’ garden.” Growing up in a religious family, Jonathan has been brought up “knowing Jesus.” But being able to communicate meant that Chantal could finally ask some important questions. (“What do you say to your son after nine years?” she says to me, laughing.) One of the first things Chantal asked her son was, “Who is important in your life?” To which Jonathan responded completely unprompted, “Mummy, Daddy, Jesus, sisters …” Then Chantal asked, “So when did you first know about Jesus?” Jonathan’s response was one of the most spine-tingling things he has ever told his family: “I’ve seen his house when I was ill. I was climbing up trees and my body worked.”

Chantal and her husband relate this incident to a near-death experience Jonathan had years before, but they can’t exactly pinpoint when (as there are a couple of contenders). Jonathan talks about going to “’Jesus’ garden,’ how he’s always happy, and he describes a lot of detail about a child who was there,” explains Chantal. Jonathan remembers the name of the child as Noah, a little boy in his previous parish who was a little younger and who died from an unexpected brain tumor. Although the family have spoken to Jonathan about heaven quite a bit—considering he’s nearly died a few times—Chantal says his description is “fresh” and not the stereotypical way we would describe it. When Chantal asked Jonathan, “How did you know it was Jesus’ garden?”, Jonathan’s matter-of-fact response was, “Because my body worked and I asked people.”

Photo courtesy: Chantal Bryan

Jonathan and Chantal meeting the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. 

The joy Jonathan felt in Jesus’ garden has affected his outlook on life. During a recent serious illness, he actually spelled out: “I’m going to go back soon, it’s so exciting!” You can only imagine how difficult it was for the family to see emerging letter by letter. Jonathan has tasted the joy and experience of being free, and Chantal understands his excitement and wants what’s best for her son, but she and her husband don’t quite share the same enthusiasm for Jonathan “going back to the garden.” Yet, “He’s learnt to be content … that’s something a lot of us don’t quite get to. We talk to him about his faith and he prays a lot.”

Jonathan loves praying aloud now using the spelling board. But what is mind-blowing is his method: “He doesn’t think using words, he thinks using emotions, colors, and drumbeats. Praying is intentional, but he invites Jesus into the drumbeat of his life, and brings pictures of people before God when he is praying for them.” Jonathan is due to be confirmed this November because Chantal doesn’t know how much time they have left with him.

With a son so immersed in his faith, I asked Chantal about how her own relationship with God is today. “Deeper, I suppose; it couldn’t be anything other than that, having had a Jonathan! Shortly after he was born he was very ill. I got close to asking God, ‘Why?’ Not, why me … but why a tiny little baby who is suffering so much? And God gave me a picture that kind of stayed with me, which is just God the Father looking down at God the Son on the cross and with tears down his face saying ‘I know,’ and I follow a God who knows. He knows what it’s like to have a son who suffers and He knows what it is to suffer. So my faith is about getting on with it.” Chantal also spoke of the hope and assumptions we all have for our children, and how Jonathan’s story has led to a real life lesson: “Being human boils down to being loved and giving love.”

A boy with a purpose

Jonathan is now a young man on a mission. He’s set up a petition on change.org so children like himself can have access to literacy education and to erase the perception that the label “disabled” means a child has limits on learning. He has written to the Minister of Education, and is hoping to meet the Minister of Children and Families, who decides government policy in the UK for children with special needs. Jonathan believes this is his purpose, the one thing he wants to do before he dies. He went to the media and actually wrote a press release himself. He wants to change attitudes, to help people to see what children like him, who are supposedly locked away, are capable of achieving.

As for his younger sisters, Jonathan talks to them about his faith and is writing thoughts and guidance down for when he’s no longer here—the perpetual protective big brother.

And for us: I asked Chantal if Jonathan could write a prayer to share with our readers and he happily obliged:

Heavenly Father,
Thank you for loving children like me, giving us strength, courage and peace during our lives. Knowing You will greet us in Heaven brings great joy.
Please help give a voice to all children like me so they might be able to say what they want.
In the loving and glorious name of our Lord Jesus,
Amen.

By Jonathan Bryan—aged 10

If you’d like to know more about the remarkable and inspiring Jonathan, check out his autobiography, Life Adventures of awesome Jonathan, which can be found on his blog. You can also leave comments there for Jonathan to read.

UPDATE: Jonathan was finally confirmed in November, describing it as “the best service of my life.” During the ceremony, his godfather read a beautiful testimony that Jonathan himself had written. He has also gathered more than 179,000 signatures for his petition to help other “locked-in” children and met with the Minister for Vulnerable Children and Families, Edward Timpson.

Jonathan turned 11 in January surrounded by his family and chocolate cake. And to mark the big event, Jonathan wrote a Thanksgiving Psalm in which he says he is “Rejoicing in God’s lavished love.” But that’s not all. Jonathan decided that during Lent he would try to help raise money for charity and he ended the Easter period with the most powerful Easter poem: “Rejoice for Jesus Has Risen,” that was read out on BBC Radio Two by esteemed poet Ian McMillan (if you’d like to listen, forward to 1 hour 15 minutes).

We continue to be astounded by this remarkable child who is proof of what a mother’s love can achieve.

https://aleteia.org/2017/05/12/unlocking-jonathan-a-mother-helps-her-disabled-son-find-his-voice/

The Keys to Getting Your Prayers Answered “Praying Like You Mean It!”

The Keys to Getting Your Prayers Answered

“Praying Like You Mean It!”

By Fr. Richard Heilman, Roman Catholic Man:

Fervent Prayer: Praying Like You Mean It.

Whenever I am offering spiritual direction, and the directee laments about a situation, wondering why God has not answered their prayer … I always ask, “How are you praying?” Nine times out of ten the answer comes back with something that sounds like, “I don’t know … I guess I add a petition to my rosary or something.” It is then that I speak to them about “Praying like you mean it!”

St. Bernard of Clairvaux wrote,

“Timid prayer does not pierce heaven, because immoderate fear binds the soul so that prayer, far from flying upward, can not even come out. Being lukewarm, it grows weak in its flight and falls because it has no strength. Prayer that is faithful, humble, and fervent will undoubtedly pierce heaven and it will certainly not return fruitless.”

I have witnessed countless miracles. In each case, we offered “intense prayer campaigns” … we were “begging God.” St. Bernard is correct, as we offered faithful, humble and *fervent* prayer that sought to pierce heaven. This was much more than *just* adding a petition here or there.

Here are some of the more notable miracles we’ve witnessed …

My uncle, a priest, was confirmed by two experts, that he was brain dead. After praying for him in the Holy Land, and bringing him a stone from the Pool of Bethesda, he completely recovered.

 I prayed in the Holy Land for another woman who was filled with cancer, and brought her a stone too. She completely recovered.

 My brother-in-law’s nephew was filled with cancer, and several of us prayed with the intercession of Padre Pio (we actually added oil blessed with intercession of Padre Pio), and he completely recovered.

 My nephew was moments away from dying from pneumonia and excessive internal bleeding. We asked tens of thousands on social media to pray with the intercession of Pope Pius XII. He miraculously recovered.

 A friend’s dad suffered a nine centimeter ruptured aneurysm (I’m told there is no record of anyone surviving one this size). We asked for prayer just as we did with my nephew. He miraculously recovered.

 In Madison, WI, UW Clinics were threatening to implement late term abortions. We got over 200 people to pray the Stations of the Cross in front of the clinic, and ten days later they announced they are withdrawing there plans to go forward with this.

 Religious freedom was suddenly under great attack, notably with the Hobby Lobby case. We got 100s of people to pray every Thursday evening in the Summer in front of the State Capitol for two years. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby.

 Tens of thousands joined together with the Novena for Our Nation in the lead up to the 2016 Presidential election. The freight train of secular hedonism was stopped in its tracks.

And, here is the story of what happened just on the Western edge of Madison, WI, in the tiny town of Pine Bluff …

PINE BLUFF VS. PORNOGRAPHY

“As long as Moses held up the staff in his hand, the Israelites had the advantage. But whenever he dropped his hand, the Amalekites gained the advantage” (Exodus 17:11).

In the summer of 2004, I was assigned as pastor of two parishes, one of which was St. Mary’s of Pine Bluff, a Catholic parish in a small unincorporated town in southern Wisconsin, just west from Madison. The little town of Pine Bluff has one church, two bars, and a handful of homes. It is surrounded by fields and idyllic rolling hills and countryside. It’s the kind of town where people dream of raising their kids.

So it was that just months after I arrived in Pine Bluff, one of the bar owners decided to rent out his cozy establishment to a strip club owner. Neighbors were appalled, and the little town was stunned. But there was not much, it seemed, that anyone could do.

The folks in Pine Bluff, however, didn’t yet understand my resolve and my absolute trust in God’s miracle power. Lying in bed one night, I found myself in my prayer … “What in the world did you have in mind, God, by allowing this strip club across the street of my new parish?” Then one word came to me, “Mile.” It was then that I envisioned the trek from the front of our church to the end of the block, then back to the church and concluding in the cemetery behind our church. Then two words came to me, “Miracle Mile.”

These words and that image came so strong that I got out of bed at 3:00 AM in the morning and put on my sweat suit and went out in my car. I reset the odometer down to zero, and drove the path I envisioned in mind.  When I reached the end of that path (up in the cemetery), the odometer rolled to exactly one mile. I knew then that God was speaking to me.

That following week, I gathered together some of the faith-filled people I had met since my arrival, and we began to make plans. Surprisingly, they did not think I had lost my rocker when I told them about my 3:00 AM drive through Pine Bluff. They, too, believed there was something to this.

We discerned that we were called to pray the Stations of the Cross along that one mile route. Some people designed little 3 foot high crosses, and we placed a roman numeral on each one, signifying each of the 14 Stations. All the neighbors allowed us to plant these crosses in their yards, near to the sidewalk. We then chose Palm Sunday to hold this Stations of the Cross. We asked people to come, and over 200 people joined us.

Participants carried their prayer sheets and a white ribbon (a symbol of purity and anti-pornography). The twelfth station found them at the entrance to the beautiful parish cemetery on a bluff with a life-size crucifix of our Lord and a one-hundred-year-old stone kneeler in front (pictured here). The participants tied their white ribbons to this kneeler as a prayer form, much like lighting a vigil candle in church.

After that first prayer walk, a container holding prayer sheets and ribbons was placed at the first station on the walk. All were invited to come, pick up a prayer sheet and white ribbon, and pray at anytime of the day or night, as they wished. Over the next seven months, prayer warriors walked the path and prayed the Stations. The white crosses on residents’ lawns served as a very tangible reminder to pray the Stations and to pray for God’s mercy.

Father Does the “Moses Thing”

While I walked and prayed that mile many times, my primary way of praying during those days of intense spiritual warfare was to wake up before dawn every morning and drive up to Blue Mounds State Park (When one looks west at my church, from a distance, they can see Blue Mounds  in the background … it looks like a mighty mountain). On top of Blue Mounds (Blue? Mary’s color? 😉 ) is a lookout tower (Fire tower?). It was 64 steps to rise to the top. I brought my Bernese Mountain dog, Angel, and I would leash her to the bottom of the tower while I ascended to the top. On top, I would look east and see much of Madison from the high point. And, of course, I was looking out over my entire two parishes. I made sure I was there before the sun would rise, so I was praying as the sun rose. At some point, I found a straight branch that I used, much like Moses’ staff, to hold up and pray … recalling the scripture passage when Moses prayed this way … “As long as Moses held up the staff in his hand, the Israelites had the advantage. But whenever he dropped his hand, the Amalekites gained the advantage” (Exodus 17:11). After I had prayed on the tower, Angel and I would walk the paths on Blue Mounds as I prayed various prayers, such as the rosary. I only missed four days on top of Blue Mounds from April through October of that year.

Victory!!  Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!!

The miracle mile was, indeed, miraculous. Even though many say that the porn industry is more protected (under First Amendment rights) than are the babies in our mothers’ wombs, within seven months the strip club was chased out of town. Little Pine Bluff was overjoyed, and a victory was won for Our Lord. We estimated that over 700 ribbons were tied to that 100 year old kneeler, represented 700 miles walked in prayer.

http://www.courageouspriest.com/keys-prayers-answered

PRAY LIKE YOU MEAN IT!

A Call to Restore Prayers of Exorcism

R. Jared Staudt

In 1886, Pope Leo XIII added the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel to the prayers he had already ordered to be said after the Low Mass in 1884. The origin of the prayer is subject to much speculation, particularly about whether or not Leo received a locution with the voices of Jesus and the devil. Regardless of the exact details of this alleged event, which some deny for being unsubstantiated, there are some historical testimonies to the fact that a mystical experience moved the Pope to compose the prayer and to have it said daily throughout the world.

On June 29, 1972, Pope Bl. Paul VI, who stopped the recitation of the prayer, seemed to confirm an element’s of Leo’s prophecy, stating in his homily in St. Peter’s Basilica that “from some fissure the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God.” This built upon Leo’s sense that the devil would have extraordinary influence in the twentieth century, including within the Church. Paul continued his reflection on the influence of the devil on November 15 of that same year in a general audience entitled “Deliver Us from Evil,” arguing that “one of the major needs [of the Church] is defense from that evil we call the Devil.” Pope Paul, referencing Ephesians 6:11-12, argued that we need to withstand the evil one with the armor of God.

Was a large part of the smoke of Satan entering the Church our denial of his influence and a laying down of our spiritual arms to confront him? For too long we have denied or overlooked the influence of the devil on our lives and the Church. Therefore, we have grown lax in seeking the Lord’s power to overcome his opposition. Praying for this deliverance is central to Christian prayer, as we see even at the end of the Our Father, which has been translated, “deliver us from the evil one.” After being tempted, Christ commanded the devil, “away with you Satan!” and cast out many demons in his ministry. Our Lord took spiritual warfare seriously and recognized our need for deliverance, as he brought “freedom to captives.” He also gave power and authority to his disciples to exorcise: “And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons” (Mk 16:17; see Luke 9:1). This power has been overlooked of late, as belief in the influence of the evil one now appears superstitious to many.

Take the example of exorcism prayer in the Rite of Baptism as part of the liturgical reforms following the Second Vatican Council, promulgated in 1969 by Paul VI. It is fascinating that the Associated Press quoted Bl. Paul as questioning the revised prayer in the audience I referenced above (though these lines have been removed from the official text). The AP article reads: “In his speech. Pope Paul appeared to regret that in the new rite of baptism, which he approved three years ago, less emphasis is given to exorcism. This is the part in which the priest orders Satan to get out of the new Christian. ‘I don’t know whether this is realistic,’ he said of the revised exorcism.” In the audience, Paul recognized both the increased influence on the devil and that the Church had softened her response.

In my opinion, the “Prayer of Exorcism” found in the revised rite, is not an exorcism at all. Here is the text:

Almighty and ever-living God, you sent your only Son into the world to cast out the power of Satan, spirit of evil, to rescue man from the kingdom of darkness, and bring him into the splendor of your kingdom of light. We pray for this child: set him (her) free from original sin, make him (her) a temple of your glory, and send your Holy Spirit to dwell with him (her). We ask this through Christ our Lord.

The first sentence is simply a declarative statement on what Christ accomplished. It then asks that the child be set free from original sin and given grace, but says nothing about praying for the child to be delivered from the influence of the enemy, let alone commanding the enemy to depart.

In paragraph 1673, the Catechism describes exorcism and its relation to Baptism: “When the Church asks publicly and authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ that a person or object be protected against the power of the Evil One and withdrawn from his dominion, it is called exorcism. Jesus performed exorcisms and from him the Church has received the power and office of exorcizing. In a simple form, exorcism is performed at the celebration of Baptism.” What is so striking about the exorcism prayer in the new Rite of Baptism is that is does not ask that the one being baptized “be protected against the power of the Evil One and withdrawn from his dominion.”

Contrast this with the exorcism from the traditional rite of Baptism:

I cast you out, unclean spirit, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Depart and stay far away from this servant of God, N. For it is the Lord Himself who commands you, accursed and doomed spirit, He who walked on the sea and reached out His hand to Peter as he was sinking. So then, foul fiend, recall the curse that decided your fate once for all. Indeed, pay homage to the living and true God, pay homage to Jesus Christ, His Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Keep far from this servant of God, N, for Jesus Christ, our Lord and God, has freely called him (her) to His holy grace and blessed way and to the waters of baptism.

The lack of exorcism in the new rite, was lauded by some, such as Vincent Ryan, OSB:

The catechetical value of some of its rites and formulas was doubtful…. How could one justify the strongly-worded exorcisms when applied, not to converts from paganism, but to newly-born infants? …

In the old baptismal service the exorcisms loomed very large. They have now been reduced to one moderately-worded formula. No longer is the Evil One addressed directly (‘I adjure thee, Satan, …’). Instead, we have a prayer addressed to God, acknowledging what he has done for his people.

Fr. Ryan questioned the need for exorcism prayers for infants, but suggested that it may be helpful for converts. What then do we see happening in the case of someone converting as an adult from another religion? The Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA), promulgated in 1971, contains a series of exorcisms that occur periodically from the Rite of Acceptance to the Scrutinies of Lent. Analyzing the prayers shows mixed results. Some meet the definition of an exorcism given by the Catechism, but a majority follow Fr. Ryan’s concern for catechetical instruction over actual spiritual warfare.

The “Introduction” to the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) describes the exorcisms that occur within the Catechumenate in the following ways: They are “addressed directly to God,” and “draw the attention … to the real nature of Christian life…” (90). Further, during Lent the elect “are freed from the effects of sin and from the influence of the devil. They receive new strength in the midst of their spiritual journey and they open their hearts to receive the gifts of the Saviour” (131).

The strongest of the many exorcism prayers within RCIA is contained within the “optional rites” section of the Rite of Acceptance, and therefore would not necessarily be used for every catechumen. The prayer states: “By the breath of your mouth, O Lord, drive away the spirits of evil. Command them to depart, for your kingdom has come among us.” This prayer, though stronger than the exorcism of Baptism, serves as a petition, not a command to the demons to depart.

The next set of exorcism prayers are the minor exorcisms found within the Catechumenate proper. Out of the 11 options, the following prayer provides a good example of their character:

God of power, who promised us the Holy Spirit through Jesus your Son, we pray to you for these catechumens, who present themselves before you. Protect them from the spirit of evil and guard them against error and sin, so that they may become the temple of your Holy Spirit. Confirm what we profess in faith, so that our words may not be empty, but full of the grace and power by which your Son has freed the world. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen (§94, Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults).

Although this is a good and even beautiful prayer, I wonder (like Bl. Paul VI) whether it would suffice to break someone away from the domination of sin, false worship, and demonic influence? There are also two options for exorcism prayers for each of the three Scrutinies of Lent. These prayers are a bit stronger at points—“defend them from the power of Satan”—but generally maintain a catechetical and petitionary character. As in the revised rite of Baptism, we do not see in these prayers the full exercise of the authority given to the Church by Christ over unclean spirits.

As we see the influence of the evil one increasing in our culture every day, we cannot stand by idly. We must take up our spiritual arms again. Returning to the scriptural passage quoted by Bl. Paul above, Ephesians 6: 11-12, we can see how St. Paul taught us to withstand the attacks of the enemy:

Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

How should we put on this armor? We must surround ourselves with prayer, remaining in the presence of the Lord and strong in our faith. Beyond that, without giving in to undo fear or obsession, we should regularly pray for deliverance from any influence that the enemy may have over us. We should pray regularly the prayer to the great defender of the Church, St. Michael, as Pope St. John Paul II advised us: “Although today this prayer is no longer recited at the end of the Eucharistic celebration, I invite everyone not to forget it, but to recite it to get to be helped in the battle against the forces of darkness and against the spirit of this world.”

There are also many other effective prayers of deliverance. The one copied below is an example of taking up the authority that Christ gave us, through the power of his Holy Name, to withstand evil spirits.

Prayer Against Every Evil

Spirit of our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Most Holy Trinity, Immaculate Virgin Mary, angels, archangels, and saints of heaven, descend upon me. Please purify me, Lord, mold me, fill me with yourself, use me.

Banish all the forces of evil from me, destroy them, vanish them, so that I can be healthy and do good deeds.

Banish from me all spells, witchcraft, black magic, malefice, ties, maledictions, and the evil eye; diabolic infestations, oppressions, possessions; all that is evil and sinful, jealously, perfidy, envy; physical, psychological, moral, spiritual, diabolical aliments.

Burn all these evils in hell, that they may never again touch me or any other creature in the entire world.

I command and bid all the power who molest me—by the power of God all powerful, in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior, through the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin Mary—to leave me forever, and to be consigned into the everlasting hell, where they will be bound by Saint Michael the archangel, Saint Gabriel, Saint Raphael, our guardian angels, and where they will be crushed under the heel of the Immaculate Virgin Mary.

Amen.

Editor’s note: The image above is a detail of “St. Michael” painted by Raphael in 1504-5.
http://www.crisismagazine.com/2016/call-restore-prayers-exorcism

Sky View: Letter of ’71

Sky View: Letter of ’71

The Letter of ’71: Abridged and revised (For new Sky View readers)

According to Archbishop Charles Chaput in Render Unto Caesar, in 1970 Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, asserted that the fallout of the Sexual Revolution was nothing that we have seen before. And in response to the precipitous decline in priestly and religious vocations he said that “the city of man is beginning to strike terror in our heart…the Church is becoming extinguished in men’s souls and Christian communities are crumbling.”

Approximately a year later, in 1971, Sister Lucia, one of three seers of the Marian apparitions at Fatima, wrote a letter to her nephew, Valinho, who was a Catholic priest. It could be argued that this letter was one of the most important letters written in the twentieth century. Contained in this letter was her diagnosis as to why “the Church is becoming extinguished in men’s souls.”

To begin with, Father Valinho was equally distressed over the turmoil and the disorientation of the late sixties and early seventies. His concern was validated by Sister Lucia when she wrote, “It is indeed sad that so many are allowing themselves to be dominated by the diabolical wave that is enveloping the world, and they are so blind that they cannot see their error.” To be sure, this “diabolical wave” had been boiling underneath the surface for several decades.

Leading up to the early 1960’s, the Catholic Church had every reason to be optimistic about her future. Indeed, during the forties and fifties vocations and church attendance were on the rise. In addition, Church membership in America had nearly doubled in size. However, what Catholics did not see coming- including many of the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council when it opened in 1962 -was that the Culture of Death would overflow from the concentration camps of the Third Reich and the gulags of the Soviet Union to the youth, entertainment industry and universities in the West. The spirit of anti-Catholicism was far from dead.

It would seem that this came as no surprise to Sister Lucia. With regard to the abrupt surge of secularism in the world she said, “…the principal error is that they have abandoned prayer.” But it is not only the world that had abandoned prayer. She indicated that the trend was also in the Church. “I am convinced,” Lucia said, “that the principal cause of evil in the world and the falling away of so many consecrated souls is the lack of union with God in prayer. The devil our weak points we will fall, our times are very bad and we are weak.” Quite often we forget that the Church is the Mother of humanity; and what a mother does, children also do. With this, the devil exploited the spiritual neglect of Catholics to great effect.

Sister Lucia reminds Fr. Valinho that when people turn away from God in prayer “everything is lacking to them.” Christ reminds us that we can do nothing without him. This is why, according to the Fatima seer, we must draw close to the Tabernacle and pray fervently.

She said there are two practical advantages of prayer: First, we receive “more light, more strength, more grace and virtue than you could ever achieve by reading many books, or by great studies.” And second, Sr. Lucia told her nephew that “you will accomplish a lot in a short period of time.” The lesson she learned from Our Lady of Fatima was that we should “let time be lacking for everything else but never for prayer!” Psalm 127 says it best: "Unless the LORD build the house, they labor in vain who build."

Sr. Lucia said that especially for those in spiritual authority they need “to keep close to God and to tell Him about all their affairs and all their problems before they discuss them with human beings.” That’s right! Treat God as a best friend- the most important person in your life –by consulting with Him before seeking the counsel of anyone else.

Perhaps in colleges and seminaries too much emphasis was placed on scholarly books rather than holiness as a source of knowledge; or in parishes, perhaps too much was made of meetings and planning and not enough on spiritual exercises; or among the clergy, maybe their administrative function was given more importance than preaching the Gospel and forming souls. This could be why Sr. Lucia cautioned Fr. Valinho that a Christian without prayer is like a “hollow and split reed.” Indeed, in the absence of robust spiritual activity ministry is just another process and mission gets bogged down with planning.

With that said the letter does conclude with a positive and affirming note: “See that you take everything with calmness and with great confidence in God. He will do for us what we cannot do ourselves. He will supply for our insufficiencies.”

What can be said for the individual can also be said for the Church. Whatever insufficiencies we have as a collective body of believers, God can make up the difference. But he can only do what we cannot do for ourselves if we regularly turn to him in prayer. As such, in a short time, the Lord is sure to compensate for what has been lost in the last fifty years.

The Ascent of Prayer

People climbing Mount Krizevak
in Medjugorje, Bosnia

Nighttime on the Mount: The Ascent of Prayer before the Descent of Tribulation

Saturday's Gospel reading: February 18th, 2012: The Transfiguration

Tradition has it that the transfiguration of Christ on Mt. Tabor transpired forty days before his Passion. Evidently, the Lord wanted at least three of his Apostles- Peter, James and John –to experience his glory before they had to drink the chalice of his suffering. St. Peter would later recount his heavenly experience in his Second Letter when he wrote, “For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that unique declaration came to him from the majestic glory, 'This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.' We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain.”

Sometimes the Lord guarantees victory before he permits defeats. He might inspire us with an unshakable certitude to take on a mission for his sake and then allow circumstances to contradict that mission. On Mount Tabor, the divinity of Jesus was revealed before his humanity was crucified. Later, in the Upper Room, he would give his resurrected flesh to his Apostles in the form of the Eucharist the night before his death on the Cross and three days before he had actually risen from the dead.

In tasting the goodness of the Lord at the altar, strength is given to us for the trials that are inevitably associated with doing his will. In the Imitation of Christ our Lord speaks to his disciple. He says, “My son, that good and delightful affection, which you sometimes perceive, is the effect of present grace and a certain foretaste of your heavenly country, but you must not rely too much upon it, because it comes and goes.” And this delightful affection and the foretaste of our heavenly country is chiefly to be found in prayer and in meditation. It is, in a real sense, food for the journey and strength for adversity.

To be sure, it was only after an arduous climb up Mt. Tabor and only after the world had fallen asleep that our Lord would give three of his Apostles a glimpse of his glory. But in doing so, Jesus would not stand alone. Moses and Elijah, two prophets who represented the Old Testament and who also experienced the presence of God on Mt. Sinai, stood beside our Lord to give their testimony of support. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke makes reference to these two men as speaking to Jesus about his “exodus,” that is, his death, resurrection and ascension into heaven. And who is better qualified to talk about such an exodus than Moses, who led the Israelites out of Egypt to the Promised Land and Elijah who was assumed into heaven on a chariot?

After our Lord’s face had shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light, a bright cloud appeared and the voice of God was heard. It was as if God the Father had bequeathed his authority for the second time (the first time at the river Jordan) to Jesus by saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” This, it would seem, is reminiscent of Psalm 2 when God said in even greater detail, “You are my son; today I am your father. Only ask it of me, and I will make your inheritance the nations, your possession the ends of the earth.”

However, conferring the inheritance of the nations and the power to teach with divine authority did not only issue from the Father to the Son, but it also passed from Moses and Elijah- two of the greatest Old Testament prophets –to St. Peter and the Apostles. Indeed, by "making disciples of all the nations" through the preaching ministry of his Church, Jesus Christ would take back what once belonged to his Father, namely, the world! As the prophet Isaiah said, "In days to come, the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills. All nations shall stream toward it..."

Every apostle must be equal to his mission. Hence, the work of being God’s mouthpiece to the nations would require spiritual transformation; especially for these frail fishermen. And the symbolic value of the transfiguration of Christ on Mt. Tabor suggests that real transformation can only take place on a mountain of prayer and meditation. When speaking of the soul in contemplation, Cornelius A Lapide, a sixteenth century priest and professor of Scripture, wrote:

“She [the soul] is raised above herself, and is lifted up to God in heaven, where she learns and sees that all the things of earth are fragile and worthless, so that from her lofty height she looks down upon them as fit only for children. She perceives that the true riches, honors and pleasures are nowhere but in heaven.”

Without the foretaste of heaven in prayer and meditation and without eagerly anticipating eternal happiness with God, we will inevitably wince from sacrifice and the price we must pay in bringing souls to Christ. The meditation of heaven inspires a farsightedness that is needed not only for living out the life of Christ on a day to day basis, but also for the challenging work God has called us to do.

No doubt, while St. Peter was crucified upside down in Rome- while St. James was dragged to his death in Jerusalem -and while St. John was in exile on the island of Patmos, recalling this heavenly vision of our Lord on Mt. Tabor was probably of great consolation to them. And although we may not enjoy the vision of the Transfiguration in the way the Apostles did, God will certainly not fail to give us a taste of that heavenly sweetness in prayer and meditation in proportion to our faith. This is God's way of giving us a sneakpeak of eternity so that we might be encouraged to hold nothing back!


http://catholic-skyview-tremblay.blogspot.com/2012/02/nighttime-on-mount-ascent-of-prayer.html

MONASTERIES CLEAR CONTAMINATED AIR, SAYS POPE

Proposes Model of Society Centered on God, Brotherhood

SERRA SAN BRUNO, Italy, OCT. 10, 2011  - Benedict XVI says that monasteries still have the role of regenerating the environment, just as they did in the Middle Ages.

The Pope emphasized Sunday what he called an "indispensable" function for monasteries, as he addressed the people of Serra San Bruno in southern Italy. He was set to visit the Carthusian monastery of their city during his pastoral journey to Lamezia Terme.

"The very presence of the monastic community, with its long history that dates back to St. Bruno, is a constant call of God, an opening to heaven and an invitation to remember that we are brothers in Christ," he said.

"If in medieval times [monasteries] were centers of regeneration for swampy territories, today they serve to 'regenerate' the environment in another sense," the Holy Father reflected. At times "the climate breathed in our societies is not healthy, it is contaminated by a mentality that is not Christian, not even human, because it is dominated by economic interests concerned only about earthly things and lacking a spiritual dimension."

"In this context, not only is God marginalized but also one's neighbor, and there is no commitment to the common good," the Pontiff observed. "A monastery instead is a model of a society that puts God and fraternal relationships at the center."

Bastion of the spirit

Bruno Rosi, the mayor of Serra San Bruno, welcomed the Pope with an address in which he stressed the "inestimable spiritual patrimony" represented by the Carthusian Order. He said that the Pope's words would remain as a "beautiful support for the path that this city and [the region of] Calabria in general must follow, a path that is not always easy."

The mayor described John Paul II's visit to the city on Oct. 5, 1984, as a miracle, and Benedict XVI's visit on Sunday as a "gift of inestimable value -- another miracle."

"It's true, two close visits of the Successor of Peter are a privilege for your civil community," responded the Holy Father. "But, above all, it is a great privilege to have in your territory this 'bastion' of the spirit that is the Carthusian monastery."

The Bishop of Rome added that this privilege is also a great responsibility.

"Make a treasure of the great spiritual tradition of this place," he told the people, "and try to put it into practice in daily life."
source - www.zenit.org  www.zenit.org

Tessa Dahl, daughter of the famous writer, has finally found peace - in an abbey.

A tale of the unexpected

Tessa Dahl, daughter of the famous writer, has finally found peace - in an abbey.

Tessa Dahl looks out from a page of the Daily Mail online. I had never heard of her until a few days ago when someone drew my attention to the story headed, “Why I’m leaving a life of addiction behind and becoming a nun…”, but most Britons probably know her as the daughter of the famous story writer Roald Dahl and Hollywood star Patricia Neal, a novelist in her own right, mother of cookery show personality and former model Sophie Dahl -- and a woman with a very chequered past.

The 53-year-old shows added signs of wear and tear from the alcoholism and cocaine habit she seems to have beaten, but you can see in the structure of her face the “sharp-cheeked beauty” the Mail refers to, and indeed, you can see her in her prime in another photo (right) taken with her father, who died in 1990. In those days she was a prominent London socialite with a couple of marriages behind her, but recently she has been living in the north-eastern United States where she set up house, near her mother, with some stray animals she rescued.

In the recent photo they have her posed with a Rosary in her hand outside a church. But for the past month or so she has been living at the Regina Laudis Abbey in Bethlehem, Connecticut, home of the Benedictine order that she is the process of entering. Helping the Lady Abbess clean the chapel with a mop and pail, making butter, spinning yarn, keeping to a daily schedule of prayer is a far cry from hobnobbing with the rich and famous as she has done for much of her life, but, she says, “It is saving my life.”

It is an extraordinary turnaround, and it is not surprising that some of those who know her are sceptical. After all, her third marriage broke up because she came under the spell of a charismatic female Indian guru. All the same, there is something about the way she speaks in this interview that suggests this woman has found the answer to her lifelong search for inner peace.

‘They want to be sure that I am becoming a nun because I really, really, really love God, and they want me to prove that I can contribute to the abbey, that it isn’t just an escape.
‘Of course it isn’t,’ she adds, citing a moment of divine inspiration. ‘I had an enormous God experience as the nuns sang Vespers.
I felt as if a boulder had been pushed off my heart and it was open to joy.’
“If I wanted to escape,” she says, “I could do coke. But I don’t want to escape. I want redemption.”

Let’s just say, it’s hopeful.
Why her life has been so chaotic can be partly explained by a few biographical facts. As a child she saw her baby brother Theo hit by a taxi and left brain-damaged. Two years later her youngest sister Olivia caught measles and died. When she was nine, her mother had a stroke and the next few years revolved around her recovery. At 14 she discovered her father was conducting an affair with her mother’s best friend. She kept their secret for four years, and when she finally told Patricia, “she went insane.” They gave her bad advice:

‘I was 15 when Mummy encouraged me to become an actress. I was allowed to leave school to make a thoroughly unfitting film, Run Stranger, Run. I played a nymphomaniac murderess.
‘I started going out with older men. Dad had told me there was no point in having affairs unless it was with someone who was very famous and talented.’

In fact, at the time of her first marriage Tessa was 19 and her husband was 37.
Her father was unhelpful in another way too. She says that he “had no belief. He was frightened of feelings, of emotions, of God,” whereas she has always had a spiritual side (hence the Indian guru). But it was her mother who first found her way to Regina Laudis, after her marriage with Roald finally broke up in 1983. Patricia did not enter the order but spent more and more time at the abbey, underwent a religious conversion (presumably to the Catholic faith) and was cared for there in the final months before she died of lung cancer in August this year. Both the loss of her mother and a breach with daughter Sophie have propelled Tessa towards the monastic life.

She has a lot to regret in her life: the broken marriages, the rough ride she has given her four children, the alcohol and drug abuse that has made her a liability for her family, and her estrangement from them. In 1999 she made a suicide attempt and still has depression to battle. She currently depends on nine prescription drugs, AA meetings and intensive counselling for sanity and sobriety.


But she has hope, and I can’t help comparing her good fortune with dark despair that drove Mark Madoff to take his own life recently. The disgrace that has enveloped the prominent New York family over the Madoff business Ponzi scheme and the father’s imprisonment, as well as the possibility of criminal charges against other members of the family, must be among the hardest things in the world to bear.

Retirement to a monastery was not among Mark Madoff’s options, nor is it for the vast majority of people looking for inner peace. But what the monastery stands for -- faith and redemption -- is available to everyone. That is the meaning of Christmas, if people could only see it. And as Tessa Dahl has discovered, there really isn’t anything else solid enough to base your life on. Good luck to her.

Carolyn Moynihan is deputy editor of MercatorNet

This article is published by Carolyn Moynihan, and MercatorNet.com under a Creative Commons licence. You may republish it or translate it free of charge with attribution for non-commercial purposes following these guidelines. If you teach at a university we ask that your department make a donation. Commercial media must contact us for permission and fees. Some articles on this site are published under different terms.

Perseverance in Prayer - St. Alphonsus Liguori

Sermons of St. Alphonsus Liguori--SERMON XXVI

14. Men feel annoyed at being frequently and importunately asked for a favor. But God exhorts us to pray frequently; and, instead of being dissatisfied, He is pleased with those who repeatedly ask his graces. Cornelius a Lapide says, that "God wishes us to persevere in prayer, even to importunity"—in LUG.,cap. xi. St. Jerome says: "This importunity with the Lord ig seasonable"—in Luc. xi. That God is pleased with frequent and persevering prayer, may be inferred from the words of Jesus Christ—"Ask, and it shall be given, you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you"—Luke, xi. 9. It was not enough to have said ask; but he added, seek, knock; in order to show, that, during our whole lives, we should be as importunate in supplicating, the divine graces, as beggars are in asking alms. Though they should be refused, they do not cease to cry out, or to knock at the door; they persist in asking relief till they obtain it.

15. If, then, we wish to obtain from God the gift of perseverance, we must ask him for it continually and with importunity. We must ask it when we rise in the morning, in our meditations, in hearing Mass, in our visits to the blessed sacrament, in going to bed at night, and particularly when we are tempted by the Devil to commit any sin. Thus, we must always have our mouths open praying to God, and saying: Lord, assist me; give me light; give me strength; keep thy hand upon me, and do not abandon me. We must do violence to the Lord. " Such violence ", says Tertullian, "is agreeable to God". The violence which we offer to God by repeated prayers does not offend him: on the contrary, it is pleasing and acceptable in his sight. " Prayer", according to St. John Climacus, " piously offers violence to God" Our supplications compel him, but in a manner grateful to him. He takesgreat complacency in seeing his mother honoured, and therefore wishes, as St. Bernard says, that all the graces we receive should pass through her hands. Hence the holy doctor exhorts us, " to seek grace, and to seek it through Mary, because she is a mother, and her prayer cannot be fruitless "—de A qiiced. When we ask her to obtain any grace for us, she graciously hears our petitions and prays for us: and the prayers of Mary are never rejected.