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Can one pray to the devil by thinking it? Luke Monday, February 1, 2010

Question:

Firstly, I would like to compliment you on your no-nonsense approach and the clear way in which you answer questions!

Now, regarding my question, I would like to start by giving a bit of background. Back in secondary school (when I was about 10 years old), during religion class, a student asked the teacher whether it was true that it is true that some people pray to the devil, to which the teacher replied, that "yes, and the devil grants them whatever they pray for, but..." and went on to describe how bad it is to do so. Unfortunately, that sentence remained impressed in my mind and I thought I might give it a try in exceptional circumstances, and within the next couple of years I came pretty close to actually praying to the devil, but I managed to stop just short of doing so. It took me a couple of years to realise just how serious that sin and its repercussions are.

Fast forward to the present day, and the problem is that sometimes thoughts of prayers to the devil pass through my mind. What I mean is, just like you can mentally recite prayers or mentally think of certain words, well sometimes when I want something, these thoughts of praying to the devil for it pass through my mind. I know it's wrong and I definitely don't want to pray to the devil, but the thought (which only takes a split second to happen and is then gone immediately) still passes through my mind. It's a bit difficult to describe exactly what this "thought" is like, it's more like a "feeling" than a concrete thought.

Anyway, ordinarily I wouldn't be concerned, but when I do have these thoughts the things they concern sometimes actually happen. For example, yesterday I was expecting an important email to arrive, and I prayed to God for it to arrive that day, and I checked several times but it didn't arrive. Today, I was about to check my mail and I got that "feeling" to pray to the devil for it to be there. I obviously resisted the thoughts, and I recited a prayer of renouncing the occult, but when I checked my inbox, the email was there. Another time for example I was watching the World Cup, I had a thought about praying for a certain team to win, and seconds later, the team won. Other times I would be expecting a package to arrive and on the day I think about praying for it, it arrives on that day.

I've found the best way to stop these thoughts is to not get overly stressed about the outcome of anything (stress makes the thoughts more likely to occur). Not thinking about these also helps, but psychologically the harder one tries NOT to think about something, the more likely one is to think of it.

So, what is your take on all this?

Also, I have these specific questions:
1. Is it actually possible to pray to the devil just by thinking it?
2. Are the things happening my way just by coincidence, or could the thoughts be related?
3. Are these thoughts sinful even though I reject them and want to be rid of them?

Feel free to ask if I've left any important details out.
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM

Dear Luke:

Prayer is an act of intentional volition. You are not wanting these thoughts, they pop into your head without you willing them. Thus, you cannot be held accountable for them, unless you ruminate upon them and accept them. Otherwise they can pop in and pop out and no sin is committed.

Nevertheless, such thoughts are disturbing. The Bible tells us to "take every thought captive to obey Christ" (2 Cor 10:5). But how do we do that?

You are already doing the right thing about not getting overly stressed about this.

In addition, you will find in our Spiritual Warfare Catalog, linked below, we have a Prayer to Control Thoughts. Pray that prayer each time you have one of these thoughts.

St. Paul also has a remedy for thoughts:

Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Phil 4:6-8)

Ask God to remove these unwanted thoughts and give you only thoughts pleasing to Him. Think upon that which is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, gracious, excellent, and worthy.

You can turn around these thoughts by each time you have them pop into your head, you immediately counter that thought with what it pure and pleasing to God -- such as quoting the second paragraph of the Scripture above.

So, instead of considering this a problem, think of it as an opportunity to praise God. By the way, when having unwanted thoughts a quick and easy counter to them is to say, "Praise God. Thank you for your love" or "Hail Mary".

As for your list of things that seemed to come true, those are coincidence. They would be coincidence if you were praying to God about them. In fact, they are classic textbook examples of coincidence.

Remember, prayer is an intentional act, not an unwanted thought that pops into your head.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

 

 
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