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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
Sacrament of the Sick for Opressed/Obsessed	Maria	Friday, May 14, 2010
Question: Hello. If a person's priest tells them that they are oppressed/obsessed by the father of lies... but that they're not possessed and hence cannot have the rite of Exorcism, is this OK? In Father Amorth's book, he uses the Rite diagnostically... The person has had these problems for months... ever since they came back to Faith... When the person first reported it to the priest, the priest used a prayer from the RCIA book... During the prayer, the person became minimally aware of the surroundings and the prayer and had an impulse to curse at the priest but did not do so outloud. The problems got worse over time. Recently, the priest offered the Sacrament of the Sick. The person was not happy about this and became frightened... and said no. Then the priest offered to bless the person (not exorcism; just a regular priestly blessing) and the person became more frightened and said no... but then submitted when she saw the hurt expression on the priest. The priest does not offer to bless the person now. What should a person with these problems be doing? What should their priest-spiritual director be doing with them to help them? How can a person know if they are in good hands with a certain priest?
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM Dear Maria: The Rite of Exorcism is performed only on those who have been determined possessed. The Rite is not used on those with lessor forms of demonization. Thus, the priest is correct that the Rite of Exorcism will not be used unless the person is possessed. I am not sure what you mean by Fr. Amorth using the Rite diagnostically. Perhaps you mean the instructions to the Rite that give symptoms to look for in determining when a person is possessed. Given your description it is possible that the person in question is demonized, even though not possessed perhaps. In that case, the person needs to contact a Deliverance team such as ours. We are not taking any new clients until next October. If this person wants help he can submit a Help Request at that time. In the meantime he should follow our Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance linked below. In addition you can certainly use prayers found in the Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog also linked below to pray for him. Under no circumstances, however, should you, or any other non-trained person, try to do a deliverance upon this person. There is no problem with the person receiving the Sacrament of the Sick if he is in danger of death. The Sacrament is not suppose to be given, however, to someone just because they are sick, is not to be repeated unless the person recovers and becomes dangerous ill again, and is not to be given to those who "obstinately persist in a manifestly grave sin." (CIC 1004-1007) We will be in prayer for him. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

Sacrament of the Sick for Opressed/Obsessed

Maria

Friday, May 14, 2010

Question:

Hello.

If a person's priest tells them that they are oppressed/obsessed by the father of lies... but that they're not possessed and hence cannot have the rite of Exorcism, is this OK? In Father Amorth's book, he uses the Rite diagnostically...

The person has had these problems for months... ever since they came back to Faith... When the person first reported it to the priest, the priest used a prayer from the RCIA book... During the prayer, the person became minimally aware of the surroundings and the prayer and had an impulse to curse at the priest but did not do so outloud. The problems got worse over time. Recently, the priest offered the Sacrament of the Sick. The person was not happy about this and became frightened... and said no. Then the priest offered to bless the person (not exorcism; just a regular priestly blessing) and the person became more frightened and said no... but then submitted when she saw the hurt expression on the priest. The priest does not offer to bless the person now.

What should a person with these problems be doing? What should their priest-spiritual director be doing with them to help them? How can a person know if they are in good hands with a certain priest?

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM

Dear Maria:

The Rite of Exorcism is performed only on those who have been determined possessed. The Rite is not used on those with lessor forms of demonization. Thus, the priest is correct that the Rite of Exorcism will not be used unless the person is possessed.

I am not sure what you mean by Fr. Amorth using the Rite diagnostically. Perhaps you mean the instructions to the Rite that give symptoms to look for in determining when a person is possessed.

Given your description it is possible that the person in question is demonized, even though not possessed perhaps. In that case, the person needs to contact a Deliverance team such as ours.

We are not taking any new clients until next October. If this person wants help he can submit a Help Request at that time.

In the meantime he should follow our Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance linked below. In addition you can certainly use prayers found in the Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog also linked below to pray for him. Under no circumstances, however, should you, or any other non-trained person, try to do a deliverance upon this person.

There is no problem with the person receiving the Sacrament of the Sick if he is in danger of death. The Sacrament is not suppose to be given, however, to someone just because they are sick, is not to be repeated unless the person recovers and becomes dangerous ill again, and is not to be given to those who "obstinately persist in a manifestly grave sin." (CIC 1004-1007)

We will be in prayer for him.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.