Dear Marielle:

There is a story in the Bible of a child possessed -- Mark 9:17-27. Children can be possessed, though we do not know how old this child was in the story.

We do know that innocent people can be possessed. The story of Begone Satan, the most famous case of exorcism, is a case of an innocent sixteen year old possessed.

Theoretically, perhaps an infant can be possessed, but this would be most likely the effect of Satanists parents who deliberately offered up the child to Satan (similar to what happened to the 16 year old cursed by her own father in the case of "Begone Satan").

This is very rare.

What is far more likely is for infants to be disturbed by demons, frightening them, causing them to cry and such. I have seen this happen, or suspected it happening, once in a Mass where suddenly all the babies started crying at the same time in ways that were unusual. We have cases all the time where one's baby seems to be harassed. Once blessing the child and playing sacred music in the child's bedroom, the child sleeps soundly.

I recommend the CD, Sleep Sound in Jesus by Michael Card for this purpose. Gregorian Chants can work for this too. Play the music softly all night long with the volume low enough as to not disturb sleep.

This music is not only effective in keeping these harassing demons away for little children, but also for adults. If the music is played in the house all day long, again with volume low enough to blend in the background and not disturb normal activities, there is a tendency for any tensions in the house caused by harassing demons to dissipate.

So the answer is yes, infants can be possessed, but that extremely rare and will be a result of specific evil actions on the part of the parents. In the norm, however, demons can disturb the peace of a child, even an infant.

Children need to beware. It is not uncommon for kids, especially around 11-14 to dabble in occult things like Ouija Boards, table-tilting, tarot cards, pendulums, or even conjuring in the so-called, "Bloody Mary" legend, a subject I just address in a previous post. These are not games. They are dangerous and open up the kids for demonic harassments or worse. The fact that "nothing seemed to happen" at the time, does not mean nothing happened. The effects of this may not present themselves until years later. These games open a door, demons attach themselves and lay dormant for years until the time is write, or quietly and softly influence the child through out the years.

This dangerous behavior is fueled by the child wondering who they will marry, or who will be their girlfriend or boyfriend, whether they will be rich, etc. etc. The old saying the "curiosity kills the cat" is very true. Trying to seek out this future information is called divination, which is an abomination to God and expressing forbidden by the Bible in Deuteronomy 18:10-12. The Catechism states:

Divination and magic

2115 God can reveal the future to his prophets or to other saints. Still, a sound Christian attitude consists in putting oneself confidently into the hands of Providence for whatever concerns the future, and giving up all unhealthy curiosity about it. Improvidence, however, can constitute a lack of responsibility.

2116 All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to "unveil" the future.⁴⁸ Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.

2117 All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one's service and have a supernatural power over others - even if this were for the sake of restoring their health - are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion. These practices are even more to be condemned when accompanied by the intention of harming someone, or when they have recourse to the intervention of demons. Wearing charms is also reprehensible. Spiritism often implies divination or magical practices; the Church for her part warns the faithful against it. Recourse to so-called traditional cures does not justify either the invocation of evil powers or the exploitation of another's credulity.

Tell your kids that if the play with, or even flirt with fire they WILL get burnt.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary