Dear Brother,

I am contacting you because I have tried not to give up on someone, but he is getting worse, and it is tempting to simply give up. I sorted out my own problems as follows - for about a year and a half, I behaved like an idiot - I strayed from the Church, and found out the hard way why it is a mortal sin to miss even a week of Mass.

The Old Testament warns of the punishment we will attract if we worship false gods, and that is just what happened to me. I bowed down to Krishna and the rest, and my life became unbearable - I know the Lord put me through torment to bring me back to where I would be happy. It worked, and I am doing my best spiritually. A priest forced me to be brutally honest about things I needed to get rid of, gifts, necklaces, pictures and so on from those days. I cleared out, he blessed my home, and I have filled it with holy Catholic things. These days I smile and laugh so much more, I have more energy and hope.

A young man a few doors down from me seems to be possessed. He makes demonic signs with his hands, speaks in more than one voice at once, growls like an animal, and his face turns monstrous (not human). He was the very one who shouted at me to return to the Church, and he tells me I must do better. I AM TRYING. I feel he is looking at the specks in my eyes that I am trying to remove, not thinking of the planks in his own eyes.

I pointed out to him that I hate how he is always taking the Lord's name in vain, everything is JC, and OMG, his home is filled with Eastern gods such as Buddhas and Hindu gods (from travels in the East), and his excuse is that he does not worship them. They can still lead to possession though, same as a picture of Lucifer could even if the person did not worship him.

I am a vegetarian, which I know can be dangerous for Christians, leading to Eastern faiths, but I am a Christian vegetarian. I am not the wishy-washy type who loves animals more than people. He got furious with me because he asked if I could choose which of the two should die - a person or a rhinoceros - I said a rhinoceros. I explained that I love all of the Lord's creation, people and animals alike, but that mankind is at the top of the food chain, and would have to be the one shown preference. He threw me out of his place, and made out that I am terrible for feeling that way. Ironically, for someone who feels that strongly, he is not a vegetarian.

He is extremely slack about Mass attendance, but I have managed to get him to Confession, and Mass occasionally. He seems incapable of receiving Communion (a sign of possession), and to my horror, once put the Host in his pocket. A priest saw him doing it, and snapped at him to give it to him. (He tried to be respectful in asking for it back, but could not really hide his anger.) I was absolutely shocked. Underneath it all he is a potentially nice Catholic person. Please pray for him - I have.

Thanks,
Cassiel