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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
Family Photos	Jessy	Thursday, January 31, 2013
Question: Dear Brother Ignatius, Thank you for all you do for us. If I don't know where one of my family members ended up: Heaven, Purgatory or Hell, would I be obliged to hang onto their photo of them? This family member was an abuser of several family members. Should I hunt down all the photos of this person and do the Procedure to Destroy Occultic or Cursed Objects? I had a piece of furniture from the abuser that I burned years ago(after being in my house for several years) and did not follow any procedure. The thought just came to me to burn it. Now I am thinking what should I do with the photos? The photos are buried in albums, not on my walls. I want to keep my house 'clean' of any negativity. I did have a healing mass done for our family in January. (Two of my kids have medical issues) I want to do all I can to get rid of any negativity. Then it is in my mind that even though this person abused many family members (my sister committed suicide many years later, probably a result of the abuse) this person was basically a good person in the sight of others. I am not sure if the negativity from these buried photos caused my kids to have medical issues or not. It could be just God's will. Thank you for your answer.
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OMSM(r) Dear Jessy: I am sorry to hear about the abuse you suffered. We will be praying for you. You are never required to hang anyone's photo on your wall or keep any picture in an album or box or whatever. If you wish destroy pictures of your abusers, anything else that belonged to your abusers, there is no special procedure you need to follow. Just throw them away. It is never God's will that anyone be sick or abused. Sickness comes mostly from the fact that we live in a fallen world. It is just a fact of life. We get infections, contract diseases, inherit medical conditions, and such because that is what happens in this world. There is rarely any significance to our illness than that. With that said, it is also a fact of this world that we must suffer from other people's sins. The consequences from other people's sins can be medical, psychological, or in many other ways. I am sorry to hear about your sister. God loves her and understands her anguish. We will pray for her. Know that God will have mercy upon her soul. But, Jessy, the number one thing that you need to do in order to remove any negativity from your home and to have peace and healing in your soul, is that you must forgive your abusers. Unforgiveness can jeopardize your soul. I know this is hard, but most people find it hard because they do not really understand what forgiveness is about. It is really not about the person who hurt you, it is about you. It is about putting the past in the past and getting on with your life. It is about not allowing the abuser to continue to intrude into your life, which is what you allow when you do not break the connection with the abuser. That connection is broken not so much by destroying pictures and things that belonged to the abuser, but by destroying the negative bond created by unforgiveness. We have a pamphlet to help you understand this, Dealing with Bitterness and Unforgiveness. For example, if you see your abuser walking down the street, you can cross the street to avoid him and still forgive him. You can change your telephone number, move to a different address to avoid him, have nothing to do with him, and, though we are not to hate anyone, we can dislike him, and still forgive him. The pamphlet talks about this and much more. The bottomline is that forgiveness is not emotion. It is a decision of will. You can decide to forgive right now, today, this minute. While the emotions may take a while, even years, to heal, that healing cannot even begin until we make the decision to forgive. We are praying for you. 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

Family Photos

Jessy

Thursday, January 31, 2013

Question:

Dear Brother Ignatius,

Thank you for all you do for us.

If I don't know where one of my family members ended up: Heaven, Purgatory or Hell, would I be obliged to hang onto their photo of them? This family member was an abuser of several family members. Should I hunt down all the photos of this person and do the Procedure to Destroy Occultic or Cursed Objects? I had a piece of furniture from the abuser that I burned years ago(after being in my house for several years) and did not follow any procedure. The thought just came to me to burn it. Now I am thinking what should I do with the photos? The photos are buried in albums, not on my walls. I want to keep my house 'clean' of any negativity. I did have a healing mass done for our family in January. (Two of my kids have medical issues) I want to do all I can to get rid of any negativity. Then it is in my mind that even though this person abused many family members (my sister committed suicide many years later, probably a result of the abuse) this person was basically a good person in the sight of others. I am not sure if the negativity from these buried photos caused my kids to have medical issues or not. It could be just God's will. Thank you for your answer.

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OMSM(r)

Dear Jessy:

I am sorry to hear about the abuse you suffered. We will be praying for you.

You are never required to hang anyone's photo on your wall or keep any picture in an album or box or whatever. If you wish destroy pictures of your abusers, anything else that belonged to your abusers, there is no special procedure you need to follow. Just throw them away.

It is never God's will that anyone be sick or abused. Sickness comes mostly from the fact that we live in a fallen world. It is just a fact of life. We get infections, contract diseases, inherit medical conditions, and such because that is what happens in this world. There is rarely any significance to our illness than that.

With that said, it is also a fact of this world that we must suffer from other people's sins. The consequences from other people's sins can be medical, psychological, or in many other ways. I am sorry to hear about your sister. God loves her and understands her anguish. We will pray for her. Know that God will have mercy upon her soul.

But, Jessy, the number one thing that you need to do in order to remove any negativity from your home and to have peace and healing in your soul, is that you must forgive your abusers. Unforgiveness can jeopardize your soul.

I know this is hard, but most people find it hard because they do not really understand what forgiveness is about. It is really not about the person who hurt you, it is about you. It is about putting the past in the past and getting on with your life. It is about not allowing the abuser to continue to intrude into your life, which is what you allow when you do not break the connection with the abuser. That connection is broken not so much by destroying pictures and things that belonged to the abuser, but by destroying the negative bond created by unforgiveness.

We have a pamphlet to help you understand this, Dealing with Bitterness and Unforgiveness. For example, if you see your abuser walking down the street, you can cross the street to avoid him and still forgive him. You can change your telephone number, move to a different address to avoid him, have nothing to do with him, and, though we are not to hate anyone, we can dislike him, and still forgive him. The pamphlet talks about this and much more.

The bottomline is that forgiveness is not emotion. It is a decision of will. You can decide to forgive right now, today, this minute. While the emotions may take a while, even years, to heal, that healing cannot even begin until we make the decision to forgive.

We are praying for you.

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.