April 16, 1977

TO EXORCISE: THE MOST DIRECT ACTION OF PASTORAL PRACTICE

Write, my son:

I want to give you some norms that you should now know, and that you should observe:

1.- Why do not blessings produce the result and effect that they have the power of producing? What are the reasons?

It is clear and evident that he who bestows the blessing, should be in the grace of God; he should be a person of great faith and solid Christian piety, and also the one who asks for it, or for whom it is asked, should be in the grace of God.

2.- It is necessary to isolate the person who will be blessed from all other persons who presumably are not of well-known Christian piety; to isolate him from the curious, and from all those who do riot participate in the exorcism with prayer, or with the offering of their own suffering.

3.- Proud, presumptuous persons who are present, are of no use to the one blessing; rather they impede it, greatly strengthening the presence and power of the enemy.

4.- He who blesses should be extremely prudent and sagacious; the adversary does everything to distract him, to make him tired, to exhaust him; in addition, it should not be forgotten that the demon is pride, hatred and division; and therefore if he encounters humility, love, modesty and circumspection, he releases his prey.

5.- He who blesses should prepare himself beforehand, with prayer, and should ask prayers of good and pious persons.

6.- It is not prudent, for the one who blesses, to start a dialogue, except in rare and special cases.

7.- Not all those possessed by evil spirits, are so in equal measure; there are spirits who are of different degrees of intelligence, of strength of will, and of power of conspiracy.

8.- There are certain demons who can be defeated and cast out, only by holy exorcists, by holy ones, truly holy.

9.- It is always both a wise and prudent norm, to immunize oneself before beginning, the blessing, making at least three signs of the Cross upon oneself, or even better, making an exorcism upon oneself.

10.- If every pastoral action should tend to snatch souls from Satan and from hell, to bring them and give them again to God, (since this is the only purpose for which the heavenly Father sent his only Son to be sacrificed on the Cross), it is then clear and evident that the exorcist performs the most direct action of pastoral practice against the obscure forces of evil; he who blesses or exorcises may be compared to a soldier who is not limited to performing defensive tasks, but who bravely attacks the enemy, who is entrenched in his fortress. He who exorcises is a strong and brave soldier who confronts the enemy in a fight body to body; he undertakes a duel that exposes him to the anger of the enemy, to the vengeance of the enemy; in like manner, all brave and heroic actions are always linked to a risk.

11.- Woe to the presumptuous and superficial exorcist, who is taken when he is spiritually unprepared!

He is like one in the conditions of a combatant unprepared and disarmed, facing an enemy who is stronger than he is, more experienced and better prepared; the result of such an unfortunate confrontation is almost certain. The wise and sagacious exorcist will never confront his enemy, if he does not have the certain conscience of finding himself in good spiritual condition.

12.- Even when an exorcist knows that he finds himself in the presence of an enemy more experienced, stronger and more powerful by nature, he rarely knows his rank and his personal prerogatives.

13.- The one who is invaded, subjected or possessed, (there are different degrees), should contribute to the action of the one blessing by sincere acts of humility, of repentance; by these acts he seeks to annul the things or actions that brought the power of the enemy upon him.

14.- I repeat, son, that it is a wise norm to isolate the one being exorcised, in order to counteract the diabolical cunning of the darksome powers of evil, that always seek friends and collaborators, and all those who are in mortal sin are such for them; in this manner they form a barrier around the possessed one, a barrier that strongly impedes and at times annuls the action of the exorcist, above all if the exorcist is not in ideal conditions for a good battle.

For this reason it often happens that the very ones who request the intervention of the exorcist for a person they want to help, are themselves the ones who impede and at times annul the work of the one giving the blessing.

15.- All actions that you priests and good laymen accomplish for good, these beings perform for evil.

16.- Why, my son, did I want to tell you these things? Why did I want to give you these norms? So that they may have a more exact idea of the battle taking place, so that the priests and good laymen who bless may always be better prepared and ready for this pastoral activity, in comparison to which every other activity has a marginal aspect.

17.- It would be an excellent thing if Fr. P. and his friends, when they re-edit the booklet of blessings, would include these norms, which in the regenerated Church should be known by everyone.

I bless you, son, and with Me my most holy Mother blesses you. With you we bless all holy priests who live in harmony and consistency with my Gospel and all the good laymen, who bravely join with these holy priests, for the triumph of my kingdom in souls.