Your home is supposed to be your castle, and as such it needs protection. While we live in a society that largely discounts the existence of evil spirits, there is no doubt they exist -- and that from time to time they afflict all our homes if we don't take the proper spiritual measures.
How do we know if we are afflicted? Through prayer, of course: when we pray we're sensitized and we can ask the Lord to warn us if there is an evil spirit. We know there is affliction if there are strange noises or shadows or if we are suddenly overcome by negative emotions when we arrive home or enter a specific room. We know there is darkness when all of a sudden everything seems to go wrong: when there is depression or oppression; when there is division; when there are suddenly intense arguments, often for no reason. An evil spirit can cause everything from insomnia and general malaise to serious illness. "The presence of evil is manifested by physical discomfort; insomnia, headaches, or stomachaches; or a general malaise that happens in that particular place and nowhere else," writes Father Gabriele Amorth, Rome's official exorcist, in a powerful book we highly recommend and in our bookstore, An Exorcist Tells His Story
If time after time we experience a swing of emotion on entering a locale, we need to pray to discern the situation. This is not to say that every depressed mood and every argument comes from a demon. But it is to say that such spirits trouble us more than we know -- and that they often attach themselves to a residence.
How does this happen? How does evil lay claim to a house?
There is the obvious: the evil that comes when we sin (when our homes are used for acts that contravene moral teaching, especially by way of drugs, homosexuality, or prostitution), or if the occult has been practiced in a home (astrology, Tarot cards, Ouija boards, seances, numerology, crystals). But spirits can also infiltrate more subtly. They can come from the books we have, or the programs and movies we watch, or what we do on a computer. They can come with those who have spirits attached to them. They can come with heavy-metal posters that are hanging in our kids' rooms. Just as a holy book, picture, or statue brings a blessing, so does a dark item bring oppression.
In short, there are countless ways that evil enters. Sometimes it comes as a mere test. Sometimes there is no explanation. But there is always a solution. The solution is the Name Jesus, and in His Name, all evil, however strong or weak, must leave. It's a matter of invoking His Name in the right way, and often a matter of persistence. When we feel a dark cloud over our homes, we need to start with the sacramentals. Get an abundant supply of Holy Water, and then pray as you sprinkle some in every room (from basement to top floors and even the attic).
Fill your homes with prayer and evil must leave and pray to fill it with angels.
Even if your home is not specially afflicted, this should be done on a regular basis, at least weekly in these times when evil is so rampant. It only takes a few minutes. There is also Blessed Salt, which is as powerful as Holy Water. Have a priest bless salt in a plastic bag just as he would Holy Water (it is an official sacramental), and use this also -- especially in stubborn cases. In such instances, having a Mass said in a home can lift an oppression. Father Pellegrino Ernetti, the most well-known exorcist in the Venice area (also famous as a biblical and music scholar) has advised those in strong cases "to mix in a cup or glass exorcised water, oil, and salt; then every evening, to pour a teaspoon of the mixture on the ledge of every window and at the threshold of every door, praying the Our Father while doing it," according to Father Amorth's book.
The Rome exorcist has written a follow-up that we also recommend, An Exorcist, More Stories. Blessed Salt, he says has the "specific function" to "protect places from an evil presence or influence." (We'll be carrying articles on Blessed Salt in the future.)
Is this all hokum? Is this what critics of Catholic practices, or the modernists, would call paranoia or superstition?
Naturally, we have to have balance. We can't get too swept up in watching for demons. Our eyes are to be trained upward! But it is true. We saw a case ourselves recently whereby a person who was involved with a very questionable situation was coming to our home and we blessed the entrance with Holy Water -- with the specific prayer that no evil spirit would be able to follow this person in.
At the end of the evening, when this person was ready to leave, and a prayer was in progress, suddenly there was a loud disturbance just outside the front door -- the wind kicking up in a way that startled and surprised everyone -- and a Christmas angel out front was knocked over, right at the threshold (as if whatever was around was angry because it couldn't get in).
Coincidence?
We don't think so. We think instead that these days, with so much darkness, every threshold could use a blessing.
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