November 2nd is All Souls’ Day.

All Souls’ Day

This observances began in a monastery in the sixth century; by the tenth century, it had spread to other dioceses. The date selected to celebrate All Souls’ Day on November 2nd was established by Saint Odilo of Cluny,
France in 998 A.D.  By the 13th century this standardized date was adopted by Rome.

What The Bible Says About Purgatory

Purgatory is a theological concept. If you attend Mass you are familiar with the prayers of the faithful. We offer Masses for individuals who have departed. Personally, I have offered Masses for those who have passed. It is also important to continue to pray for the repose of their souls. Taking this practice to heart, my prayers continue for those for whom I am interceding for until the Lord releases me.

“Oh you Catholics and your beliefs, show me where Purgatory is in the Bible.” Since the word Purgatory does not appear in the Scriptures,  this concept is not easily understood.

Purgatory is a place of final purification. This process is painful and may involve discomfort. We on earth can assist those going through this final testing.

Jesus Paid The Price 

Understanding that our Lord Jesus Christ paid the price in life, death and resurrection is crucial. But we, by nature, are sinners and, even if we are in the state of grace, our temporal sins hover over our spirits. The process of God extending His grace to those who are in the state of grace has attachments. Anger, sin  and the lack of charity are all temporal acts for which we will suffer consequences. We cannot be so arrogant as to believe that we are going directly to heaven without first being purified.

A few years ago a sweet family moved into our neighborhood. Both parents were on the police force, so this made my heart glad and I felt safer. At the time this couple had two sons but when they settled into their newly remodeled home, strange things started to happen.

Old Neighbors

We have been in our home for almost 40 years; we are the second owners. In our neighbors’ home this family had a grandmother living with them. Later their grandmother drowned in the family’s backyard pool.

Then this family sold their home to a couple with a young son. This couple was eccentric and many of the neighbors had reservations about them because they were doing all this work around their home yet it showed no improvement.  They occupied the home for 15 years until this new family moved in.

The Unsettled Spirit

When this new couple moved in, they remodeled the entire home. They made their home like new. Imagine all the finances they had invested only to find out that something was not right. The boys shared a room together and many times they would wake up screaming in fear. The ceiling fans ran wildly at high speed in several rooms of the home. The couple reached out to our neighbor, so when she shared their story I gave them holy water from Lourdes. That spirit did not leave until Father Leonard Mary prayed over their home.

The Prayer

Father Leonard asked me if I wanted to go upstairs to pray, but we all know the answer to that: “No, thank you.” As Father Leonard and the owner of the home went upstairs, he said that there was something definitely there. Father Leonard felt that the grandmother’s spirit was in Purgatory and she needed prayers to be released into heaven. Since the prayers this family now lives in peace.

¹² Now if anyone builds on that foundation with gold, silver, and precious stones, or with wood, hay, and straw, ¹³ the work of each person will come to light. For the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the worth of each person’s work ¹⁴ If what has been built survives, the builder will be rewarded. ¹⁵ If it burns down, that person will suffer loss. The person will be saved, though only by passing through fire.

Visiting Our Loved Ones

So the next time you pass a cemetery, pray for the souls who have no one to pray for them. Mike and I are planning to visit the gravesites of both of his parents and also my brother Robert. We will pray for the repose of their souls and leave flowers.

Eternal Rest Prayer

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,

and let perpetual light shine upon them.

May they rest in peace. Amen.

 

My Prayer

Dear Jesus, We will never forget those who have departed. Lord, open heaven’s gates to receive these souls. Lord, purify us and prepare us for our homecoming. Amen.

Traveling to Santa Barbara almost every week is arduous.

The Christmas Gift

Using the Fitbit app for over ten years has always kept me conscious of how many steps I take in a day. I loved competing with other friends on Fitbit, but when Google purchased it, everything changed. We could no longer compete. Believe it or not, I lost the incentive to exercise.

With Christmas around the corner, guess what I received from Mike? My apple watch has all these new features; when I accidentally tripped and fell, it wanted to know if an ambulance was needed. I started walking again because this smart watch recorded all my steps.

The First Mistake

The generic band on my new watch was navy blue; it did not have style.  The introverted watchband did not match my personality. So when Mike asked what I wanted for Mother’s Day, I showed him a brochure from Brighton. There it was, a beautifully designed,  two-toned, gold and silver band. It was as if it had been made especially for me.

The new band was easily adjustable because it had snap-on parts. This posed a problem because it was difficult to remove and sometimes several of the snap-on parts would fall to the floor. Losing trust for an inanimate object may sound strange, but I was afraid that the watch would fall off. This band had a mind of its own; sometimes it would take me more than five minutes before I could hear the click. I told Mike that I was going to return the watchband.

The Football Game

Lucas had a football game the day before we left for Santa Barbara. That morning I put on the watch, but it refused to click shut. In frustration, I wore it anyway. Our daughter Sonja asked me to pick  up Jacob and take him to the game. I did not remember if I rode back with Sonja or if I came home with Mike.

The Missing Watch

When traveling to Santa Barbara we get up at 4:30 a.m. to miss the Los Angeles traffic. Many times this early-bird method works, but sometimes we get caught in the tangled freeways of L.A.  In the usual fashion, I was running around making sure that everything on my list was packed.

The charger that I use for my Apple watch and phone always makes the trip. But this particular morning I could not find my watch. Going to bed after eleven does not help in these matters because sometimes I’m so tired that I forget to charge my watch. When I discovered that the watch was missing, the only thing that I could think was that I misplaced it around the home. We left, but in the back of my head I thought that it was probably under the bed or another obscure place in the house. “I’ll find it when I get back.”

The Infamous Ping

The watch was nowhere to be found. Describing this story to our Pilates instructor Dori, she quickly shared, “You know you can track your watch on your phone.” This was encouraging news, so when I got home, sure enough, I found the elusive watch! One problem, it last pinged at Sonja’s neighbors’ house. I quickly called Sonja and told her that her neighbors had my watch and that I was going to get it. “Mom, I’m at work, please don’t do that, have Russ go over after work.” No, I was going to get to the bottom of this on my own.

Detective Lynda

Without a second thought or praying, I went straight to the address. I had to knock on the door pretty hard before a woman and a cherub-faced young man opened the door. “Excuse me, but I lost my watch and it’s showing on my phone that it’s pinging here. The woman spoke broken English, and every time she spoke her son would tell her to be quiet.

At one point I spoke to her in Spanish and asked her son to let her talk. This went on for a few minutes. I believed the kind lady but her son’s behavior was odd. Why did he keep telling her to be quiet? After several minutes I told them that I was going to get the police involved.

Orange Police Department

I know the number by heart, not because I always call them, it’s an easy number. The Police instructed me to wait at my daughter’s house. It was a surprise to see two police cars for such a trivial matter. I showed the officers the proof that the watch last pinged in the vacinity of their home. One officer said that it could be in the radius of 20 feet.

At this point, I felt pretty bad that my novice detective investigating did not know about this vast area of 20 feet. Maybe it was another neighbor. By now everyone was upset with me. Sonja said, “You know, mom, we live there. You should have let Russ take care of it!” “Grandma, I walk to school and see that kid, why did you do that?” Russ was too upset to say anything. Mike, on the other hand, told me not to worry because he would buy me a new watch because it helps me with walking and perhaps keeps me from falling.

In hindsight, calling the police was unnecessary.

The New Watch

This time I’m keeping the unattractive watchband. The Apple store set the new watch for me and all was well…until earlier this week.

Found

Russ rarely texts me, so when my phone notified me of the text, it was during Mass. I quickly opened it, but did not really look at it until later. Oh my gosh! There it was, my watch with the fancy watchband.

Thou Shall Not Judge

Oh no! Those poor people that I accused! I was not sure what to do. I consulted several of my inner circle for advised but they all said to leave it alone. But the deep conviction in my heart was telling me otherwise. After praying I received this answer. “You must remove all doubt from anyone in that household!” I had to apologize by telling them the truth.

Facing The Music

The following day I purchased a beautiful orchid plant and delivered it to the family I judged. The precious woman was so gracious as I atoned for my transgressions. Sometimes humble pie has a sweet after taste.

Matthew 7:1-2   New Catholic Bible

My Prayer

Dear Lord, forgive me for being so quick to judge others. Thank You for always teaching us life-learning lessons. Lord, I love serving You! Amen.

Evil is manifesting at a quick rate, and we need to know how to battle these spirits.

Father Gabriele Amorth

Father Gabriele Amorth  was an exorcist for the Diocese of Rome. This may be an uncomfortable subject, but after reading an article about the death of Father Amorth, I feel we need to be aware of Satan and how he operates.

In his lifetime Father Amorth performed more than 70,000 exorcism rites. “As a Christian I fight the beast spiritually,” Fr. Amorth said. “Biblically speaking we are in the Last Days. The beast is working furiously, he is Satan himself and he is working through ISIS.” Father Amorth stated “ISIS is Satan.” He added that “things first happen in the spiritual realm, then they are made concrete on this earth.”  He said that, “Evil is disguised in various political, cultural and religious ways, with one source of inspiration in the devil.” Along with ISIS we can add Hamas, Boko Haram, drug Cartels, and Antifa all who suppress their people.

Our country is fighting so many of Satan’s minions that we have to keep our families covered in prayer. Until this battle is over, we continue to intercede in hopes that people will turn to the Lord for direction. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to constantly guide our every path.

Demon Possessed

If you are following this blog, in 2005 our team traveled to Croatia where we had an encounter with a demon-possessed person. These demons manifested  in a beautiful young lady. After midnight when our prayer session was over and Joanne (our group leader) was still praying, suddenly a loud crashing sound filled the basketball gymnasium.  I looked over to catch the sight of a chair flying across the room and landing on the wooden floors.

This was not a natural occurrence.  The young lady’s body was tossed high in the air and landed on the floor. Her body was now the property of Satan. I had never witnessed anything like this! The tormented soul’s movements were unnatural. At one point the evil spirits were strangling her with her own hands!  She fought back kicking, but she didn’t get relief until Robert, a team member, removed her hands from her neck.

We formed a circle around her and prayed in the spirit, but when Joanne commanded these demons to leave, their response was “Nunca! Nunca es mia!” in a growling, manly voice. In Spanish “Nunca es mia” means “Never, never she’s mine.”  All my senses were on high alert.  The diabolical voice was sending shivers up and down my spine, making the hair on my arms rise with goose bumps. Never in my life had I experienced this type of diabolic behavior, so I was terrified.

Shaking In My Shoes

I was shaken and knew that it was going to get worse because the demons were refusing to leave her body. The voice of this demon was that of a strong male with a raspy sound. This voice did its  job by making sure we were intimidated.

The young lady’s body was twisting and curving her spine like a startled cat; with these turns came body slams.  Joanne asked me to get a bag; I quickly ran to the trash and found a discarded one, but I didn’t know  why she needed it. By the time I got back someone else had already provided a bag. Joanne asked us to place the bag near  the young lady’s mouth because she was about to vomit.  No one, including me, wanted to get near the demons.  This was new to most of us, and we didn’t know what to expect.

The Exorcist

Just then a priest from Serbia gently made his way to the girl, sprinkling holy water on her. This only incited the demons because the main demon screamed in a shrieking voice “NO! NO! She’s mine! She’s mine!” This went on for some time. The demons spoke in Croatian, Spanish and English (Luke 8:30).  No one from either team left their station. We stood united and backed up the priest in prayer until the young lady returned to a state of normalcy.

The priest from Serbia must have been an exorcist because he was equipped with some type of thick oil. When he anointed her forehead,  it calmed the spirits. The young lady sat on a chair as Joanne asked her how she was. Her amber colored hair was disheveled, she had dark circles under her eyes, but she simply answered, “I’m so tired.” I could not help but feel compassion for her and her boyfriend as they walked away.

The Curse

Why was she possessed? She shared with Joanne that her mother put a curse on her. According to Father Amorth, generational curses are transmitted from one generation to another. Father Amorth added that, this was especially true especially if the curse is issued by a father or a mother against a son, his marriage, and future children.

Opening Demonic Doors

There are many other ways that demons enter people. Many times we innocently invite them in by reading horoscopes, or allowing children to read books with witches/warlocks and curses and play video games with demons, zombies or any thing having to do with the occult. These are all open doors for demons to come in because we have given them permission.

Any New Age beliefs, curses brought on by others, and curses in the bloodline are other means for demons to come in.  Fortune-telling, and, of course, the abuse of drugs, and alcohol and pornography are avenues that demons enter in. They are an open door and welcome mat; they don’t need much.

Mind-Controlling Demons

Alcohol or substance abuse causes your thoughts to become altered. Demons surface and take control of your mind. We have all seen the poor souls who have taken Fentanyl. They resemble the walking dead.

When people abuse drugs and alcohol, their minds are altered and they are no longer in control. This is when the demonic spirits come in and take over. These are called familiar spirits because they know when to surface and they can be very combative and controlling. These spirits are dangerous because they lead to deep sin. In my experience with the homeless for over  20 years, it is evident that many were filled with these types of spirits. Because of the drugs and alcohol abuse, they have allowed the spirits to live comfortably inside them. They believed the lie of the Enemy and therefore lived the life of a recluse.

Biblical Warnings

The Bible is very clear on the use of horoscopes:

My Prayer  

Dear Heavenly Father, I thank You for removing all our doubts about demonic activity. I pray that You continue to give us discernment to be able to fight this ongoing battle. Amen.