This was an online seminar which took place on Saturday 11 Sep 2021.

Some people are called by God to write in various ways, and for different purposes. When they partner with Him, His message finds a positive response in many hearts.

But as Jennifer Eivaz discusses in the seminar, it requires discipline and skill, wisdom, prayer and hard work, to co-operate with such a calling from God.

At times, in order to bring hope and healing to many, God calls people to write about the darkest and most vulnerable chapters of their lives.

If any of this is striking a chord with you, then may these 10 pages of notes be of assistance to you. 

May the Holy Spirit grant me grace to write worthily about the stupendous gift from God that holy water is. Amen.
 
For any Christian brothers and sisters, please bear with me, Scripture references are coming -eventually-, for this is part of your birthright as children of God and members of His church.
I apologise in advance for any jargon that is incomprehensible to you, despite my attempts to reduce jargon.
 
For any Catholic brothers and sisters, it is past time that you knew what a gift of God holy water is, and how to use it with the intentionality of faith. For many of you it has been something culturally there, used mainly out of habit, and you’ve either never heard a good explanation, or its been decades since it was last mentioned in a homily.
 
For any other brothers and sisters, if you have faith in the goodness of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and believe He is willing to use such lowly means as blessed water to help the creatures He has made out of love, you are not excluded.
 
What is holy water?
It is water that has been set aside for special use; and blessed by a priest from any Rite (denomination) which has unbroken apostolic succession from the Apostles. Roman Catholic, Eastern Catholic Rites and Orthodox Rites legitimately claim this. The blessing over the water may be as simple as the gesture of the Sign of the Cross over the water, or according to one of the many approved prayers of blessing (see Appendix). Sometimes, but not always, there is an addition to the water of blessed salt.
 
What is the Sign of the Cross?
It can be made by anyone, either signed across the body or vertically signed over a crowd (eg by priest or bishop) or horizontally over something (palms for Palm Sunday, oil, holy pictures etc), or even traced on a forehead. The first part, ‘In the name of the Father and of the Son’, has an accompanying gesture going top to bottom; the second part, ‘and of the Holy Spirit. Amen’, has an accompanying gesture going across either right to left or left to right depending upon the tradition of your Rite. It invokes the holy Name of the Triune God, it reminds us that in this Name we are baptised, and it recalls to us the price paid by Jesus on the Cross to win us such salvation.
 
Why is a priest needed?
Because the priest when he speaks as a priest is both a minister of Almighty God and a representative of the whole Church (that’s every member of the church in heaven, every member being purified in purgatory, and every member on earth).
Thus when a priest uses the Sign of the Cross or an approved prayer of blessing (which always includes the Sign of the Cross), he is blessing the water both in the Name of God and in the name of the whole Church.
 
If you are beginning to think, gee, that’s some heavy-duty prayer power: you’re spot on.
Holy water not only carries the blessing of God, but also the prayer power of the whole Church.
 
But holy water is not a sacrament; but a sacramental.
 
A sacrament does what it does, by the power of God it changes a person. A person is different pre and post Baptism; not a child of God before, a full child of God after. A person is different pre and post Marriage, unmarried before, married after. There are no degrees of being baptised or being married, you either are, or you aren’t.
 
A sacramental is different because it requires faith to activate it, and the greater the intentional faith when using it, the greater the power of God released.
 
We see things used in a sacramental way in Scripture.
On one of the training missions of the apostles while Jesus was still with them, they took oil with them to anoint people for healing. Mark 6:13. The woman with the haemorrhage had faith that if she but touched the clothes of Jesus she would be healed. Mark 5:25-34. Post-Pentecost faith was so great that even the shadow of St Peter when sought with faith by the sick obtained healing. Acts 5:14-15. Such was the faith of believers who surrounded Paul, that they grabbed anything he touched, (handkerchiefs and aprons), and whisked them off to the sick, and God rewarded their faith with healings and deliverances. Acts 19:11-12.
 
What can holy water accomplish when used with faith?
 
From St Faustina’s Diary (601) Once, when one of our sisters became fatally ill and all the community was gathered together, there was also a priest there who gave the sister absolution. Suddenly, I saw many spirits of darkness. Then, forgetting that I was with the sisters, I seized the holy-water sprinkler and sprinkled the spirits, and they disappeared at once. However, when the sisters came to the refectory, Mother Superior remarked that I should not have sprinkled the sick sister in the presence of the priest, as this was his duty. I accepted the admonition in the spirit of penance, but holy water is indeed of great help to the dying.

(PDF available of St Faustina’s diary: https://benedictinesofdivinewill.org/uploads/3/4/3/2/34324596/st._faustina_kowalska_-_diary.pdf )
 
(My two cents worth: she did the right thing. God revealed what was going on, she acted. With death immanent there was no time for trying to tell the priest what was going on spiritually in the room, and then convincing him and getting him to act. When God reveals the presence of evil, He wants it gone! 1 John 3:8 It was to undo all that the devil has done that the Son of God appeared. We need to remember that as death approaches the fight over a soul for its eternal destination is intense, and to surround our dying loved ones with prayer, with holy things, have holy water at hand, and to obtain the best thing of all for them - the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick.)
 
St Teresa of Avila used to say she knew by experience how powerful holy water is to put the Devil to flight. ‘I used to drive him away,’ she said, ‘by the Sign of the Cross: but, it seems to me, it was only to return again; but when I used holy water also, he no longer dared to return.’
 
St Teresa of Avila writes: ‘I have often found by experience that there is nothing from which the devils fly more quickly and return not again than from holy water. They also fly from a Cross, but they return again immediately. Certainly the power of holy water must be great; for my part, my soul feels particular comfort in taking it, and very generally a refreshment and interior delight which I cannot express and which comforts the soul.’
 
St Epiphanius writes that at Tiberius a man called Joseph, obtained from God a cure of a lunatic by taking water and making the Sign of the Cross over it while praying, ‘In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, crucified, depart from this unhappy man, you infernal spirit, and let him be healed’, before pouring the water over him.
 
What does the Church believe holy water used with faith can do?
 
Always it is a reminder of baptism, and the power of God at work in us due to baptism.
But it is also a prayer request for the forgiveness of sins,
a prayer request to dispel sickness,
a prayer request to protect from evil,
a prayer request to drive away evil spirits,
a prayer request for protection from danger,
and a prayer request to dispel the causes of sickness and plague too.
 
Here’s one of those prayers. It is one of those used by a priest to ask God to transform water into holy water. It tells us a lot about what the Church has believed God does through holy water, based on many centuries of experience.
It is well worth pondering over on a regular basis.
 
Blessing of Holy Water
O God, for the salvation of mankind
You built Your greatest mysteries on this substance, water;
in Your kindness hear our prayers
and pour down the power of Your blessing + into this element,
made ready for many kinds of purification.
May this, Your creature, become an agent of divine grace in the service of Your mysteries,
to drive away evil spirits and dispel sickness,
so that everything in the homes and other buildings of the faithful
that is sprinkled with this water may be rid of all uncleanness and freed from every harm.
Let no breath of infection, no disease-bearing air remain in these places.
May the wiles of the lurking enemy provide of no avail.
Let whatever might menace the safety and peace of those who live here
be put to flight by the sprinkling of this water
so that the health obtained by calling upon Your holy name
may be made secure against all attack.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen
 
Impressive, isn’t it?!
 
Regular uses for holy water are:
-As a reminder of baptism as we come into churches and as an acknowledgement that we need purification to come into the presence of God. Dipping fingers in the holy water and then making the Sign of the Cross is the way Roman Rite Catholics do it.
-To claim a place for God, and at the same time cleanse it of any lingering evil attached to it. The rites for blessing of new churches, new schools, new presbyteries, new parish offices, new graves all include splashing the holy water around.
-At home near the front door, or the door of a bedroom, for blessing as we go in and as we go out (Psalm 121:8, Deut 28:6). The Israelites touch the Shema as they come and go from their homes to remind them, ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord your God is the one God …etc’. Deut 6:4 So in some sense, holy water is our version of the Shema.
-It is recommended that homes be blessed by a priest each year using holy water; this is often done during Eastertide.
-The annual blessing of the fishing fleet has prayers and the sprinkling of holy water.
-Asking to have your new car blessed, which is seeking God’s blessing and protection upon its use, has prayers and usually holy water.
-At funerals the coffin of the deceased is sprinkled with holy water, as part of the other reminders of baptism (lighted Paschal candle, white cloth over the coffin)
-Holy Water is used in exorcism (priests appointed by a bishop) and in deliverance ministry.
-There’s quite a long history of holy water being used to assist the purification process of the holy souls in purgatory.

‘As the flowers, withered by the heat of the sun, are refreshed by the gentle shower of rain, so too Heaven’s flowers burning in Purgatory, are refreshed by holy water.’(St. Theodatus).
 
St John Macias used to sprinkle holy water on the ground for the souls in purgatory while praying: ‘By this holy water and by Your precious Blood, wash away all my sin, O Lord, and relieve the souls in purgatory,’ and then make the Sign of the Cross.

On All Souls Day it is traditional to gather at the local cemetery and to pray for the dead. Part of the rite of blessing of graves for All Souls Day includes this:
1746 While the following litany is sung or recited, the minister sprinkles the graves with holy water and, if desired, may also incense them.

The faith of the Church believes that sprinkling drops of holy water is also a powerful prayer for loved ones present or absent, living or dead.
 
If you can get your mind around the concept of holy water being liquid intercessory prayer, then these practices make sense, if they are done with faith in God who hears our prayers; however we make them. At all times our faith is in the God who has blessed the holy water, and heard the prayers of His Church, not in the holy water itself. Using holy water is begging His blessing, His protection, and His cleansing and purification.
 
If you have made it this far, you will now have enough knowledge to understand why the enemy of our souls wants to eradicate holy water.
 
That’s why the notion of removing holy water from churches during Lent is not an idea that came from God. Lent is a time when people are intentionally fighting temptation and trying to eradicate bad habits. It’s when they need the assistance that God gives through holy water more than ever!
 
Yes, the holy water is removed on Holy Thursday night after Holy Communion and returns during the Easter Vigil. But the Church sees the Holy Thursday – Good Friday – Easter Vigil as a single liturgy in 3 parts.
 
It is a source of extraordinary shame that during the Covid years our churches capitulated to fear of infection by removing holy water from the holy water fonts. Granted, some parishes with faith-filled priests managed to find ways to allow people to access holy water in a way considered safe.
 
How did it happen that there wasn’t an outcry and a refusal to comply?
How did it happen that so few take seriously what the Church believes?
May God forgive us.
 
Re-read what the prayer says….
May this, Your creature, become an agent of divine grace in the service of Your mysteries,
to drive away evil spirits and dispel sickness,
so that everything in the homes and other buildings of the faithful
that is sprinkled with this water may be rid of all uncleanness and freed from every harm.
Let no breath of infection, no disease-bearing air remain in these places.
May the wiles of the lurking enemy provide of no avail.
Let whatever might menace the safety and peace of those who live here
be put to flight by the sprinkling of this water
so that the health obtained by calling upon Your holy name
may be made secure against all attack.
 
It means holy water is a weapon par-excellence against any kind of infection and plague when used with faith.
 
Read that again.
 
It means holy water is a weapon par-excellence against any kind of infection and plague when used with faith.
 
If we had faith, we would have been splashing it everywhere during Covid, and at the very least encouraging the Asperges (sprinkling rite) as part of the penitential rites at the start of the Eucharistic Liturgy.
 
But by and large we rolled over, leaders and people, and emptied the holy water fonts.
We sadly put our faith in scraps of cloth over our faces, medical intervention and lockdown, instead of in Almighty God and in His Almighty power to save. We didn’t even have a clue what spiritual treasure we were giving up for the sake of fear.
 
Who wins if our holy water fonts are emptied? The evil one and his minions.
 
Just imagine how much lasting damage to the evil one’s schemes could be done by a whole lot of ordinary believers splashing holy water about with faith.
 
Now read this prophetic word via Michele Stickells:
I saw an angel stirring the waters, then I hear, The angel is stirring up the waters of ancient wells, that have become dry and redundant. I see it's time that God wants to restore the wells that hold the ancient anointing, to bring forth the end time anointing that will bring revival. I also see mantles lying in the dust, waiting to be picked up; they also carry past and ancient anointings. The Holy Spirit is moving across the nations looking to see who will see what He is doing, and be ready to receive from past ancient anointings that have remained dormant and hidden for an appointed time, for it takes an ANCIENT ANOINTING TO RELEASE THE END TIME ANOINTING !!!
 
(Apologies, I can’t find the original source on this, but it was released prior to 4 May 2018 when I first blogged about it, so that might be why I can no longer find it on the internet.)
 
Please, do not ever neglect the gift that God has given us through the faith-filled use of holy water.
 
May our holy water fonts in churches and elsewhere never ever ever be emptied again because our fear of sickness and our fear of government sanction is greater than our faith in Almighty God – He who is always in control and always bringing our greatest good out of every circumstance. Amen.
 
 
Appendix
There’s many other prayers for this purpose. Here’s a sample of ones in common use in the Roman Catholic Rite:
 
Prayer over Water 1/At Mass
God our Father, Your gift of water brings life and freshness to the earth;
it washes away our sins and brings us eternal life.
We ask You now to bless this water,
and to give us Your protection on this day
which You have made Your own. (ie Sunday, the day of the Resurrection)
Renew the living spring of Your life within us (refer John 7:37-39 and John 4: 13-14)
and protect us in spirit and body, that we may be free from sin
and come into Your presence to receive Your gift of salvation.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
 
Prayer over Water 2/At Mass
Lord God Almighty, Creator of all life, of body and soul, (refer Genesis 2:7)
we ask You to bless + this water:
as we use it in faith, forgive our sins
and save us from all illness and the power of evil.
Lord, in Your mercy give us living water, (refer John 7:37-39 and John 4:13-14)
always springing up as a fountain of salvation:
free us, body and soul, from every danger,
and admit us to Your presence in purity of heart. (refer Matthew 5:8)
Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
 
Prayer over Water 3/At Mass, Easter Season
(This prayer is for use during the Easter Season.)
Lord God Almighty, hear the prayers of Your people:
we celebrate our creation and redemption.
Hear our prayers and bless + this water
which gives fruitfulness to the fields, and refreshment and cleansing to man.
You chose water to show Your goodness when You led Your people to freedom
through the Red Sea and satisfied their thirst in the desert with water from the rock.
(Refer Exodus Ch 14, Exodus 17:1-7)
Water was the symbol used by the prophets to foretell Your new covenant with man.
(Refer Isaiah 55:1-11 and Ezekiel 36:16-28)
You made the water of Baptism holy by Christ’s baptism in the Jordan:
(Refer Matt 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22, John 1:29-34)
by it You give us a new birth and renew us in holiness.
May this water remind us of our Baptism,
and let us share in the joy of all who have been baptized at Easter.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen
 
The following prayer is used to call down God’s grace on water at the Easter Vigil and as one of three prayer options for Baptisms, to make water into Baptismal water by God's grace.
 
Blessing of Baptismal Water/Easter Vigil/Baptisms
Father, You give us grace through sacramental signs, which tell us of the wonders of Your unseen power.
In Baptism we use Your gift of water,
which You have made a rich symbol of the grace You give us in this sacrament.
At the very dawn of creation Your Spirit breathed on the waters, making them the wellsprings of all holiness. (refer Genesis 1:1-3)
The waters of the great flood You made a sign of the waters of Baptism, that make an end of sin and a new beginning of goodness. (Refer Genesis 6:9-9:17)
Through the waters of the Red Sea You led Israel out of slavery, to be an image of God’s holy people, set free from sin by Baptism. (Refer Exodus Ch 14
In the waters of the Jordan Your Son was baptized by John and anointed with the Spirit.
(Refer Matt 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22, John 1:29-34)
Your Son willed that water and blood should flow from His side as He hung upon the cross.
(Refer John 19:31-37)
After His resurrection He told His disciples: ‘Go out and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.’ (Refer Matt 28:16-20)
Father, look now with love upon Your Church, and unseal for her the fountain of Baptism.
By the power of the Spirit give to the water of this font the grace of Your Son. (Refer Phil 3:20-21)
You created man in Your own likeness: cleanse him from sin in a new birth of innocence by water and the Spirit. (Refer Genesis 1: 26-28)
We ask You, Father, with Your Son to send the Holy Spirit upon the waters of this font.
May all who are buried with Christ in the death of Baptism rise also with Him to newness of life.
(Refer Romans 6:3-11)
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

................................................................................................
​A PDF version for sharing, and easier printing is provided below, 8 x A4 pages

All of you know from experience just how transitory life is, governments come and go, national borders change, transport systems change, medical treatments change.
The only thing that doesn’t change is God.

The good news we celebrate at Christmas of the birth of Jesus doesn’t change.
It becomes more meaningful in our lives as other stuff fades away.

Christmas proclaims that despite everything going on around us, God is still in control. And God always has a plan to deal with the evils that assail us.

During lockdown I heard a magnificent homily from Cardinal Collins of Toronto, Canada. He was talking about the time when for the Israelites the Red Sea was on one side of them, and Pharaoh and his army were closing in to attack them. It was only when the Israelites were reduced to prayer, to acknowledging that nothing else other than God could save them, that God opened up their escape route and drowned Pharaoh’s army.

That pattern was repeated many times in the Book of Judges, where the Israelites are living miserable lives under foreign rulers, that it is only when they collectively get desperate enough to pray, and they pray, that God raises up a leader anointed with His Holy Spirit to deal with the evil oppressing them.

In Jesus Jairus saw the very last hope for his daughter to live.
In Jesus the woman with the haemorrhage saw the very last hope of healing.
In Jesus the apostles sinking in the boat during the huge storm on Lake Galilee saw their only rescue.
All of them pursued Jesus and called out in their desperation to Him, and everything was instantaneously set right.

So we are never to get discouraged when things look bleak.
Pray instead.

Faith and fear are opposites, they cannot co-exist.
Faith calls into being the good things that aren’t visible yet.
Fear calls into being the evil things that aren’t visible yet.

When we are in fear the strategic thinking parts of our brains don’t function, and automatic responses of flight, fight, flee or freeze kick in. Immediate danger needs an immediate response - because there isn’t time to think through all the options.

In the bible God says ‘Do not be afraid’ over and over again.

This means that we need to feed our faith, and we need to reduce our exposure to things that engender fear.

One of the best ways to feed faith is to read passages from the bible, especially from the Gospels. Pondering Gospel scenes through the Rosary is another way.

If you notice your fear levels increasing after watching, listening to or reading the news, do less of that. If something is truly important, you will find out about it another way. Pay attention to when your fear levels increase, and where you were, and who you were talking to, when that happened. Spend more time with people who make you feel hopeful.

God is still in control.
God is always good.
God will never permit anything to happen unless greater good will come out of it.

All things, ALL things, work together for the good of those who love God.
‘We know that by turning EVERYTHING to their good God
co-operates with all those who love Him’, Romans 8:28a

That includes masks, lockdowns, illnesses, falls, aches and pains. ALL things.
If you haven’t seen the greater good yet, then it is still on the way.
After loss, death and grief …. resurrection always comes, always.

It is tempting to get discouraged when yet another layer of malicious evil comes to light. But such times should increase our hope and our courage because it means that God has been at work. Wounds only get better when they have been exposed to the light and cleaned of all gunk. God is the one who shines light into our lives. He is the one who exposes and cleans out all the gunk caused by the enemy of our souls.

As St Padre Pio recommends: Pray, hope and don’t worry.
Your prayers are needed more than ever, as is your hope and your faith.

God is in control.
God is always victorious over every kind of evil.
God is always working towards our greater good.

We can safely trust in Him, always.
……………………
Dear Heavenly Father, as the birthday of Jesus draws near the difference between the peace proclaimed by the angels to the shepherd and the conflicts and turmoil of our modern world seem starker than ever.
But You are still in control.
Draining the evil swamp areas, local and multi-national, while preserving the good, is a painstaking and messy business.
Yet You have undertaken to accomplish this for us, since it was so far beyond our capacity to do.
You are the only antidote to evil this big and this entrenched.
The blood of Jesus and the wounds of Jesus vanquish every evil.
Today we reaffirm our trust in You.
We thank You for the mind-blowingly wonderful outcomes that are on their way; victories against evil that are so thorough that only You can win.
As we wait for the promised manifestation of Your Kingdom on earth, we also wait for Your promised deliverance from all evil.
We know that we do not wait in vain.
But dear God, sometimes the pain of waiting weighs so heavily upon us.
Please help us each time our faith in You is assailed by the enemy of our souls.
May this Christmas find us more confident of Your love, Your goodness and Your providence than ever before. Amen.

​The Gospel for this Sunday, the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B, is taken from the end of Chapter 9 of St Mark. It comes straight after last week’s Gospel where Jesus gave a lesson on servant leadership and set a child before the Apostles and told them ‘Anyone who welcomes one of these little children in My name, welcomes Me’.

This triggers something in John the Apostle, something that might have been niggling at him for a while, because the words are ‘Ioannes ephe’ ‘John said’. This carries more weight than the more usual ‘Ioannes eitte’, and ‘ephe’ includes connotations of declared, which could include ‘blurted out’.

“Teacher we saw someone else driving out (ekballonta) demons in Your name, and we tried to stop/prevent/hinder/debar (ekolyomen) him (she/it) because he/she does not accompany us (ekolouthei).”

The first ‘him’ (auton) is definitely masculine 3rd person singular. Neuter or feminine 3rd person singular would have been different words. But even Bible Hub’s use of Strong’s 846s’s doesn’t seem to limit the use to masculine only viz ‘Strong’s 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.’

The second verb, ekolouthei, is 3rd person singular, which leaves the ‘he/she/it’ wide open.

Just as a veil has been placed over the ‘someone’ and over whoever and how many of the apostles/disciples constituted the ‘we’ who saw and the ‘we’ who tried to hinder; the ‘auton’ could be a veil as well. Who has never said ‘him’ with their lips, but inferred ‘her’ with an inflection, a roll of the eyes or a conspiratorial smile?

Why was this niggling at John so much that he had to bring the topic up?
Was it because someone else was doing deliverance ministry?
Was it because they (unspecified exactly how many apostles) tried to shut it down?
Was this question niggling at someone else, and John got co-opted to ask the question because he was the least likely to fall out of favour with Jesus?

Prior to this, in Mark 3:15 the apostles were authorised by Jesus to cast out devils. Then in Mark 6:7-13 the apostles get sent out in pairs as missionaries, and they cast out many devils.

Therefore the crowds have seen people other than Jesus, in the authority of Jesus, casting out devils. They have seen the words and the actions done by the apostles, and have also seen the results. At least one person among those crowds was paying careful attention to this; or had received reports of these apostle-initiated deliverances from a friend or relative.

We then see in Mark 9:18 that the apostles (how many?) had been unsuccessful in casting out the spirit of dumbness from a boy.

From Matt 12:27 we know that a ministry of exorcism pre-existed among the Jewish people, because Jesus asks the Pharisees, ‘If it is through Beelzebul that I cast out devils, through whom do your own experts cast them out?’

It is extremely interesting that John says ‘we saw someone’, when he could easily have said ‘we saw a man’. And even more interesting is the reply of Jesus, ‘Do not stop (kolyete) him/she/it/they/them (auton). No one who performs/works/constructs (poiesei) a miracle (dynamin) force/miraculous power in My name can quickly turn around and speak evil of Me.’

Neither John nor Jesus excludes anyone from ‘someone’; Jew, Gentile, child, woman or man.
With the ‘No one’ Jesus includes everyone.

And yes, it is possible for Jesus to have placed a similar ironic emphasis on ‘auton’ as John might have done. Nod nod, wink wink, I get the message you are trying to convey to Me, and which you want to keep from the majority of the apostles lest they be scandalised.

So who would the apostles have felt they had the right (and duty) to boss around?
A Jewish expert in exorcism? No.
A Jewish man? Unlikely.
A Gentile man? Maybe.
A woman? Likely.
A child? Likely.

Who would the apostles have considered to be ‘not one of us’?
A non-disciple? Possibly.
A Gentile? Definitely
A woman? Possibly.
A child? Probably not thought of in ‘us and them’ terms.

Who could have been at desperation level with a demonic situation, but not confident enough to ask Jesus or the apostles for help, yet enough of a believer to know the power of the Name of Jesus, and willing to pray and to try anything to resolve the situation?

A youth? A woman? A Gentile? Any combination of these?

Someone thoroughly grounded in faith in Jesus, who heard or saw that ordinary people were by faith using the power of Jesus to cast out devils, were immensely encouraged by this, and who when confronted with the demonic confidently stepped out in faith – and were successful.

It matters not who exactly they were (age, gender, nationality), - and being male isn’t excluded from that either -; but it does matter that this ‘someone’ gave an amazing demonstration of faith in the name and mission of Jesus, and it does matter that we are open to the possibility of God using anyone in this manner.

Could you ever hope to shut someone down who had discovered this?
Someone who had seen and heard the power of God released through his/her co-operation?
Not on your nellie. No way Jose.

Can you imagine Jesus being absolutely delighted with the news of the faith and ministry of this ‘someone’? Can you imagine Him mirroring the response of Moses in Num 11:28-29?.

‘Two men are prophesying in the camp. My Lord Moses, stop them!’ Moses answered, ‘Are you jealous on my account? If only the whole people of God were prophets and the Lord God have His Spirit to them all!’

While the ‘someone’ could have been anyone from these ‘not one of us’ groups, I’ve been particularly struck that it could have been a woman.

This ministry of exorcist has officially been confined to a subset of ordained men, who have particular authorization from a bishop, and special training. This is wise and prudent.
But the lesser ministry of deliverance has since Mark 16:17 ‘These are the signs that will be associated with believers: in My name they will cast out devils’ been open to anyone with sufficient faith in Jesus.*

You could even, based on Genesis 3:15 ‘I will make you enemies of each other: you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring. It will crush your head and you will strike its heel’, say that holy women might even be exceptionally gifted in this area.

Consider this:
https://www.catholicexorcism.org/post/exorcist-diary-143-female-exorcists

Could it be that just as the majority of women are good cooks, but the great chefs are men; that the majority of good exorcists are priests, but there are a few exceptionally gifted women, with the Mary, the mother of Jesus in the lead, who far excel them?

The bottom line is:
You must not stop those God is using – whoever they are.

What does that mean, practically, for us?
Firstly, that all of us should be praying for an increase in faith.
Secondly, that there’s a lot of evil in this world that needs to be cast out, and that we should be willing and open for God, if He so chooses, to do that through us.
Thirdly, that we should be on the lookout to encourage anyone operating in one of the Holy Spirit’s charisms, especially if God has called them to a ministry of deliverance, and to choose to support them rather than thinking about how to shut them – and the associated weirdness that can be part and parcel of such a ministry – down.

Let’s pray.

Dear Heavenly Father, the faith of this ‘someone’ is astonishing to us, as is Your powerful response to his/her faith in Your ardent desire to set people free from the tyranny of evil spirits.
Please forgive me for my lack of faith in You, in Your goodness, and in Your absolute power to save. As the disciples said, we too say, ‘Increase our faith!’ ‘Increase my faith!’.
Upon all those who are already Your ministers of exorcism and Your ministers of deliverance, and upon all those whom You are calling into these ministries, pour out a double portion of Your Holy Spirit. Under the increased anointing of the Holy Spirit may they be more than twice as effective in these ministries as they have ever been before. Please send these frontline warriors of Yours extra protection and extra assistance from Your holy angels. May none of them ever become casualties in this battle for the salvation and deliverance of souls.
Should you want to call me in this ministry direction, or to any other charism-based ministry, my answer is Yes. I want to co-operate with You to the very best of my ability. Please enable me to do that. Please take away my fears, and the fears of all whom You are calling into battle formation against the enemies of our souls. Please grant us a share in the holy confidence You gave to this ‘someone’.
Please show me how, and help me, to recognise when Your holy charisms are at work through others, and inspire me with ways to meaningfully support and encourage them. Amen.
Mary, mother of Jesus, Help of Christians, Mother of Mercy, intercede for all of us. Amen.
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* You might say, what’s the difference?
An admittedly poor analogy might help.
​It is a bit like the difference between a sacrament and a sacramental, except that it is more the difference between a sacramental with the full backing and authority of the ‘Church universal in time and space’ and an ordinary sacramental activated by faith. For lower level cases, the ministry of deliverance will be sufficient; for anything beyond that the ministry of exorcism is needed.
Thank God for both types of ministry being effective in His Name.

The Gospel for this Sunday, the 12th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B, comes from the end of Chapter 4 of St Mark’s Gospel after Jesus has been teaching a series of parables to the crowds. It narrates the story of Jesus calming the storm.

Following on from Jesus teaching the parables of the wheat and the mustard seed which invited us to trust God’s process and God’s timing, we seem to have a parable in this event of the massive storm that invites us to trust in Him even in the worst of times.

What comes after this passage is the deliverance of the Gerasene demoniac, which seems to be where Jesus was headed to on the other side of the lake of Galilee. Is this massive storm an attempt by the forces of evil to prevent this deliverance? It does seem likely.

We do know that Jesus set out deliberately for this locality on the other side of the lake, and plenty of witnesses joined Him in other boats. We know that it was evening before the lake crossing even began, and that they only set out after the crowds had been dismissed.

Jesus was already in the boat before they set out, and we know that at times He preached from Peter’s boat close to the shoreline. There doesn’t seem to have been any prior preparation or planning for this journey; and in all likelihood the seamen among the disciples would have expected a rather swift crossing – no more than an hour or two, with landfall before it got pitch dark.

But we see this sudden, intense, physical opposition to their journey’s progress; and they feel they are facing it all on their own because Jesus is in the back of the boat asleep.

The usual translations we read, do not do the original Greek justice, and water down the intensity of the crisis the disciples in the boats faced. What we often read as storm or great gale can also be translated violent wind-storm, squall, whirlwind, hurricane. They are hard enough to deal with in daylight, but in fading light and darkness it must have engendered extra terror.

So violent was it, that the waves were breaking over and into the boat, so that it was filled entirely. Any efforts to bail out the water were proving to be futile. The boat was beginning to sink.

At this point, like them, we are asking, where is God in all this?

How acutely they must have felt the absence of His reassuring presence! They could have also asked; Why is God permitting this to happen to us? What did we do wrong? Where did we go wrong?

‘Teacher, teacher, we are perishing. We are at the point of being fully and totally destroyed.’

And Jesus gets up, commands ‘Silence!’, ‘Be still!’, and the immediate calm that happens is as great as the storm was.

'megale’ is used to describe both the storm AND the calm.

This supernatural calm overwhelms the disciples with fear, awe and reverence.

Only God.
Only God Himself is able to transform utter disaster, turmoil and chaos into perfect peace and order in a single moment. No one else and nothing else can.

And what does Jesus say to them (and to us)?
Why are you so frightened?
Have you no faith?
Have you forgotten Who is in control?

Ummm. Errrr.
We’re still terrified, before and after, and it is human to be afraid.
Gulp. Obviously not as much faith as we thought we had. At all.
Yep. Completely forgot. Utterly failed that one….. Sorry.

May God help us to remember that even in the worst of times, that He is still completely in control.

May God help us to remember that especially in the worst of times, we can be expectant for His sudden divine action to happen to fix everything perfectly– and thus not despair nor become despondent.

May God help us to remember that nothing is going to stop us carrying out the mission we have been given by Him, even if it has been delayed by enemy tactics – and to expect far more spectacular results if there have been delays and opposition.

In our darkest moments may God send His holy angels to remind us of this Gospel event, and through it to remind us that He is completely in control, and that the end He has in mind is far more amazing and more glorious and stupendous than anything that currently terrorizes us.

Amen. Amen. Amen.
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He alone is worthy of our trust.
Let us place our trust in Jesus.
Let us renew our trust in Jesus.
Let us massively increase our trust in Jesus.
Amen.

The Gospel for this Sunday, the 15th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B, comes from the next part of Chapter 6 in St Mark’s Gospel, immediately after last week’s passage about the visit to Nazareth. This next part of Chapter 6 has the Twelve move into a new stage of their discipleship with Jesus.

It seems significant that this new phase happens almost directly after the disappointing visit to Nazareth, as though the lessons to be learnt at Nazareth were a necessary pre-requisite – perhaps to prepare them for when the response to their preaching would be far less than enthusiastic.

So Jesus calls the Twelve apostles to Himself, and commences to send them out two by two to preach the necessity of repentance for entering the kingdom of God. In sending them out Jesus imparts to them a share in His own authority over unclean spirits. This indicates that there is a co-dependence of preaching with delivering people and situations from evil (and vice versa) for either to be effective.

They had seen Jesus preach, heal and deliver sufferers from evil spirits, and now they had a test run of doing it themselves.

The passage doesn’t say what Jesus did while the 6 teams went out in different directions on this mission ‘with training wheels’. Probably Jesus spent that time alone in prayer interceding for them and for the people they were to preach to; waiting for them to return to a previously agreed rendezvous place and time.

But the thing that strikes all of us is how little Jesus permitted them to take on the missionary journey. They don’t have to go bare-foot; but may wear sandals. Perhaps that is because heavier shoes may slow them down and increase fatigue. Apart from that, all they can take with them is their missionary companion, the authority Jesus has given them, and a staff.

The word used in Greek for ‘staff’ is ‘rhabdon’ and is does mean rod or staff, but it can also mean sceptre or staff of authority.

Any kind of walking stick is useful when traversing rough terrain, and for keeping up the endurance on long distances. I’ve followed the journeys via social media of some friends walking the Camino, and they all start out without walking sticks, and they all have walking sticks before the end of the first week.

A good solid rod or stave is also useful for protection against brigands and wild animals.

Maybe the aspect of a staff also representing the authority Jesus has given them now seems more plausible, especially remembering how God used Aaron’s staff and Elisha’s staff.

However we cannot forget that travelling light permits a person to travel much faster than if they have anything on them to weigh them down. This has something to say about the urgency we should feel for spreading the good news of Jesus, and the urgency Jesus must have felt to issue such instructions – that anything that slows us down has to be jettisoned.

To our surprise, and definitely to the Apostles’ surprise, they were very successful on this training mission; they preached, they evicted devils and brought God’s healing to others.

That’s the difference going out with the authority of Jesus makes.

We shouldn’t even consider going on mission without it; without some kind of commissioning by those in leadership in the Body of Christ.

Our other surprise should be that these three things are considered by Jesus and by the communities who were the seed ground for this Gospel of Mark as Normal on a missionary journey to proclaim the Gospel.

Please God, may our New Normal when this time of pandemic is over be this kind of Normal – Your kind of Normal. Amen.

Holy Apostles of God, please pray for us, and especially for all bishops, since they are particularly authorised by Jesus for mission, and to lead mission in His name. Amen.

Holy Apostles of God, please pray for us too, that preaching repentance, healing and deliverance from evil may return to being Normal for all believers in Jesus. Amen.

Holy Apostles of God, please pray for all whom Jesus is calling to Himself at this time, that they be given the grace of a whole-hearted Yes when He sends them on mission, thoroughly dependent upon His providence and authority. Amen.
​
Holy Apostles of God, please pray for those who have been given a missionary mandate by Jesus, but who have not yet gone where He has told them to go, or who have become disheartened and discouraged along the way. May they be given fresh hope, and fresh anointing from Your Holy Spirit to completely fulfill the mission You, Lord God, have given them. Amen.
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P.S. I came across this excellent blog-post on the ministry of the prophet Elijah, it is well worth a read: https://www.awmi.net/reading/teaching-articles/lessons_elijah/

.... above is a print-friendly version, 4 x A4 pages, of that blog-post - since it deserves to be shared more widely.

The Gospel for this Sunday, the 5th Sunday of Lent Year B, comes from chapter 12 of St John and is situated chronologically between the Palm Sunday entry into Jerusalem and the washing of the feet on the evening of Holy Thursday.

Against the volatility of that week, the caution shown by Philip and Andrew becomes understandable. At any other time and place a request to see/meet with Jesus wouldn’t raise an eyebrow. An observable interaction in Jerusalem just before the Passover with the potential to send His message beyond Jewish borders and the stakes suddenly get higher for both the Jewish authorities and for Jesus.

Just like the arrest of John the Baptist, which was the catalyst for Jesus to begin His public ministry, this event feels like a catalyst or an expected sign that confirms that This is The Passover for Jesus, the Passover when He will be sacrificed.

Just like the Baptism in the Jordan, and the Transfiguration, this event includes a theophany; an audible response from God the Father. While the Transfiguration happened in private, and the Baptism may or may not have had more than one witness, this theophany is public.

Therefore what Jesus is saying here carries great significance.

What we have in this passage is a glimpse into how Jesus approached His Passion, and what kept Him committed to seeing it through despite the frightening personal cost.

Unless a wheat grain dies, it does not produce a rich harvest.
Only by surrendering His life will the better, eternal life be attained.
Only by His death are the powers of evil overthrown.
Only by His death does the conquering of each heart for the Kingdom begin.
Only by His death is ultimate victory accomplished.

Verse 31 deserves special attention:
“Now sentence/judgment/justice is being passed on this world; now the prince of this world (satan) is to be driven out/cast out/ejected.”

This is a mission statement, a declaration of war, and a declaration of victory.

The purpose of Jesus is to drain the whole world of evil.

He definitively did this on Calvary.

The decisive battle is won, and it is a victory that keeps on growing.

Jesus began changing the world and began draining the whole world of the swamp of evil on Calvary.

In each era of history since then, He has continued to drain the swamp of evil and advance the kingdom of God.

Jesus is still draining the various swamps of evil today.

Every day we can declare with Him, ‘Now the prince of this world is ejected’.

Today we can declare with Him, ‘Now the prince of this world is ejected’.

And it’s true.

In our own era the swamp of evil has become boldly visible to extents and complexities never before seen.

Jesus is still about His mission of draining the swamp, and a major victory is immanent.

Sometimes an enemy has to be lured out of the shadows before it can be vanquished on a massive scale.
​
This seems to be what is happening in our era.
So do not be dismayed.
The plan to massively vanquish evil is in operation.
Jesus will attain His full purpose.
‘Today the prince of this world is ejected.’
Amen.

The Gospel for this Sunday, the 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time Year B, comes from the first chapter of St Mark and shows us how the public ministry of Jesus began.

Like the scribes Jesus knew the scriptures well. Unlike the scribes, He wasn’t repeating from memory what been drilled into Him by rote. Jesus wasn’t saying Ancient Rabbi 1 interpreted the passage this way, and Ancient Rabbi 2 had a different interpretation, and that the Hillel school preferred Rabbi1 and that the Sadducees preferred Rabbi 2, and the Pharisees were still on the fence as to their preferred interpretation.

That kind of thing has its place in faithfully handing down to the present the collective wisdom and insights of the past.

When Jesus read from the scriptures it was something living, beautiful and fascinating. Mostly when the scribes read from the scriptures it was with the precision of dissecting a much-revered dead animal.

When Jesus sat down to teach from the scripture passage He had just read out loud, He spoke about how God’s love, mercy and wisdom were revealed in that scripture passage. And as Jesus spoke hearts were touched by the power of God’s love.

As a learned Dominican priest once preached, authority is growth power. When authority is activated properly, people have the stability and the security necessary to try the risks that lead to growth. When that doesn’t happen people live in siege and survival mode.

When Jesus taught, hearts started growing in love for God and growing in true knowledge of God. When that happens, hearts and lives change because the desire for more of God gets activated in them, and that desire motivates the changes in life that we recognise as repentance.

Who doesn’t want hearts and minds turning back to God?
The evil one.

Whenever truth gets spoken in love, there is a counter-attack, and it is immediate. Have you ever noticed that the first comment on a well-written opinion piece, especially on religious and pro-life topics, is both nasty and negative? I have. It is actually a kind of badge of honour or extra proof of the truths expounded in the opinion piece. No one bothers to denigrate a less well-written opinion piece.

The evil one has noticed the modus operandi of Jesus, and actively seeks to derail it. Jesus wants relationship not celebrity. The evil one shouts that Jesus is the Holy One of God, something that Jesus wants people to work out for themselves and at their own pace. Immediately Jesus shows He has the power to shut evil down, and to release people from its grip.

What lessons can we take home from this?
That God can stop evil in a moment, with a word, at any time He chooses.
That God does choose when and how to confront evil and dispatch it for maximum impact.
Be prepared for counter-attacks if you are taking ground for God’s kingdom, and take them as signs that you are on the right path and not as cause for discouragement.

So let us renew our trust in Him. Amen.
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#GospelRelection