Institutes of Preaching

Sr. Teresa Ha Nguyen, OP

Summary
Chapter 1: The Church and the Devil
"God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power.
He went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil" (Acts 10:38)

Chapter 1 of the book entitled: "Exorcism: Encounters with the Paranormal and the Occult" whose
author is ....can be summarized three following points:
1. The story
The beginning of this chapter is a story which talked about a casting out devil of a priest, an exorcist
happened in Quiapo Church.
After hearing confession for a few hours from the inside of the small and cramped cubicle, the priest
decided to relax in the lobby of the convent with some people. While he was still wearing the alb,
there was a huge person tried approaching him and then that man stopped in front of this priest and
said: "Father, I just confessed to you and now I need your help. You see, I am losing my mind".
Although this priest looked at him suspiciously, he noticed that man was sweating and he seemed to
be nervous very much manifested in his face. The agitation and fear in his voice, the anxiety and
tension-filled body language. This priest felt something wrong inside happened to him.
At that time this man said to the priest: "Father, inside the confessional, I was really trying to control
myself because I wanted to strangle you!" Hearing his words, that priest gulped and smiled weakly.
And then that person pleaded desperately: "Father, I need to be exorcised now".
Even though he thought that man seems to be mad man. Nevertheless, there were many thoughts
flashed through his mind, such as: "What do I do? Is this psychological or is this demonic? How did he
know that I was a priest at the lobby. How did he know it was me?" And he wanted to ask the help of
Bishop Ted Buhain, but he could not meet him. And then this priest, deeply in his heart, felt an
inspiration from the Holy Spirit said to him: "You have been prepared for this. You have been given
signs. This case is for you".
After a short time for searching and preparing for deliverance that man and with exorcism knit, he
entered the consultation room and sat adjacent to him. He asked the priest's help again as he said:
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"Father, I am scared! I am developing certain psychic powers by which I can read the mind of others
and much more". But now this power has reached a point where I can sense in me an alien presence
which is about to take over my mind." And continuously he said: "I used to join this spiritist group in
Manila and that was when this all started; now I can read the mind of people. I'm afraid because when
I am with my girlfriend, I can enter into her mind and I know I could hurt her if I am not careful. Please
help me".
Next, this priest prayed over him and extended his right palm toward him and recited the prayer of
Pope Leo XIII until the part that only the priest could recite. Suddenly that man shook violently and
uncontrollably. This priest tried to recite the third time part of prayer which only used for the priest
and the thing still happened. And then that man stood up suddenly and said: "Father, it is gone. I felt a
great wind leave my body! It's gone".
After casted out the devil, that man said to the priest: "I promise to start a devotion to Mother Mary
right now and change my life totally. I will pray the Rosary and go back to the sacraments."

2. The preparation
The priest did deliverance from the devil to heal that man based on the points:
- God gifted him graces of healing, casting out the spirits for this priest. We can see that, at the
beginning, he wanted to ask the help from the Bishop. However, deeply in his heart, he felt an
inspiration from the Holy Spirit said to him: "You have been prepared for this. You have been given
signs. This case is for you". So, it is grace given to him by God. It is the authority of priesthood of Jesus
Christ to work on in his priesthood.
- We are sure to say that it is prayer that the deliverance can be done completely. Specifically in this
story, this priest said: "I must not be afraid since you have led me to this moment and you yourself are
in control of the situation. The battle is always yours".
- When he decided to do this case, even though he has no idea and knowledge about it so much, he
started to learn by any way. Concretely, he looked for these books mentioning about exorcism, and
then he accidentally read the book by Protestant minister that dealt with evil spirit or demons. He
also took a case to find out many materials from bookstores or other places and surfed in the
internet. In his mind, he needs to do these things: First, he needs to start putting up together an

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"exorcist knit. And then he continues to learn as much as possible about this mysterious ministry
called "deliverance".
It can be said that this priest felt that he could know how to face adequately a person oppressed by
evils spirits. The last item which he added in his "Exorcism knit" was the "prayer of Pope Leo XIII
against Satan and the rebellious angles. This thing made him to be sure about his finding.
3. The teaching of the Church
The Church, our mother through the Popes, has taught and warned her children about the existence
of the bad spirit, demon, devil and evil which are disturbing and making people not to realize what
belongs to God; and not to know how to resist temptation from them, or who is truly protector that
we need to trust.
- As Pope Paul VI said: "What are the greatest needs of the Church today? His answer is: "One of the
greatest needs today is the defense from that evil that we call devil".
- Saint Pope John Paul II used to share at the Sanctuary of St. Michael the Archangel on May 24, 1987:
"The battle against the devil, which is the principal task of St. Michael the archangel, is still being
fought today, because the devil is still alive and active in the world".
The Church also raises voice to her children because of their denial related to the existence of devil;
or we have tendency to consider them as someone and not to fight them away in lives. So, we have to
be sure that Satan and his followers are always to make man to be fallen into their plot by not to
realize their existence in every way today hidden in other ways in lives. And then, man is easy to
blame God because of our suffering, sickness and difficulties.
- The Church also has warned her children about the wickedness of modern time through assaults of
demon increasing each day. They want to rule this world by possession, obsession, oppression and
infestation. The book of Father Carl Vogl entitled "Be gone Satan" said: "It is precisely through the
cooperation of sinners that the devil has such power on earth". Or Father Gabrielle Amorth, Rome's
chief exorcist also said that: "The number of those affected by the evil one has greatly increased".
The matter here is how to be aware of the reality of existence and very bad action of devil in this
world; and then we have to look for the ways which come from God to fight against them. The devil
finds many other ways to hurt, to tempt us.
In this case, Pope Paul VI said in his exhortation: "We must fight against spirits the spirits that swarm
all around us. In other words, we must fight against the demon...this dark and disturbing being truly
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exists and is still active with predatory cunning. He is the hidden enemy who sows error, misfortune,
decadence, and degradation in human history."
There are some signs which can be changed are the revision of the 1614 Roman Ritual for Exorcism
which has just recently completed, or a course of "Exorcism and Prayers of Liberation" has been
offered by Pontifical University in Rome.
Today, the Church have to confirm that there are many exorcists are called and trained around the
world. And the document Gaudium et Spes reminds us that this battle against the fallen angels will
last until the end of the world. The Christians need to step in this battle to fight against the world of
darkness, wickedness. It is the existence of demon, satan and devil.