I talk about the paranormal and paranormal investigation on my Paranormal page. But I'd like to share some specific recommendations here, as well.
A Word on Ghosts
While the Church has no definitive teaching on ghosts, many Catholics (including Church sanctioned exorcists and demonologists) believe that human spirits can contact the living - with the express permission of God - in order to ask for prayer or to make simple amends.
And this is it.
If a spirit tries to feed you information, initiates a relationship or attempts any kind of ongoing communication it is ALWAYS demonic.
For more on the topic, I recommend the book Purgatory Explained By the Lives and Legends of the Saints by Fr. F.X. Schopppe, S.J. (affiliate link) which bears an 1893 Imprimatur. This book shares many stories of souls in purgatory who asked the saints for prayer. While ordinary people rarely get such requests, it does happen.
Spirits may appear in dreams, visions or as dark shapes or shadows. There may be a strong feeling of being watched, unexplained sounds or any other phenomena for which there is no apparent explanation.
Paranormal investigation may lead to an increase in this kind of activity because investigators may unintentionally attract evil spirits. I do not recommend it.
A Catholic Friendly Approach
If you feel you've had a visitation or have encountered a presence in your house, get the house blessed by a Catholic priest (or the faith leader of your denomination). If phenomena persists or reoccurs, it's a good idea to contact that priest again.
Initiating contact with spirits is NEVER a good idea. Consider the following as an appropriate response to any unusual phenomena you experience:
- Make a good confession, go to Mass and receive Holy Communion.
- Ask you parish priest to bless your home or location.
- Utilize the prayers from Fr. Chad Ripperger's Deliverance Prayers for the Laity (affiliate link) as recommended in the book.
- Put blessed holy objects in every room and hang a blessed crucifix over all outside doors.
- Utilize sacramentals like holy water and exorcized salt.
- Pray the Rosary daily in a central part of the house. Aloud if possible. If you understand Latin, pray at least some of the Rosary in Latin.*
- Play Gregorian chant (sung by actual Catholic monks) in your home. Playing this softly in your room at night is also helpful.
- Pray for the departed loved one you may have encountered and the Holy souls in purgatory. Arrange for a Mass for that loved one if possible.
Please note. You do NOT have to be Catholic in order to pray for the Holy souls in purgatory. Demons are always looking for a way to tempt us (often by making us feel special or popular or privy to some sort of secret knowledge).
Given half a chance they WILL outsmart us.
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*If you're interested in learning the Rosary in Latin, I have Latin-English Rosary printable trifold in my Etsy shop for $1.25 USD. You can see it here.
Please check out my podcast on the dangers of the paranormal featuring an actual EVP I recorded when I was a paranormal investigator here.
Please note, this post includes Amazon affiliate links. If you make a purchase using one of my links, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.
I decided to invite my guardian angel to pray with me after watching a video by Fr. Matthew Hincks of the Opus Angelorum. In the video, Father shares 12 ways that we can deepen our friendship with the angels.
The first suggestion is especially important so I'll have more to say about that below!
The 12 Ways We Can Deepen Our Friendship with the Angels (per Fr. Hincks' video)
- Be in a state of grace. As Father says in his video, we can either be in a state of grace with Jesus and His angels or in mortal sin with Satan and his demons. There is no middle ground.
- Learn the truth about the holy angels. We can't love those we don't know. This is why it's so important to learn about the angels from reliable Catholic sources.
- Strive to do the will of God at all times. Our guardian angel is here to help us do God's will. This should we our goal too.
- Practice silence. Silence is the language of God and His angels who customarily speak to us through thoughts, imaginations and feelings.
- Practice listening. When we are silent, we can sift our thoughts and discern (separate or divide) the voice of our guardian angel from from other voices (as taught by St. Ignatius).
- Spend time in solitude. When we turn to Scripture, we see that angels almost always come to people when they are alone.
- Pray to our guardian angel. The more we pray, the more he can help.
- Pray with our guardian angel. Friends become closer when they share things and prayer is a wonderful thing to share. As Jesus said, when two or three gather in My Name, there I am in the midst of them.
- Send our guardian angel to help others. This increases our bond with our guardian angel and may help us realize what he can do.
- Practice fasting. This is the life of the angel. According to Fr. Hinck's demons hate it when we fast.
- Have a devotion to Mary, Queen of Angels. Mary can do many things for us but one thing we may not know is that she has the authority to dispatch angelic reinforcements when they are needed.
- Thank our guardian angel. We should thank our guardian angel for what he has done and what he will do. This will help us realize how much he loves us.
Why Suggestion #1 is Critical
Being in a state of grace when attempting to deepen our friendship with our guardian angel is the first suggestion given for a reason. It is very important!
When we are in a state of sin we are especially vulnerable to evil spirits and their deceptions. During my time in the New Age and occult, I practiced divination (a first commandment sin). This opened a door to the demonic. As a result, I believed I was connecting with God's angels when I was not.
But divination is not the only sin that can affect us. All sin muddies the water of our intellect (as stated by Fr. Chad Ripperger and others) and makes spiritual discernment difficult if not impossible.
Fortunately, there is a solution.
The sacraments of the Catholic church can return us to a state of grace.
The sacraments are baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist, penance and reconciliation, the annointing of the sick, matrimony and holy orders. For me, confession and receiving the Eucharist are particularly powerful!
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- To get Fr. Hincks' two part conference "The Guardian Angel and Our Spiritual Life" (which includes the full teaching on 12 ways to deepen our friendship with the Angels), please click here.
- To read about my experience praying with the angels, please see Praying with the Angels!
- For more on the Opus Angelorum, please see their website here.
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