The Best Out of the Movie of Vilma Santos: The Healing

To all Core Members and Prayers Warriors of the Knights of Saint Benedict, Catholic Lay Deliverance Team, and to those who engage in the ministry of healing and deliverance, I recommend the movie of Vilma Santos “The Healing” for awareness and practical study of common infestations brought about by the fascination of people in consulting the world of occult and witchcraft.

The movie presented the following:

1. The folk religiosity of people and their belief in Faith Healing, Divination, and the like;
2. The actual desperation of people to be healed from their ailments no matter what;
3. The real and various attitudes of people towards Faith Healing and occultism after experiencing the so-called healing and relief;
4. The risks in being involved in the world of occultism and New Age beliefs, causing bondage with satan;
5. The various diabolic effects and haunting after engaging into the occult, causing chaos among members of the family and among families in a given community.

BELIEF IN FAITH HEALING

            Many have placed their beliefs in divination and faith healing (occult) especially the people in rural areas where they find in them the cheap yet quick and urgent relief from ailments. They are fascinated with the ritualistic moves and presentation of procedures. Many are deceived in its authenticity and religiosity by using the names of God, angels and saints, while displaying at the same time religious icons like Virgin Mary, St.Padre Pio, St.Joseph, Sto.Niño, Nazareno, Crucifix, etc., and using the Holy Rosary to complement their cosmic drama.

But what does the Catholic Church specifically teach us about this? Those in the ministry of Healing and Deliverance must understand, and be ready to caution people as much as one can, to refrain from getting involved in this kind of practice and to ask help through the Sacrament of Confession if one has already been involved in the past, voluntarily or involuntarily.

AFFLICTED PEOPLE DESPARATELY IN NEED

            People experiencing various types of sickness and diseases come and consult the faith healer (played by Daria Ramirez in the movie). Ironically, not only the poor within the locality consults the healer, even the well-off families from urban areas come to seek help out of desperation. Characters like the one portrayed by Robert Arevalo is an example of a medical patient who wants quick and instant healing, not wanting to surrender the old unhealthy eating habits and lifestyle. The desire of people to cut-short the normal process of healing (usually at length and requires sacrifices to abstain from old harmful habits) make them impatient and desperate, thus, resulting to their submission to occult practitioners like “albularyo”, “tawas”, “santiguar”, etc. who promise instant healing.

            But is there real healing in them and through them? What does the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches the faithful about it? All forms of divination are reprehensible even if it is for the sake of restoring ones health. We pray for the healing of the soul, more than the healing of our physical bodies. The regretful comment of Janice De Belen, whose daughter was demonically possessed in the movie by consulting the faith healer goes something like “Mas mabuti pang nanatili na lang na bulag ang aking anak…” (it should have been better if my child has remained blind).

            When a paralytic enters a room, and goes out still a paralytic but has become more loving, forgiving, humble and prayerful, this is True Healing. When the same paralytic consults a diviner, faith healer, witch doctor, occult and New Age practitioner, instantly comes out walking, jumping and dancing but remains poor in prayer life, unbeliever, unfaithful & disobedient to God and His Church, there never was a True Healing. In fact, he has become sicker and more miserable than before.

ATTITUDES OF PEOPLE ALLEGEDLY HEALED BY FAITH HEALERS

            Why one has to appear (instantly) healed after consulting witchdoctors, diviners, faith healers, New Age? Precisely because, they have to win the hearts and minds of the people.

            When Vilma Santos’ grandfather was instantly healed the very next day after their visit to the faith healer, Robert Arevalo sees to it that he enjoys everyday of his life, eating, drinking, and hanging-out with friends some 50 to 60 years younger than him - a strong tendency to enjoy and abuse the joy, living everyday of his life happier and merrier, not anymore giving importance to the value of life and health. After all, he can always seek the help of faith healers who give instant healing.

            Friends and neighbours, in amazement, have pooled-in to ask help from Vilma to accompany them to the faith healer. This is a very classic bandwagon scenario. Everyone believed and placed their faith in advance to the healer. Afflicted with various illnesses and diseases, they placed their hope only to the person (faith healer). This is a very good advertising strategy of the devil, a display of unimaginable power and magic, where people are being deceived in admiration of the devil’s preternatural power.

            Even after each member of the group experienced the so-called healing, not one of them is seen praying, or visiting the Church, or approaching a pastor of the Church and minister of God. There was no mention of God at all. God wasn’t present in the plan, during the healing, after the healing, and even in the entire period of crisis and hysteria when each person is being killed one after another, and causing distress and anxieties to other members of the group while waiting for their turn to die. To take God out of the picture is another best reason why there has to be instant healing. People would not want anymore a God who requires them to pray and obey rules of the Church if they have a faith healer at hand who (seemingly) heals them in an instant and quickly eases their pain and agony. A person who loves consulting occult practitioners will visit them over and over when they become sick. The faith healers and diviners are on top of their minds, replacing God and the Church in their list. Afterall, they get the physical relief that they want, and they don’t even have to pray hard and long. They have no tiring obligation of serving the Church, nor studying the Word of God.

            Instant superficial healing done by the devil aims to take every family and individual away from the care of the Church. In this way, the devil may work to destroy each one without difficulty.

THE RISKS INVOLVED

            Are there risks? Actually, the word “risks” is an understatement. Risk could mean just a threat or a possibility of danger. When one engages in the world of occultism, knowingly or unknowingly, there sure is a price one has to pay. There is a sure danger in the realm of evil - a very important note every one must be aware of. So important, that Christ Himself cautions us against it. The Holy Scripture, since the beginning, has been telling God’s people that the devil really exists. So important, that the Church up to the present has been vigilant in evangelizing the faithful through written guides in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Doctrines of the Faith, Encyclicals, etc.

            When one engages in occultism, he puts not only himself at stake, but his entire family, clan and the community where he lives in. Life becomes at stake, and there could be no simple way out.

DIABOLIC EFFECTS AND HAUNTINGS

            The movie shows real forms of diabolic infestations from the time the group consulted the faith healer.

1. Terrifying dreams;
2. Presence of a black bird;
3. Scratching sounds, knocking (from unknown sources);
4. Physical changes and manifestations (ugly and piercing looks, change of voice, physical deformity)
5. Anger and violence (murder and suicide);
6. Unwanted fears, worries and anxieties (diabolic depression & obsession);
7. Misunderstandings & broken relationships (among friends and among family members);
8. Lust, excessive love for self, pleasure and belly (gluttony);
9. Total demonic possession.

        Other parts of the story are just products of the producer’s creativity to make the movie appealing and interesting to the viewers.

OUR LADY OF MT.CARMEL - Feastday, July 16

http://www.ourcatholicprayers.com/our-lady-of-mount-carmel.html

This picture of Our Lady of Mount Carmel above commemorates a famous event in Church history. She is shown here as she appeared in a vision to St. Simon Stock, General of the Carmelite Order (at right) on July 16, 1251 at Aylesford, England.

After giving St. Simon a scapular, she promised him and all the Carmelites that whoever died wearing that religious garment would be saved and would not suffer eternal fire. The prayer to our Lady of Mount Carmel below calls the scapular “thy venerable livery.”

O all-blessed, immaculate Virgin, ornament and glory of Mount Carmel, thou who dost look with most gracious countenance on those who have been clothed with thy venerable livery, look kindly also on me and take me under the mantle of thy maternal protection. Strengthen my weakness with thy might; enlighten the darkness of my heart with thy wisdom; increase in me faith, hope and charity. So adorn my souls with graces and virtues that it may always be dear to thy divine Son and thee. Assist me during life, comfort me in death with thy most sweet presence, and present me as thy child and faithful servant to the most Holy Trinity, that I may be enabled to praise and extol thee in heaven forever. Amen.
(This prayer is followed by the Hail Mary (3 times) and the Glory Be.)

The Carmelite order began in Mount Carmel in Palestine in the 12th century. It moved to Europe in response to persecution from Muslims in that region. Although the Carmelites soon flourished in England and Europe, in part under St. Simon’s leadership, the order still faced internal dissension as well as opposition from the secular clergy.

St. Simon prayerfully appealed to our Lady of Mount Carmel for help. In response she gave him the scapular promise mentioned above and instructed him to seek papal assistance for the order. Pope Innocent IV issued a letter of protection for the Carmelites from the Holy See in January 1252.

The Carmelites continued to spread their good work throughout such cities as Paris, Bologna, Cambridge and Oxford, building monasteries and teaching in universities. The order has continued to thrive in devotion to our Lady and our Lord up to this present day, as discussed in their website. Famous Carmelites include St. Theresa of Avila, St. Therese of Lisieux, and Saint John of the Cross.

In 1322, Pope John XXII issued a document known as a Papal bull in which he included a promise from Our Lady of Mount Carmel he received in an apparition to release worthy souls from purgatory on the Saturday after their death.

The church has since summed up what we now call the Sabbatine Privilege, based on this revelation. Those who follow these three conditions will be released from Purgatory by Our Lady’s intercession soon after their death, especially on a Saturday. You need to:

1) Wear the brown scapular devoutly, once you’ve been enrolled in the Scapular Confraternity of the Blessed Virgin of Mount Carmel.
2) Observe chastity according to your state in life.
3) Recite daily the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As this is a very long although quite beautiful prayer, with permission of a priest you can substitute either a) five decades of the rosary, b) abstinence from meat on Wednesdays and Saturdays or c) some other good work.

This all is not as formidable as it sounds! You’re enrolled or “invested” as they say once your scapular has been blessed and certain prayers have been said by a priest. (All priests have the authority to do this.) You do not need to have any further scapulars you may later wear blessed.

It is also important to note here that once enrolled, you share in the daily prayers and other spiritual benefits of the Carmelite Order. Our Lady of Mount Carmel’s scapular promise of salvation to St. Simon and the Carmelites can now apply to you as well!

Scapulars have been traditionally worn, as in St. Simon’s time, as a sleeveless outer garment covering the shoulders and one’s front and back as well. The scapular we use for this devotion, however, is much smaller, as in the example shown below.

It consists of two small pieces of cloth, traditionally wool, a couple of inches in length and width. These are connected by two strings so that the scapular can be worn over your head and under your clothes, with one square hanging on your chest and the other on your back.

We call the scapular a sacramental, that is to say a sacred sign (such as a blessing) or object (like the rosary or holy water) given us by the Church. Sacramentals “prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it,” according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church(CCC1670). It is important to note, however, that we play an important part in their effectiveness in our lives.

Many popes and other religious figures over the centuries have extolled the virtues of the brown scapular devotion. Still, they caution that, although our Lady of Mount Carmel promised that the scapular would protect us from eternal fire, wearing it in itself doesn’t guarantee our salvation.

The Most Rev. Kilian Lynch, a former prior general of the Carmelite Order, warned that the scapular was not “endowed with some kind of supernatural power which will save us no matter what we do or how much we sin.” As he put it, “Fidelity to the commandments is required by those seeking 'the special love and protection of Our Lady'".

The scapular is not to be worn as a substitute for leading a devout life of love and obedience to our Lord. This piece of cloth is not to be used as a kind of divine rabbit’s foot that will guarantee you Eternal Life no matter what you’ve done. If we abuse Our Lady of Mount Carmel’s scapular promise, we can’t count on her protection.

The good news, however, is that she, like her Son will help us with the graces we need for our salvation if we ask for her assistance with a sincere and contrite heart.

In 1917 during the apparitions at Fatima, Our Lady of Mount Carmel appeared to Sister Lucia holding the brown scapular. According to the famous visionary, who herself became a Carmelite nun, Our Lady wished everyone to wear it “because it is our sign of consecration to her Immaculate Heart.”

Along these lines, Pope Pius XII wrote in 1950 that the scapular should be “your sign of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which we are particularly urging in these perilous times."

Thus, in wearing the brown scapular devoutly, in living in love and obedience to God, we join our hearts to Mary’s and thus, to her divine Son’s Sacred Heart as well!

Witchcraft Posing as Fun Games of Fortune-telling

This is a set of “fortune-telling” kit surrendered to us by a family in Laguna on 2010 after a Deliverance prayer and a short catechism.

This kit is not just an ordinary set of indoor or family game. This was brought from Africa, containing African witchcraft ritual, animal bones, and stones. The game instructions include a step-by-step procedure on “How” and “When” to play it. The players should know the meaning of the objects’ appearance, colors, directions and positions. Among the promises of this witchcraft game are Romance & Fertility, Health and Prosperity. Anyone who engages in this kind may be infested by the evil curses and spells each item possesses. The family and children, deceived by this kind of game may sooner or later experience unexplained sickness and diseases, family trouble, accidents and violence. Members of the family may even start to feel tired in praying, or may even do away with praying totally, avoid hearing Masses, reading Holy Scriptures, and eventually abandoning their faith. Teens who are fascinated to this kind of games and rituals may soon experience lack of direction, obsession, depression, hallucination, diabolical oppression or worse, total demonic possession.

Cursed and occultic objects such as this must be voluntarily surrendered and renounced by the owners. Wrap them in cloth or paper that no other people may have a chance to touch it or read any (magical) words or prayers on it. A deliverance team must handle the object with great care as if handling objects with a very strong, harmful and deadly virus that kills people in an instant. With set of Deliverance prayers, the objects must be destroyed, burned and buried.

The Knights of Saint Benedict

The Knights of Saint Benedict is a Catholic Lay Deliverance Team. Is the group limited to lay persons only?

No, it isn’t. Members of KSB is open to the laity and religious alike. KSB is described as a Catholic Lay Deliverance Team to stress the following:

CATHOLIC

The team is loyal to the Pope, to the Catholic Church and its teachings. It is created with aim of helping the Church, the priests and ordinary ministers of the Church in evangelization and in promoting the Catechism of the Catholic Church and its Doctrines among the families and individuals, and not to compete nor to declare independence from the Church. KSB team condemns heresy and apostasy. Members of KSB are defenders of the Catholic Faith.

The ways, prayers, sacramentals, study materials and sources are of Catholic in origin, nature and content, and based on what the Church recommends and promotes.

LAY

The team is composed by a majority of “Lay Persons”, and currently being led by a lay (a Lay Carmelite). The prayers and actions of the team members are of lay, as the Church defines clearly the limitations of the laity especially in the ministry of Healing, Deliverance and Exorcism. The term “Lay” here is expanded to all non-ordained ministers, that is, to include also the Religious. KSB recognizes the special authority and faculty that rests upon the ordained ministers of the Church. Thus, the team has also several ordained priests on list as Prayer Warriors.

DELIVERANCE TEAM

            The team prays the deliverance (simple exorcism) prayers with emphasis that it is not a “solemn” exorcism, a sacramental rite reserved only to the Catholic Bishops and their delegated exorcist-priests.

KSB promotes the ministry of Healing and Deliverance as a team, a Christian community of believers who stands for God, and continues the ministry of Christ by virtue of membership to the Catholic Church through the Sacrament of Baptism. For KSB, working as a team is crucial and of great importance.

What composes the team of Knights of Saint Benedict?

1. Spiritual Adviser – a priest appointed to pastor the group and the members; He administers the Holy Sacraments for the spiritual growth of each member;
2. Core Members (18 years of age and up) – one who actively leads in the visitation of the sick, families & household;
3. Prayer Warriors (any age, as long as he/she prays) – one who commits to pray for the intention of Healing and Deliverance of the persons, families, households, and for the safety and protection of the entire deliverance team; may either stay in place or accompany a core member who leads the group (only 18 y.o. and up may accompany a core member);

What must an active member of the Knights of Saint Benedict be?

1. Must be a faithful Catholic.

Since the team is a Catholic Deliverance team, basic requirement is that, an active member must be a faithful Catholic, which means, one who is a baptized Catholic, faithful to the Catholic Church (Magisterium) and frequents the Holy Sacraments (if married, marriage must be solemnized in the Church).

2. Must be an active member of any Catholic community, group or organization.

Membership in any Catholic community is a must to ensure that each member is backed by his/her own community in terms or prayer and Christian formation. While KSB members share and discuss among themselves the Holy Scripture, Catechism and Doctrine of the Church, a member’s own local group and community will be best to provide the needed Christian formation for his/her own spiritual growth, needless to say, that each member’s community has its own Spiritual Adviser in the person of their Parish Priest who can best guide them.

3. Must be willing to devote time in study, in prayer, in household & family visitation (for the sick and the infested).

Studying what the Catholic Church teaches, and the stand of the church on various issues especially related to healing, deliverance & exorcism, Blessed Virgin Mary, angels and saints, souls in purgatory, occultism, heresy and apostasy against the church, New Age beliefs, etc. is a must for all active members of the KSB. Equipped with knowledge and information, all of Catholic sources, a member may be able to at least defend himself and the church from lies, and come out with best assessment and decisions given a specific scenario.

An active member is expected to possess a stamina and love for prayer, as this should be understood as an effective way to commune with God, who is the author of Life and the real enemy of death & darkness.

Every active member must have the passion and apostolate to visit the sick and the oppressed, in order to serve the purpose of the healing and deliverance team.

The Home of a Member of Knights of Saint Benedict:

1. has St.Benedict Medal or St.Benedict Cross on front door (and optional, in every room and back door);
2. has a neat altar with Crucifix, image of the Blessed Virgin Mary (preferably with other favourite saints and Holy Family), enthroned with a Catholic Bible;
3. blessed and enthroned with the image of Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary, thus, consecrated to the Sacred Heart, to the Immaculate Heart and to St. Joseph as the silent head of the family;
4. free from any occultic and New Age objects, lucky charms, etc.;
5. regularly being blessed by parents or any head of the family using Catholic prayer of blessing and deliverance 

What must be the regular activities of an active KSB member?

           

DAILY activities:

1. Morning Prayer (or Breviary) (with special intentions for the souls, for healing and for deliverance);
2. Holy Mass (if able);
3. Holy Rosary;
4. Reading and Reflecting on the Gospel / Lectio Divina;
5. 3PM Prayer to the Divine Mercy;
6. 6PM Angelus Prayer;
7. Evening and Night Prayer (with special intentions for the souls, for healing and for deliverance).

WEEKLY activities:

1. Special Holy Masses on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays (if able);
2. Regular Sunday Mass.

MONTHLY activities:

1. First Friday Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Holy Mass & Vigil before the Blessed Sacrament if able, preferably overnight);
2. First Saturday Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Holy Mass)
3. Holy Sacrament of Reconciliation;

ANNUAL celebration of the feast (memorial) of St.Benedict is to be observed by enjoining all members to pray the Novena to St.Benedict from July 2 to 10, and hear Holy Mass on July 11 in honour of the saint.

OTHER regular activities must include studies of the Scripture, Catechism of the Catholic Church, lessons on Healing and Deliverance, and other Christian formation materials that maybe required by each own member’s religious community. Novena prayer to the saints is also being encouraged.

Who are the regular recipients of prayers of the members of Knights of Saint Benedict?

1. The Pope (Magisterium);
2. The Bishops and Cardinals;
3. All the Catholic Clergy;
4. All Religious Orders, Congregations, Apostolates, etc.;
5. The KSB Spiritual Adiver;
6. All KSB members and prayer warriors;
7. The souls in purgatory (including souls of the aborted and miscarried babies);
8. The sick, the dying, the poor, the oppressed and the infested (physical, psychological, emotional, moral, spiritual);
9. All families (sanctification of families, parents & children to Jesus and Mary);
10.  Own-self, own families, relatives and love-ones, friends and benefactors;

What are the devotions being promoted by KSB?

Catholic devotions help us in our Spiritual journey, that is, a journey towards holiness where each member of the church is called. The following are being promoted and every member is being encouraged to participate (but not limited to the following):

1. Devotion to Saint Benedict – as the name of the team implies;
2. Marian Devotions. – e.g. Lady of Fatima, Lady of Lourdes, Lady of Guadalupe, Virgin of Manaoag, Mother of Perpetual Help, Lady of the Miraculous Medal, Lady of Mt.Carmel, etc.;
3. Devotion to the Two Hearts of Jesus and Mary (Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart) and to the Holy Family (with St.Joseph);
4. Devotion to Holy Angels and Saints (St.Michael the archangel, St.Padre Pio, St.Gemma Galgani, St.John Marie Vianney, St.Therese of Child Jesus, St.Francis, etc.);
5. Devotion and Novena to the Holy Spirit;
6. Devotion to the Holy Cross of Jesus;
7. Devotion to the Holy Wounds of Christ;
8. Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament

What are the sacramentals recommended by KSB? (not limited to the ff.)

1. St. Benedict Medal (blessed/exorcised by a priest);
2. St.Benedict Crucifix (preferably wooden Cross, blessed/exorcised by a priest);
3. Brown Scapular (wool) (blessed and imposed by a priest);
4. Images of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Catholic Saints; Image of the Holy Family;
5. Relics of the Saints;
6. Holy Water / Exorcised Water;
7. Blessed or Exorcised Salt;
8. Blessed / Exorcised Oil