Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Psychics and Sundays
RCIA was very good last night. We've had some personnel changes and now our priest is teaching three out of four weeks a month. Last night, I actually learned a few things and the discussion was excellent.
In discussing the first three commandments, which all deal with love of God, we had a lively talk about psychics and exorcism and astrology and Ouija Boards and the like. Our priest said that dabbling in such things violate the first three commandments and are also dangerous. There are such things as evil spirits, you can't believe in God and Jesus without believing in the Devil/Satan, and you shouldn't open yourself up to the occult. This is far different from using your God-given gifts for the good of man. It isn't wrong, for example, for a psychic to help the police solve crimes, but it is wrong for a psychic to try to make contact with the dead like so many do on TV these days. The difference? The psychic on TV is undermining faith in God: people go to these psychics because they are worried about loved ones, whether they are in heaven, whether they are suffering, etc... faith and trust in God should be answer enough for those questions.
Note: Jesus cast demons out of people and in every case, the demon knew who Jesus was and feared Him. Those men in power at the time, however, did not recognize Jesus for who he was.
We also talked about keeping the sabbath holy. We need to attend Mass weekly and there are very few excuses that make any sense since there are Masses in town from 5pm on Saturday until 7pm on Sunday. Make Sunday different from the other days. Try not to focus on secular things so much, try to have some time for God.
Things I learned:
In discussing the first three commandments, which all deal with love of God, we had a lively talk about psychics and exorcism and astrology and Ouija Boards and the like. Our priest said that dabbling in such things violate the first three commandments and are also dangerous. There are such things as evil spirits, you can't believe in God and Jesus without believing in the Devil/Satan, and you shouldn't open yourself up to the occult. This is far different from using your God-given gifts for the good of man. It isn't wrong, for example, for a psychic to help the police solve crimes, but it is wrong for a psychic to try to make contact with the dead like so many do on TV these days. The difference? The psychic on TV is undermining faith in God: people go to these psychics because they are worried about loved ones, whether they are in heaven, whether they are suffering, etc... faith and trust in God should be answer enough for those questions.
Note: Jesus cast demons out of people and in every case, the demon knew who Jesus was and feared Him. Those men in power at the time, however, did not recognize Jesus for who he was.
We also talked about keeping the sabbath holy. We need to attend Mass weekly and there are very few excuses that make any sense since there are Masses in town from 5pm on Saturday until 7pm on Sunday. Make Sunday different from the other days. Try not to focus on secular things so much, try to have some time for God.
Things I learned:
- I had never heard of St. Anthony of the Desert. A wonderful piece of history.
- I had never heard that the Nazis of WW II were involved in the occult.
- I had never heard that one of the reasons Jesus made people so mad was that he repeatedly used phrases that began with "I am" which is very close to the name of God "I am that I am" (YHWH). In a society where the name of God is taboo to say aloud, Jesus caused eyes to pop by flirting along the edge of saying that name. "I am come not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it." "I am come to set man against his father." "I am the bread of life" "I am the door." "yet a little while I am with you." etc.
- We should set aside 15 minutes a day for prayer time, try to make it the same time every day. Perhaps you can read the Bible in that time, or keep a journal of thoughts, or just be silent... make the time dedicated to silence alone with God.
