Fight for it Mama!
This is for all you women who spend your days trying to keep your family together. You serve your husband, raise your children, tend your household, and nurture your people so that all of them are cared for, appreciated, and hopefully harmonious. Now, unless your home is different than mine, you know that this ideal is not always achieved. You’re supposed to keep the dishes and laundry moving, the darling little dependents fed, cleaned, and clothed, the dog alive (yes, most days that’s enough), the toys accounted for (except, always, one puzzle piece), and you’d like to appear calm and collected when your husband is home lest he start to think he’s married to a perpetual grump.
You love these people and you take your vocation seriously, but still, there are plenty of days where people fight, messes don’t get cleaned, and you, for all the love and peace you try to permeate throughout your family, well, you can barely even keep yourself together, much less navigate the needs of everyone else orbiting around you demanding attention you just don’t have to give, and so you get frustrated.
Who do they think you are anyway? Athena, Demeter, and Aphrodite all melded into one gray sweat suit and a pair of fake Ugg boots?
I have come to recognize this overwhelming, taken-for-granted, snide-and-snippy, feeling as ripe grounds for spiritual attack. Devils are real, they are the bad angels that turn away from God, and they don’t like happy, functioning families, which means they especially don’t like happy Mamas.You have to be ready for spiritual battle. Think of it kind of like the Orkin™ commercials where the unsuspecting homeowner answers the doorbell only to find a human-sized pest trying to lie his way into the home.
Demons cannot act on you internally, you own the powers of your soul, but they will try to pull your attention externally toward things that will tempt you to vice, they can make you imagine things. Have you ever been distracted by something that, deep in your heart, you knew you really were not worried about at all? For instance, do you ever notice that you have begun to pettily fixate on insignificant faults of your husband? Do you notice at times that even though you love and adore your children, you seem unable to engage with them without being side-tracked by minor imperfect details that tempt you to lose your temper? Does the list of things you need to do around the house suddenly overwhelm you, when the day before you just accepted that perpetual busy-ness comes with motherhood? What happened?
Your family’s happiness and peace got the attention of the demonic little monsters, that’s what, and they have found a vulnerability for attack. But oh, the kicker — you let them.
You may not always catch it right away. Incrementalism is also a tool of Satan’s minions. The discontent happens slowly, while you think yourself quite fine, and then one day you realize you do not recognize the bitter, screeching, heathenistic mess, obsessed with stupid nonsense, that you have become. My number one clue that I have succumbed to the temptation of demons trying to harm my family is when I hear my own hurtful sarcasm, and my prayers sound like this:
“Dear God, do you see how they are? Look at them! How am I supposed to bear these people?”
Yep, I let the devils get to me. It takes practice to be prepared for spiritual battle in your home, but with vigilance you learn to see the signs and battle them head on. Don’t get angry if you fail, just try again and never give up. Despair is also a vulnerability. Satan would like us to give up and crouch aside as our families fall apart. No way! There is a big arsenal of spiritual weaponry to fight devils, but here are a few things I’ve come to rely on, the first two are more of my own little defenses, the last two are serious and should be heeded by everyone.
1) Giant Sign-of-the Cross and High Kick Prayer: I’m serious. Let it rip! This is usually my first reaction when I realize that I’ve let those demons into the house and things seem out of control. I stand strong, toss my hair back, and make one giant sign-of-the-cross, proclaiming the sacred words loudly, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” (Don’t forget the “of the’s.”) Then I kick my foot high in the air and hold up my fists and order, “Get out!”** In case they didn’t think I was serious, I usually repeat the prayer a few times. How dare they invade my home!
**UPDATE: Please see Brad’s comment below about not addressing demons directly. Ask the Lord to rebuke them.
2) Holy Water Sprinkling and Dousing: Do not waste this precious water, but if you can get a small bottle, or several, to keep in the house, do so. Don’t be afraid to sprinkle Holy Water on the culprits: iPods, computers, televisions. I even once poured the whole bottle on my head when I was desperately at the end of my rope and needed to get a serious spiritual grip. God’s grace and mercy through our Lord Jesus Christ are limitless, but sometimes I need the dousing to make myself snap out of it already.
3) Confession: Without fail, I have noticed a direct correlation to my susceptibility to temptation and my frequenting of the Sacraments. Our family does not miss Mass or Holy Days of Obligation, but with the Sacrament of Reconciliation I too often get lazy. I find all kinds of excuses not to go: gas prices, nothing to wear, no one to watch the kids, I’ll wait until my husband goes with me, etc. Go to confession regularly. A clean soul can withstand temptation, a heavy soul will succumb much more easily.
4) Pray the Rosary: Do not just pray the Rosary yourself in the middle of the night because you forgot to do it during the day telling yourself that the Blessed Mother will finish it for you if you get passed the first Hail Mary (guilty, so many times). No, make it a priority. As the saying goes, “The family that prays together, stays together.” That does not mean that you pray it and hope that your husband and children will. It means that you take a matriarchal lead and protect a time and place for the family to pray together. This one I am working on, but it is abundantly clear that if this is done daily, demons cannot touch you or your happy, praying family.
And that brings me to a final point. The month of October is dedicated to the Holy Rosary. If you have not developed this family practice, join me in striving to do it now. The messiness of life will someday fade away, your failures in the minutia won’t matter and won’t even be remembered. What will matter and what will go on, are the fruits you bear from your time united in prayer. So, fight for it Mama, keep your home purified from negative forces!
May Mary help us to welcome within ourselves the grace emanating from these mysteries, so that through us we can “water” society, beginning with our daily relationships, and purifying them from so many negative forces, thus opening them to the newness of God. The Rosary, when it is prayed in an authentic way, not mechanical and superficial but profoundly, it brings, in fact, peace and reconciliation. It contains within itself the healing power of the Most Holy Name of Jesus, invoked with faith and love at the centre of each “Hail Mary”.
– Pope Benedict XVI in an address at the Basilica of St. Mary Major where he prayed the rosary with the faithful.
(Source, Catholic Culture)
UPDATE: Father Ryan Erlenbush has an (as always) excellent article about guardian angels today too. They can help you protect your family in spiritual battle. October 2 is the Feast of the Guardian Angels. If you do not follow his blog, I highly recommend you do so.
Oh! How I love this post! It’s something I’ve been taking note of lately and this is such a great reinforcement of my thoughts on how to deal with “The Invaders”!
I love this! I’ve been struggling to parent my two-year-old lately. Your words have opened my eyes to what I need to change. Thanks!
This is so wonderful and funny! I needed it. Thank you!
Dear Stacey:
I cannot thank you enough for this much-needed kick in the keister, to remind me of the real authority and influence I have as a mom . . . all visible evidence to the contrary.
I’m so grateful you took time to write this. Thank you.
God bless, Heidi Saxton
You are so on the mark!
My family (8 total) and I have been doing something similar for years.
1. We all go to confession and mass.
2. We pray together (rosary, deliverance prayers – ones that
name names of culprits are the best).
3. We each take a spray bottle of holy water and go throughout
the house – cupboards, closets, basement, and all – and
pray in the Name of Jesus that the evil spirits be bound
and cast out of our house and property.
4. We tske blessed salt and, saying the same prayer as in #3,
we encircle the house and then the property.
Doing this as a family has enormous benefits.
Remember to work from the inside out
(you, physically, and then your property).
This has made an enormous difference in our lives!
Again you have given some really good thoughts that even a fellow can use, and realized I need to get my little bottle for Holy Water refilled next time I go to Church. Use it mostly on my front door and computer, as a few ‘safe before’ research sites have become infected – have not caught anything – good virus protection and Holy Water I give credit too.
I don’t remember letting you in my house to make these observations. 😉
I really do like the incrementalism part of this b/c that is what I am susceptible to. Things are fine, things are fine, things are slightly less fine, things are not fine at all, my world is crumbling. Sounds about right.
I love the advice of going to confession. I find that is the one thing I can do to get myself back on track. They say if everyone is bothering you, the problem is probably YOU. That’s when I try to remain reflective and contemplative about what it is that I’m trying to accomplish through the day. Our vocation has to be primary and the work it entails can be very simple when I offer it all up for Him.
Thanks for this post. 🙂
Awesome post!
This is brilliant. Thank you so much!
Hey Catholic Sistas!
I stumbled onto your site today, following a link from Twitter. Your blog is fantastic! Admittedly, I haven’t had time to read through multiple entries. Yet, I am extremely impressed by the breadth and depth of the content you have available. Most sites hit just one area of living the Catholic faith, but you sistas have it all!
Give me a shout if you’re interested in publicizing yourselves more, because I would love to get behind such great content and help spread it to Catholic women everywhere. Keep up the great work – I’ll be checking back regularly!
Hey Catholic Sistas!
I stumbled onto your site today, following a link from Twitter. Your blog is fantastic! Admittedly, I haven’t had time to read through multiple entries. Yet, I am extremely impressed by the breadth and depth of the content you have available. Most sites hit just one area of living the Catholic faith, but you sistas have it all!
Give me a shout if you’re interested in publicizing yourselves more, because I would love to get behind such great content and help spread it to Catholic women everywhere. Keep up the great work – I’ll be checking back regularly!
Cassie
PS – Sorry if this just posted several times. Bit of a momentary internet glitch over here 🙂
Thank you for mentioning the “of the’s”. The grammar has great theological meaning, actually, regarding the Holy Trinity. (No, I’m not being sarcastic).
I would like to add that we should keep more than a small amount of holy water. Keep a large, beautiful glass vase or jug with a stopper in it. The water must flow from the church to the faithful and shouldn’t be used sparingly. It should be liberally made and liberally used. Exorcised salt is “better” in the sense that if the proper/full ritual is done at its creation, the salt is anti-demonic par excellence for the house, for food additive, for doorways, cars, etc.
Mrs. Trasancos, I am with you on your point 1, above. But, after having read Fr. Gabriele Amorth’s, exorcist for the Diocese of Rome, memoirs, I now no longer address demons directly, even a few choice words.
We are told often how we have all this potency as Christians. Do we have potency as skin divers when a 25′ great white shark comes up to us, in his milieu, and his jaws are as wide as our bodies, and we swing at his nose is our slow motion and rebuke him with bubbles? Not much. Demons are fallen angels and as has been told us, if we were to see the least of them, we would fall down and mistakenly worship them as God Himself, so spectacular is this species of creature, whether still pristine or fallen.
It’s best practice to not address the demons directly. The absolutely most prudent route is to say to the Lord, instead, “May You rebuke them”, which keeps the soul safer and at the same time does not usurp, even innocently, the Lord’s prerogative. Please see Zech 3:2 and Jude 1:9, especially if you can read the commentaries using the bible dot cc website.
May God bless you.
It’s not just the wife who needs this information… it is also the husband… assuming he is the spiritual leader of the family. How often does a man come home to a messy home and have the devil put thoughts into my head like “gee, what did my wife do all day?”. (I learned early in my marriage never to verbalize that thought). A Hail Mary or a prayer to St. Michael usually helps dismiss the evil one and helps the man realize that his wife probably had a harder day then he did at the office (or whereever).
Do say the rosary as a family. Convince your husband and then get the family together to do it. Start out small… maybe every Wednesday and then Sunday on the way to Mass. Then expand it to other days. It takes time, but our Lady will bless your family in ways you cannot imagine!!!
Brad,
Thank you for that point about not talking to demons directly. I am updating the post to refer people to your comment. Great advice to instead ask the Lord to rebuke them. I really appreciate your wisdom. I do remember reading that somewhere now, I think it was in Val Bianco’s book, Sons of Cain.
Also, great visual about the shark and bubbles.
I have a small bottle of holy water which I spray daily, on TV,computer, and each room.
I bless the car with the sign of the cross using holy water. When my daughter was driving to grad school with her dad in the car, she was seconds from a major accident. Shaken she pulled off the road and said to her dad, “Look, Mom blessed the car!” as the small cross was visible on the hood. (I also blessed the back of the car.) These acts of faith have helped grow her faith as well.
Hi;
My name is Jim and I am a Demonologist. I assist others pro bono with preternatural torments, most of which are engendered by occult dabbling, such as the Ouija board, tarot cards, and other ‘harmless’ occult dabblings. I get very busy prior to Halloween, Christmas and Easter. This article is very accurate. Without question, the main demonic attacks are upon Catholic families. The name demons fear the most, after God’s / Jesus’ naturally, is that of Mary. Satan, being proud, suffers much more by being defeated by this humble handmaiden of the Lord than by the divine power. After the Sacraments (especially Holy Mass & Confession), Mary’s Rosary, Holy water and Eucharistic adoration are the most potent tools we have. Even fallen Seraphim are put to flight via repetition of these ordinary means available to us all. Common demonic infestations begin with dark shadows, cold spots, nightly poundings, nightly whisperings, intrusive thoughts – especially involving either sin or suicide. Should anyone feel the need to chat, my email is Dukes2352@AOL.com. Cor ad Cor Loquitor, Jim.
Thank you! A reminder for me to be more pro active
God bless
Excellent article! Glad I am not the only one. And I am very grateful to Brad and Jim on their info as well. I feel weird talking about this with most people, but I feel comfortable here. About a week ago, I was at a pro-life meeting. I came back home and my 15-year-old daughter had just gone to bed. I had yelled up to her that a comedy show was on and surprised she went to bed. I was settling in downstairs when I heard her yell for me. I ran! I threw open her door and she said someone was watching her. She said she had the feeling that something bad was in her room and watching her. At first, I tried to dismiss it, but realized she was genuinely scared. Now I keep a bottle of Holy Water in her room and bless her every night with it. I took the bottle and yelled “In the name of Jesus Christ, I bind thee and (something like get out or begone, not sure now). I made the Sign of the Cross with the Holy Water in all four directions of her room and blessed her with it as well. I was more angry and defensive of my daughter than afraid and I know the courage came from God. Things calmed down and were fine. She said after I did that, the feeling wasn’t there anymore. Our dog had been outside and I brought her inside and she was fine. We started singing Christmas hymns and felt so much better. But in the future (and I just said the suggested prayer now, I will call on the Lord to rebuke any evil). I also know that it was the power of the Lord Jesus Christ that caused that horrible feeling to flee. There may be a logical explanation (anxiety, etc.), but I will say this prayer more often. And I ask for your prayers.
You are right on! ditch the TV and negative news and pray constantly.
I love the actual high kick you recommend. I once realized on a retreat that doing actual kickboxing moves (alone in my room) helped wake me up and get into the battle of prayer better! Sounds a little weird but it helped!
Thanks for the reminder!
Many thanks to the author and to all for sharing. I’m so happy to have found this site! There are so few people with whom I can discuss spiritual warfare. I know this will sound crazy…I’ve been a chaplain for twenty years. Every single time I have moved to a new form of this ministry (usually with increasing influence, especially in hospice work with the dying) something happens that seems to try to block this. It’s been car accidents, bacterial meningitis, even hurricanes that destroyed my home. In those twenty years, I’ve been working on and off on a model of pastoral care that I wasn’t allowed to use for my master’s thesis. They said it was doctoral work. Soon after, I was devastated in divorce and afer all this time have not recovered to be able to even consider that option. Last year, I was offered an opportunity to work on a grant at a new hospital where the foundation came to know this model and wanted to publish it, along with the work of the other eight grant sites. Within less than a wek of this being stated at a large meeting with lots of hospital management by the foundation representative, my life and job became a nightmare. I was suddenly driven by abusive behavior from all directions to the point of two medical leaves. While I was out on leave trying to recover from these injuries, a co-worker filed two pages of false accusations against me, which I learned on the day of my return. I was not allowed to respond. I lost my job, my health, and whatever I had left to live on having moved three thousand miles to come here for this work. The foundation continued to offer it’s support i.e. wanted me to present this model at the chaplain’s national conference, but having lost my job just two weeks before, I could not go. I am grateful to God that I found a new position within less than two months…but it offers none of the opportunities to present this work, nor to teach, etc. that I had before. I am devastated that after twenty years of work I came so close to what seemed my destiny and it vanished. I’ve become frightened to continue in minstry having always gotten so hurt and nearly killed three times in the past. this latest experience, was the most horrifying evil I’ve even encountered yet. I wonder if I should just be grateful to have this job where I am able to see patients and let the rest go? why would the Lord bring me so close and then allow others to take this away? The thing is, every time I’ve ever applied it, it is extremely beneficial in amazing ways. I realize that if it is of value…there would be many others more qualified than myself to eventually teach it. But, I had a vision many years ago…the Lord symbolically showed me this work. I knew it was something I was meant to do, with His help. I feel like giving up and, as Paul said, keep quiet, mind my own business and earn a living. But some little spark of energy remains to share this before I leave this world. Finally, after a few months, I asked the foundation rep to please debrief me on my experience for the sake of my own healing. At first she kindly agreed. Now, after days I haven’t heard from her (not like her.) I wonder if she’s spoken to the hospital for their thoughts about this. Already in my new job, my former boss has attempted to discredit me through someone he knows there. I ask the Lord to please show me His will and help me follow Him. I just can’t understand…I really can’t understand how a group of well-educated, well-intentioned people could have turned so vicious so quickly and now, I feel, devastated me and my life more than they could even realize and why? Of course, I could say why the car accidents, illness and hurricanes too..my patients ask this of me. Of course, I have no answer but hope and pray to guide them to their own meaning…usually some kind of spiritual healing if they are open to it. Feels like the blind leading the blind right now. Thanks for listening…blessings to all, Susan
Hmmm. I had a comment and request for help regarding all the spiritual warfare I’ve faces as a chaplain and hospice chaplain these past twenty years. But it wouldn’t let me post. Odd…it let me post this. Many thanks to the author for a wonderful article and to each of you for your insightful sharing. I will keep you in prayer and am so glad to have found this site. I hope you will please pray for me…this electronic issue is just the tip of the iceberg. Blessings, Susan
OK, it did…sorry anout that. See, I’m getting paranoid 🙂
+JMJ+
Thanks for a very well written article!
Maureen,
I can imagine it seems weird to talk about, but I have heard so many stories like that. It’s beautiful how you protected your daughter. I will remember your family in prayers.
Susan,
Your last one liner cracked me up!
But seriously, I am not an expert on demonology, I just know what I experience and the presence of demons is almost tangible at times, it was strongest when I was converting to Catholicism and decided I refused to be taunted by their lies (you’re a failure, God won’t love you, the Church wouldn’t accept you, why would anyone love you). The more I prayed, the more I felt threatened, a palpable anxiety — like my brain would obsess about things my mind didn’t care about (I’d obsess about what people did and what they thought of me, when deep down I knew it didn’t matter and I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong towards them.). It’s like I could feel demons tempting me.
However, again, I kept praying and over time the struggle has gotten easier. Knowing that it is demons helps a lot — of course I’m not going to listen to them.
But I don’t know what to recommend for you. Perhaps you could contact Jim with his gracious offer. You should also talk to your priest.
Thanks for your comments.
What I appreciate the most about this article, is how you demonstrate with your personal challenges, how the demonic ultimately attacks the mind and thought life, and the fruit of such. And then you share what remedy works for you and your family. It is that simple and subtle.
Jesus is the exorcist. We have NO authority. It is by HIS cross, death, and resurrection, and power; by Christ’s authority the enemies of Him must flee. God knows our frail nature and human condition, and we will make mistakes along the way in the battle. We learn more from the mistakes in spiritual warfare, than the successes.
Jim made me chuckle when he referred to himself as a demonologist. Christ IS the demonologist. He said, “rejoice because your name’s are written in Heaven, not because the demons are subject to you.” (paraphrase) Legalistically speaking we cannot afford to get caught up in terminology and practices, and proper semantics, for it is the disposition of the soul allowing Christ to manifest is what cause the demons to tremble and to flee.
With the sacraments, we will never go wrong. With the rosary, we have Heavenly assistance. Ordinary catholic practices hold the key to victory. When in doubt, consult a priest. Lay people have a common priesthood, but priests have a ministerial priesthood, and carry the full authority of the church through the sacrament of ordination. A layperson does not have that authority. God bless. Thanks for the humorous but real insight.
Stacy,
You don’t have any idea how much I needed this post today. What a blessing. Thank you so much.
Great post! There was recently something similar on this site: http://rcspiritualdirection.com/blog/2012/10/01/which-saints-suffered-from-temptations-and-evil-thoughts
So so so so so perfect. I am blogging about the topic of anger this month. This is so straight from the Holy Spirit to me. Thank you!!
Hi Stacy, I just read your article and found it to be very thoughtful and gave alot of insight in daily family dealings.
In your article, you mentioned 4 ways of getting demons out of your home, but I have to ask you this, what about fasting and reading of the bible, do these get demons out of your home/life.
Also too can you rank them out of the points that you mentioned in the article which one is the most effective in getting demons out of your home/life
Kick out Satan of your home. One of the best idea I came across was from a book titled “Begone Satan”. It tells of a possessed person,whom the devil was talking through, was pained whenever the exorcist priest comes to his room. The devil feared and was pained by the WOODEN CRUCIFIX in the priest’s pocket. He also explained why he feared and was pained by it. I also read in the story of Mama Mary’s life in a book titled “The Magnificent City of God” that all the demons from hell were brought brought infront of Our Lord during the crucifixion.
Also, in one of Mama Mary’s apparition, she advised placing a wooden crucifix on top of the door of houses. I found out personally that no evil spirit can come into my house. Better, yet I placed one in every room in my house.
Great article!
I just need to know how ofen does one bless the rooms of the house with the two sacramental? Holy water and blessed salt.
This works great in the work place, also. I get to work early and sprinkle holy waterand blessed salt around everyone’s desk, phone, computer, chair, jackets, carpet, and doors for everyone entering the dept. It helps and yes, I even sprinkle myself. final note, read The Life of St. Joseph, awesome book. You have no idea what the Holy Family really went through. Reading that book, does something to you. Gave a talk at religion class on St. Joseph and when the children went to church, the first question was, “which one is St. Joseph’s statue?”
Very good article! Very well said, thank you. It was quite a treat to read it.
I want to add one comment re: “we own the powers of our soul”. I had the most interesting conversation one day with a group of dear friends on whether or not the ennemy can read our thoughts… and as you mentioned, our soul, at least the inner sanctum of our soul, is ours – and God’s. But, as another famous Phd woman described (the great Teresa of Avila) the castle of our soul has many chambers and in the entrance rooms on the outskirt, demons are lurking and going in and out and are very busy tempting us in many ways…usually through our senses, the sense of smell (a delicious cooking smell becomes overpowering and makes us forget what we had previously decided to do), of hearing (someone’s voice suddently gets “grating” and turns us off completely and we don’t even listen to what they are saying any more), etc… One more thing: in the list of weapons, of ways to get us in shape spiritually-speaking, the Jesus Prayer is a must.
Thanks again, Stacy.
I read somewhere- was it St. Therese?- that said, if a child so much as looked an evil spirit in the eye, it would flee in terror- they are afraid of simple confidence. So much of what you describe as your worries are just simple human responses and weaknesses. It is only human to feel stressed by the demands placed upon you in your state in life, especially when these demands seem to threaten your happiness, well-being , or that of those you love most. I’d say you’re not being bombarded by devils. If, as someone mentioned, those cookies tempt you , then it is the cookies tempting you, not a devil trying to get you to eat them. You recognize on your own the pleasure that would come from eating them and you have a choice to make if you’d rather make a sacrifice and not eat them… with no need for any devils to influence. Keep your peace in God, that is all you need.
Can anyone direct me to more information on why it’s vital to include the “of the” when making the Sign of the Cross? I’d like to learn more.
AM,
It’s something I remember from the catechism books I use for our elementary kids! I’m trying to find exactly where I read that, but that’s all I remember reading. Don’t forget the “of the’s.”
That’s the way the prayer goes, and it’s too easy to speed through it and leave out those repeated words.
If you left out the second and third “of the” for the Son and the Holy Spirit, it could imply that they are not equal with the Father, and misrepresent the mystery of the Blessed Trinity.
That’s now how Christ said it in Matthew 28:19.
http://www.newadvent.org/bible/mat028.htm
“Going therefore, teach all nations: baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.”
That’s how the Latin translates, in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.
I hope that helps! Maybe someone else can chime in. I always took it as a matter of saying the prayer right, the significance being that the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity are equal, one God. The repeated “of the’s” signify that.
To Amy;
Normally, I don’t follow up, but I’d like to politely add: I am a demonologist. The word demonology simply refers to someone who studies demons, in my case from a Catholic perspective. And I concur; all our power is not ours, but belongs to Our Lord Jesus Christ. No dispute there. But in the Gospels,Jesus did in fact give us lay folks power over demons, although I’d caution others to follow strict limitations. God Bless you.
Thank you. It is good to read these Catholic words of encouragement and advice.
Catholic’s focus on self-perfection for the love of God.
The World focuses on self-centeredness for the love of self.
We had a home in Costa Rica with a strange vibe. I have lived offshore for decades, and never experienced anything like this. In any case I doused the apt with holy water.
The neighbor told my wife that a tourist had women come to visit in the upstairs apartment where he lived, and eventually he was found murdered.
One evening when the upstairs apt was vacant at about 3 am I heard a terrible commotion upstairs. It was the sound of someone running the length of the apartment, back and forth followed by the sound of someone jumping up and down on the bed upstairs. I am certain that the apt was vacant at the time.
I was half furious, and half fearful but in a loud clear voice I called out, In the name of Jesus, I command you satan be gone. I repeated it a couple of times, and it ceased.
The next night at the same hour it happened again. I called out in the same fashion and it ceased.
It never happened again, but I did sell the apt.