Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Archives

Demonology

Seductions of the Evil Spirit

September 7, 1997

Part 1 of 7

by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed are thou among women and blessed is the Fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Mary, Seat of Wisdom, pray for us. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

The Evil Spirit in the World – Diabolical Activity and Power

Our second course is on the evil spirit and you will find, I think you have the same chart that I have on the second page of your notes: The Evil Spirit in the World: Diabolical activity and power.

The Devil Exists and can be Known

First, by way of introduction: the devil exists and can be known. I cannot tell you how widespread is disbelief in the evil spirit especially among those who are supposed to be teachers of the Faith in the Catholic Church. In other words, without dwelling on this because the subject is an ocean, our task in this course is not to prove the existence of the evil spirit. It is, rather, to describe both how the evil spirit operates and how we are to cope with his demonic activity. It is part of the Church’s infallible teaching that the devil exists. The occasion for the Church’s definition was the rise of two heresies: one in the late 4^th century called Manicheism and another in the 13^th century called Albigensianism. To indicate what kind of persons the devil can seduce; St. Augustine was a Manichean for nine years. However, in the 13^th century St. Dominic was, we may say, brought into the Church by the Holy Spirit to found the Order of Preachers, the Dominicans, and the occasion for the rise of the Dominican Order was the resurgence of Manicheism but now under the name of Albigensianism. We don’t know how many dioceses in France went Albigensian; a good estimate was forty dioceses. And this is one reason why St. Thomas Aquinas - the greatest mind that the Order of Preachers has produced - St. Thomas Aquinas has the most extensive and the most profound treatment on the evil spirit in Catholic Theology. This is still the introduction.

The Devil Came Into Existence as the Result of Self-will

The teaching of Sacred Scripture: the devil appears at the dawn of created history. In fact that’s how the devil first came into existence. The devil came into existence when the angels created by God and put on probation. We don’t know how many but very many refused to submit to the God who created them. In other words, the devils came into existence as the result of self-will. Self-will created the devils and, unlike us, unlike us the devils who fell were not given the chance to repent which St. Ignatius makes a great deal of to remind us how grateful we should be for two things: That we are created as rational human beings; and that, unlike the fallen angels, we have been redeemed and can repent. We’re all sinners – thanks to God’s mercy. The Church’s teaching, Her Magisterium and Catholic spirituality – I cannot exaggerate the role of the evil spirit in the great writings of the Spiritual Masters over the centuries. In other words, we don’t begin to begin to understand Catholic spirituality unless and until we realize that part of that spiritual life is a conflict with the evil spirit.

We better know how to cope with this evil spirit

Christ could not have been more plain when He began His public ministry: He chose – He chose – to be first tempted by the devil to teach us that we too will be – dear Lord, what a safe statement – we’ll be tempted by the evil spirit and we’d better know how to cope with this evil spirit.

Still on the introduction, why have lectures on the evil spirit? Over the years of my teaching, I’ve given many lectures in demonology, but I thought I would condense into eight lectures what is from one perspective an ocean, from another is a mountain.

Demonology is a vast science. Why? Because to know that the devils exist, and know how they operate, and how we are to cope with the demonic operations is part of our Faith. And let me tell you the modern popes, our present one (John Paul II) and especially Paul VI – what he saw then beginning to take place in the Catholic Church – what I keep telling one audience after another; the most devastating crisis in the 2000 years of Catholic History right now is mainly the work of the evil spirit. But we’d better both believe that, and know how to cope with the devil.

The devil mainly seduces through the mind

Again the phenomenal depth and spread of evil in the modern world, especially hear it, – oh hear it! – the devil is mainly - as Christ identifies - himself, the liar ! In other words, the devil mainly seduces through the mind, through the mind! You don’t begin to begin to cope with demonic temptations unless our minds are thoroughly grounded in not just the meaning but the understanding of our Faith. And let’s be honest, the devil is smarter than any human being, naturally. We’ll deal with this at length, but the phenomenal depth and spread of evil in the modern world; but please don’t forget: All evil is the result of error. Why? Because the will, which is a product of the will – We change the sentence: Evil, which is a product of the will, depends on the mind sowing error. That is why may I suggest you read in Matthew’s Gospel, both Parables: the Parable, remember of the Good Seed which fell on different kinds of ground, remember? But also the Parable that follows that one of the Sower sowing wheat during the day, and at night and then he comes along – only farmers could think of practicing this kind of hatred. During the night an enemy of the good farmer sows weeds – during the night. And then as both the wheat and the weeds began to grow remember? The workman told the farmer, weeds are growing up, shall we pull them out? No, he said, don’t. There’s a danger in pulling out the weeds, you’re liable to pull out the wheat too. Wait until harvest time. Then we’ll pick up both the weeds and the wheat. Then, the weeds we will bundle up and throw them into the fire to burn. And the wheat we’ll store in the barns.

You don’t sow what you don’t have: We better know the truth and understand it

That parable is crucially important to understand what’s going on in the world today. There is so much error being sown. And sown sadly in Catholic circles. Oh, what names I could identify: priests, theologians, bishops! And we’re asking; why lecture on the evil spirit? Because there is so much error sown by the evil spirit; and we who believe that we possess the Truth – and that’s the third reason – must be inspired to what I’m calling the catechetical apostolate, which means sowing the truth. You don’t sow what you don’t have. We better know the truth. We better understand it. I never, in my wildest dreams, expected what has taken place when I should entered the Society of Jesus after finishing my undergraduate university studies. I think I’ve told some of you; the Sunday night before the Wednesday before that I entered the Novitiate, remember – took Josephine for dinner. Stupidly, I told her, “Jo, I’m entering the Jesuit Novitiate on Wednesday.” Well, I bought a perfectly good meal. She didn’t touch it. I could have eaten more, but I figured I’d better not. And then from 1936 when I entered the Society of Jesus with a graduate degree in Philosophy and then fifteen years later began teaching Theology. That’s a lot of education. How the mind today must be trained, trained to the limit to cope with the demonic intelligence of those who are being used by the evil spirit.

The Basics of Demonic Activity

Our first lecture will be on the Basics of Demonic Activity and Power. And as I’ve said in our previous course, all we can do is just, I don’t want to say touch on but deal with the very basic basics – the subject is enormous.

The devil envied God

First: Hatred and the Devil. The devil became a devil because of envy. The devil envied God. Who does God think he is telling me what to do? Am I to submit to Him? And that envy, as we know once it was practiced by Lucifer and his followers – Hell came into existence. There would be no Hell except for envy. There would be no devil except for envy. And then and I may have recommended this on a previous occasion. Try to get a copy of a letter – it’s about maybe forty pages in ordinary sized English print; The Letter of St. Clement I, Pope to the Corinthians - the Letter of St. Clement I to the Corinthians. The whole letter - date about 90 A.D. and for sometime, among some people was considered part of the Bible, which it’s not. But the whole letter is on envy. If there’s one thing that I believe Our Lord wants me to recommend to you during these lectures on the devil – Be sure to examine your consciences, pardon me, let’s all of us examine our consciences on how much and how envy is still one of the major temptations of our lives.

Envy - the sadness a person feels over someone having what I lack

What is envy? Envy is the sadness that a person feels over someone having what I lack. The devil began by envying God. He was thrown into hell. Then the human race was created. As I think I’ve said on some occasion, the Fathers of the Church believed that there would have been no human race had some of the angels not sinned; that as many human beings will be created before the end of time as there were demons who envied God and were cast into Hell. Once the human race was created, the devil then envied the first human beings and he started with the woman. I would not be honest with you if I do not share with you the universal teaching of the Church. And we know what happened – the devil envying now the human race which would replace the devil in heaven but on the Fall.

Christ’s Passion and Death was the result of envy

St Clement goes through the whole Old Testament one major, one major calamity after another was the result of envy. And then the crowning, the crowning calamity of the human race – God became Man and the devil tempted this Man who claimed to be God; the devil wasn’t sure. Christ, of course, repelled the devil. And before we go any further – the best single formula for resisting the devil is the example of Christ when He was tempted by the evil spirit – a course all by itself. Then they all wanted to make sure that Christ was put to death. So what did he do? He inspired the Jewish leaders, the Scribes, the Sadducees, the Pharisees to what? To envy Jesus Christ: Christ’s Passion and Death was the result of envy.

The one infallible weapon to overcome the evil spirit is the Cross!

As we read the rest of Scripture, the enemies of Christ among the Chosen people thought we would be rid of this Man who claimed to be God. But it didn’t work. They killed Him. And for the first three hundred years they did everything in their power to wipe out the Christians. And before we go on much further with the course, let’s make sure we know this: the one weapon, the one infallible weapon for overcoming the evil spirit is the Cross! And how the devil has seduced millions, in our age, to seek pleasure, more pleasure and the last thing that millions want is pain or suffering. That’s why and I’m absolutely certain Dr. Kevorkian is possessed by the devil. No question whatever.

Why does the devil hate human beings? First of all, the devil hates God because God justly punished the devil. And this is the best definition for real demonic hatred. Hatred is the result of not only envying: But then hating the one who punishes you for your envy.

In other words, the worst form of hatred is the hatred of the evil spirit who hates God. Why? Because God has justly punished the devil for his envy. He hates human beings, therefore - that’s the devil - first, because he envies what we all hope to attain, namely Heaven. And he envies us for our redemption. Only God knows and St. Paul in the Letter to the Hebrews makes much of this; God chose to become a Man to redeem the human race. God never chose to become an angel to redeem the angelic race.

How does the devil exercise his hatred? In other words, this is a summary of our course. Am I clear? We were to say more as we go along. And it is very useful, to put it mildly, to understand how the devil hates us. However that yet is crucially important. Yet the devil’s hatred is always subject to God’s Providence.

We ask God to protect us from temptations He foresees we would not be able to resist

And listen to this. Over the centuries there have been more commentaries on the Lord’s Prayer than any other single part of the New Testament. Here’s how the saints explain the petition, “Lead us not into temptation.” What are we asking for in that petition of the Lord’s Prayer? We’re asking God to protect us from going into temptations which God foresees we would not be strong enough to resist. Let me repeat. All kinds of temptations - as we know there are three principal sources of temptation - the world, the flesh and the devil. When, therefore, we pray lead us not into temptation, protect us, we ask God from those temptations that You foresee we would not be able to resist. And this is where – oh, how I need to say this! I’ll say much more as we go along.

The modern media are engaged in Luciferian conspiracy against the Truth

Remember, remember, all temptations begin in the mind. Always error, and when the error is deliberate, it’s a lie. Consequently, the one demonic temptation we better hear about, as we begin this course, is the MEDIA. I’ve used this quotation more than once, remember from Marshall McLuen – his definition of the modern media; “The modern media are engaged in a Luciferian conspiracy against the truth.” How we better, what word shall I use – careful, that’s an understatement; cautious, an understatement; wary, an understatement – not to be deceived by the father of lies and using the media! And when people have asked me, you keep telling us that our present century is the most crime-laden century in human history: No question about it. How do you explain it? In one word – Media. And that is why – I may have mentioned this before – among the directives I received from the Holy See was a formal order from Pope Paul VI – “do everything you can, everything you can to alert the American people, or the world leaders in the media; Alert them to the need for using the media to proclaim the Gospel because your nation is being seduced by the evil spirit through the media. And the first and the most powerful media is print. I’m not sure I’ve ever said this before – that’s the main reason over the years I have spent by now thousands of hours writing for publication. We are to compete with the evil spirit who is using the media to seduce whole nations.

Forms of Demonic Activity

Now the forms of demonic activity: There are two fundamental forms of this diabolical action. Now we’ve got to distinguish between what I’m calling evil done by the devil; and then secondly, the devil trying to induce human beings to do evil. We’ll say more as the course goes on. I repeat, not just eight lectures – eighty lectures would be too few. In other words, the devil not only seduces or tempts people to sin. The devil is allowed by God to do evil, to harm people.

The two fundamental forms of demonic action

When, then we ask, what are the two fundamental forms of demonic action? We distinguish between the devil doing evil; and the devil tempting, seducing people. Evil done by the devil is extraordinary demonic activity. And this we will examine at some length.

All suffering in the world is somehow, mysteriously, the result of sin

First, in general, note the word extraordinary demonic activity. Now there is one sense, and a profound sense, in which evil has been done to the world by the devil that we have been enduring now over the centuries. The moment we say, as we do say as Catholics, all the suffering in the world is somehow mysteriously the result of sin.

How did sin first enter the world, and with sin, death and with death, suffering? That’s what all bodily suffering whether it be external, or with the senses of the body – all our suffering, I repeat, whether corporeal in the body externally, or emotions of the body internally – all of that is a result of sin, and is a constant reminder of our being sinners.

The more pain we have in our lives; the more holy God wants us to become

I could not speak louder; there’s no amplifier that God has that is louder than pain! Am I still clear?

Pain is God telling us, my friend, I love you. I love you but you are a sinner, and you’re going to die. And your death is a result of sin. What God wants through the pain that we endure – to make us what? More conformed to His Divine Will! Because, hear it, the more pain we have in our lives, the more holy God wants us to become. Memorize that. The more pain we have in our lives, the more holy God wants us to become. In other words, God has always a divinely good purpose through the suffering that we experience. Evil done by the devil is extraordinary demonic activity. And we’ll spend some time but not too much on local infestation. In other words, the devil can be in places, can do things, which only he can perform. Again the devil can be active outside of a person, which is called obsession and the Cure of Ars for most of his priestly life – he suffered obsession from the devil. Over the years of his priesthood, he got very little sleep, thanks to the devil.

While, then, also possession when the devil enters into a human being, but never, hear it, never controls that person’s will in such a way that the person has lost his or her freedom. While that person that is possessed may say things and do things which are demonic; but, I repeat, those demonic actions are not performed by the free will of the human being in cooperation with the devil.

The evil spirit is real!

However, and again, this is a subject all by itself. Satanism is now being practiced where the people then are not merely possessed by the devil, but cooperate with the evil spirit so that, then, they and the devil do things which are then mutually responsible to both a person who is satanic and the evil spirit who is using that person. And among the appearances on television that I finally turned down – was a midnight till two o’clock dialogue with a Satanist. We exchanged correspondence. We talked to each other over the telephone. But when the time came and the program was scheduled – a television station in Chicago – by that time I had acquired so much information from the Satanist that I needed more time to cope with the devil; two hours on television dialoguing with a Satanist – you’d better prepare! So I asked for a later, at least two weeks. The Satanist said “no more.” So then I begged off. The director of the television station called me up from Chicago, “Father, please, please, please be on that program on the scheduled time for I’m afraid they’re going to do great harm to me.” We’ll say more as we go along. Let me tell you, the evil spirit is real! We’d better know as much as we can about his operations.

Now the evil induced by the devil being, induced by the devil through temptation. We mention these three words which we all know from St. John. We are tempted in three ways: by the world, by the flesh and by the devil. Let’s make sure we know what each one, let’s make sure we know what each form of temptation mean.

The World – the attractive, appealing sinful behavior of other people

The world is the attractive, appealing, sinful behavior of other people; the attractive, appealing sinful behavior of other people. That in St. John’s vocabulary is the world. How we’d better know this. How we’d better know this! There is no such thing – doesn’t exist – as a repulsive or an ugly temptation. It wouldn’t be a temptation.

Now the devil may and does use human beings to tempt others; but our Faith distinguishes - just a sinful, attractive behavior of other people - is what the Church means by the world. Am I clear? I think I’ve told you, I’ve counted fourteen different meanings of the single Greek word cosmos in St. John which is the world; cosmos – fourteen different meanings. Among the fourteen different meanings is this one. But the world was created by God. God did not create the world to seduce people. And that is why we need the Church to explain the meaning; what the Scriptures tell us here about the word “world.”

Secondly, the flesh – how this needs to be said – the flesh does not mean only, only the temptations of the body, like sexual seduction. No! By the flesh St. John means concupiscence. In other words, when our first parents were first seduced and note the sequence: first devil, then Eve, then Adam, and then the rest of the human race. When the devil tempted Adam there was….

Continued on the back side of the tape:

…human being before Eve to tempt our first parents. And I hesitate saying it but I think I should how the devil uses the attractiveness of women. I have been a priest for too many years and not only or even mainly, hear it, sexual seduction. The most effective agents of the Communists for seventy years were women. Do you hear me? And we do not begin to begin to understand feminism unless we understand the evil spirit, which the Holy Fathers, several of them, including the present one (JPII); the greatest single threat to the Catholic Church in one country after another is feminism.

But flesh means concupiscence, our fallen human nature except for certain – only the Mother of Jesus, the Mother of God - only when she was conceived, the only human person; Christ was not a human person, He was a Divine Person with a human nature. The only human person, that our Faith tells us infallibly was conceived without concupiscence, without this urge inside of us to sin; that urge, I repeat, is not a sin but we are all urged to sin and the two synonyms for that urge to sin are concupiscence, speaking theologically and the flesh, speaking biblically. But once more, you would not have concupiscence unless the human race had been successfully tempted by the devil. And finally the devil himself.

In other words, when we repeat with St. John the three principal sources of temptation, the world, the flesh and the devil, both the world and the flesh are already agents of the evil spirit from the dawn of human history. But the devil continues here and now. He is active in tempting people and that is what the Church means by giving us three sources of temptation. In other words, the devil tempts us right now, today, and tomorrow, and the day after. And we’re going to analyze the demonic temptations. All we’re doing in this first lecture is giving an overview of how the devil is active in the world.

The Power of the Devil

Unless I’m mistaken, Mass is scheduled for 5, am I correct? I think so. Suppose I do this – suppose I’ll continue in the next class with this. And now I’ll try to answer some of your questions.

Q.  Can a person be possessed by the devil and not know it?

Fr. Hardon:  I would say yes, could be possessed by the devil and not know it. However, not knowing it, depends what you mean by the it. Not knowing that it’s a possession but knowing that that person somehow under a powerful influence which is beyond and outside of his own, say, free will.

Q.  Can a person be exorcised from the devil without willing it?

Fr. Hardon:  You know Dr. Kevorkian? No. No. In other words, where the person is; and now I’m speaking of possession and I could say, oh, how much I could say about Dr. Kevorkian; not the place for it though. In other words, there’s a possession which is self-induced. I would so describe Dr. Kevorkian.

Q.  Give us your opinion of Windswept House authored by Fr. Malachi Martin.

Fr. Hardon:  I’m not happy with Malachi Martin’s book; and that for two reasons. I know Malachi Martin well. We knew each other, engaged in conversation; we know each other. First of all, as you know he left the Society of Jesus, and he shouldn’t have. Secondly, the book itself, Windswept House, it is advertised as a novel but implicitly he is saying that what he is describing as going on especially at the Vatican is basically true. I know. I just don’t think. I know Malachi Martin is wrong. That is why when he was in Detroit advertising Windswept House, I called him up in New York and he promised we’d meet while he was in Detroit. The bugger – he begged off. And I know why. In other words, I hope without his realizing; Windswept House is devastating to the reputation of the Holy See. Twenty-nine years in working for the Vatican, I have no illusions on how human the Vatican is but I would not agree, I cannot agree with the conclusions that somebody reading Windswept House would have about the Holy See.

Q.   What do you think of the future of the Papacy? Is the present Pope one of the last ones?

Fr. Hardon:  Oh no! Centuries, even millennia to go. I think within the Second Coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Papacy will not be needed anyway. First of all, I don’t blame people for writing questions like this because we are living in difficult times. But the end of the world is not – oh no – is not coming soon. And don’t, for a moment, let anybody tell you that the year 2000 is the dawn of the end of the world. No! I could shout no! There’s too much work to be done. That is why I said what I did before. The secret of growing in sanctity is - loving the Cross. You’ll get discouraged or worse still, will be tempted to even despair what’s going on. It’s tremendous to be alive today! We’re the Church Militant! Did you know that? There’s a war going on! And we’re all conscripted.

Q.  What do you think of Judas, one of the 12? Is he in Heaven, in Hell or in Purgatory?

Fr. Hardon:  He is in Hell. That’s one reason – I think I should say this is why when Ignatius Press sent me a copy of the not yet published manuscript of Hans Urs Von Balthasar, remember he wrote a book – he wrote a book on Hell. Would I please recommend the book? I called Fr. Fessio I said no! because that book by Von Balthasar leaves doubts of whether there’s anybody yet in hell. So I tell people, how long would the world have to exist to make anybody deserve Hell by now – somebody must be in Hell by now! Am I making sense?

Q.  Why was there a Judas?

Fr. Hardon:  Well, the reason the Church gives is to prepare the Faithful for Apostate Bishops. I’m not recommending the book, but one book that is an eye-opener is called, The Wives of Henry VIII. He had six wives; first one, well you know what he did with that one – Catherine of Aragon, got rid of her. He asked the Pope to give him a declaration of nullity. So when the Pope said, Henry, I can’t do it, what did he Henry do? He called the Bishops. Who remembers the name of the one Bishop who told Henry “Sorry, you cannot get an annulment”- who remembers? John Fisher. And he was Bishop of what Diocese in England? What diocese? Rochester. Anybody here from Rochester or East Rochester? You read the life of Henry VIII and you see how important it is for Bishops to remain faithful to Jesus Christ and His Vicar on earth. No heresy has ever succeeded in history unless and until it was backed by a Bishop. Pray, Pray, Pray for Bishops.

Q.  Is there any theological explanation for the, I guess, equity involved in giving the devil so much time to enpower humanity?

Fr. Hardon:  Yes. The explanation is that we must pay a higher price for reaching heaven than most of us realize. Moreover, in coping with temptation, as we’ve said before, and now in answering the question: All temptations of the devil begin in the mind. The need, and I’ve said this to some audiences and they protest; we are living in an over far over educated United States. We should be only as educated as we can cope with the knowledge that we gain. Am I clear? And that’s why God allows us to be tempted by the devil: To teach us the need we have to understand our Faith. That’s why I’m deeply grateful for your being here. And, by the way, don’t hesitate to bring your friends.

Q.  How could God ask Abraham to sacrifice Isaac when the Commandment is “Thou shall not murder?

Fr Hardon:  Oh gosh, thanks for the question. Does God need anybody’s permission to take a human life? (pause) Does He need our permission? (pause) And, by the way, that is why we often speak of Christ’s crucifixon as attempted Deicide. The human will, if it were possible, would kill God because God tells human beings to submit their wills to His. So God created Abraham, created Isaac – could God tell, of course, Abraham better be sure it is God telling him. The commandment “Thou shalt not kill” is for whom? For us.

Q.  One visionary used his living example to show God allows variations to His law including a variation to allow the visionary to leave his first wife and three children and remarry a younger woman.

Fr. Hardon:  I think the visionary is the Little Pebble. In any case, over the years I have interviewed - and, often, under the Church’s orders - visionaries. There are visionaries who are agents of the devil.

Q.  What does the Holy Father and the Church teach regarding the Charismatic Renewal? Is it a genuine movement of the Holy Spirit within the Catholic Church or another manifestation of protestantification of the Catholic Church?

Fr Hardon:  Thanks and the spelling is perfect. Well, I could talk here for hours. Those in the Charismatic movement – I’ve never as a priest told them to drop out – it is very risky. However, and this goes back, gosh, over thirty years. I was invited by the then Cardinal of New York to speak to his priests on the Charismatic movement. And the list that I gave thirty years ago, I never had to change. Charismatic movement is a Protestant movement. Now Catholics involved in the movement, God bless them, and it is possible, of course, for a Catholic to be very sincere but the Charismatic movement is of Protestant origins historically and theologically.

Q:  Now that you are causing me so much delight in your exposure of the devil – I better be careful of what I’m reading – you never know what’s coming next. (laughter) – what should I pray this evening to overcome temptation or even worse? Will you give us a special blessing before we leave?

Fr. Hardon:  Well, first of all, don’t go to bed tonight without reciting the prayer to St. Michael. If you’re not saying it yet, say it. Know it by heart. By the way, over the years, first thing in the morning, last thing at night, pray to St. Michael.

Q.  Over thirty Churches were closed, leveled and sold by Cardinal Shoka ? in your Archdiocese of Detroit to – the devil is mentioned, I cannot read it – would you talk, please, a little more about closing Churches in the Archdiocese of Chicago as well as in Boston and other Roman Catholic infra-structures?

Fr. Hardon:  I believe the single main reason for the breakdown of so many parishes, including the closing of Churches is the widespread weakening and loss of Faith in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. In other words, a Catholic Church is either where Christ Himself is present in the Blessed Sacrament or it is not a Catholic Church. And where a people’s Faith in the Holy Eucharist as Real Presence weakens and wanes, the Faith and the Churches follow suit. You know I’m quoting the present Holy Father, “Unless you American Catholics, where it has been lost, recover, where it has been weakened, strengthen your Faith in the Real Presence or I fear for the survival of more than one diocese in your country,” unquote (not in print) Pope John Paul II.

Q.  Our pastor said that Christ is present in all the sacraments. Explain.

Fr. Hardon:  When God became Man - may I ask- was God present on earth before He was conceived in the womb of Mary? Was God on earth? What occurred when Mary conceived Jesus in her womb? GOD BEGAN TO BE PRESENT ON EARTH AS MAN! Of course, CHRIST is GOD and the GOD-MAN. Of course, the graces - and memorize these three prepositions. They’re crucial to Our Faith.

All the grace, all the grace comes FROM CHRIST as GOD; THROUGH CHRIST as MAN; TO us human beings. So, surely CHRIST as GOD is giving His Grace to the whole human race BUT you don’t use the word Christ is present as the God-Man except where what happened in Mary’s Womb is now on earth in the fullness of Identity – the same JESUS that Mary gave birth to in Bethlehem is on earth in the HOLY EUCHARIST. BUT the graces that Christ confers on the whole world, of course, those graces are being communicated everywhere. BUT DON”T YOU DARE SAY that because Christ’s grace is being given to the whole human race that CHRIST AS the GOD-MAN in His living FLESH and BLOOD is present everywhere. That, by the way is a direct quotation from Martin Luther once he lost his faith. And it is after five.

We could continue. Thanks for being here. I’ll now be offering Mass at, well, somewhat after five, upstairs, is it upstairs? After five next door in the Chapel. Our next class, if I’m not mistaken, is in two weeks from today.

And I will ask you to remember Mother Teresa and her soul in your prayers, but also remember The Missionaries of Charity in your prayers because this is a great blow to the Missionaries of Charity. Am I clear? Because she’s not just a Foundress of a Religious Community: They’ve inspired millions. So pray for the Missionaries of Charity. And during the funeral that I will concelebrate with the Cardinal, I will remember all of you during that Mass.

Shall we close with a prayer? In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Hail Mary, Full of Grace, the Lord is with Thee, Blessed art Thou among women and Blessed is the Fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. Amen. O Mary, Conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Copyright © 1997 by Inter Mirifica
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