[cscarolyncs]

They say that an exorcism is performed by a priest and uses prayers from the bible to exorcise the one possessed. A priest is called, comes in and does a ceremony to get this accomplished.

My question:
If exorcism is performed by a priest and it is to be able to be “fixed by God,” through these biblical prayers, like they say, then why can’t we get a priest to come in to our lives to get God to help us on our death bed, for cancer, an accident, misfortune, etc….

It seems with an exorcism, the most powerful of all is extremely potent, more potent than cancer, misfortune so why can’t we get the same results? Results that if you call in a priest, there will no longer be any pain……
Confused Carolyn

[N0help4u]

Bascially because we are all destined to get old and die. Also often our illnesses are due to we reap what we sew by the choices we make in life. The Bible says ''My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge meaning we should not be polluting our bodies and then turn to God to take it away.
Prayer isn't a magic pill that we can do as we please and then turn to God to fix it or take it away. If that were the way it worked then we would all reverse our problems and illnesses.
We can pray for God to undo what is wrong with us but we also need to do our part and find and do whatever it takes to get better and healthier as well.

[cscarolyncs]

Thanks for the answer. Your screen name has the overall appearance of... not wanting to help anyone, although, when I read the response, I didn't feel that way at all. When you say that prayer isn't a magic pill I 100% agree, but when it comes to an exorcism, it appears to be.

Just thought of something, could the exorcism that the priest fixes with words from prayer/God get effective results because God has a personal vendetta with the devil?

[N0help4u]

I guess the difference is that in exorcism a spirit (foreign meaning not of the person themself) is being cast out whereas illness and disease is more a part of the person.
I am not sure I never really thought about it much.

[Alder]

A good friend of mine would be the first to tell you that she is living proof that cancer can be cured by spiritual means, and she wouldn't be here otherwise. It's one of those cases of someone learning to heal herself, and then going on to use that wisdom for others' benefit, too.

Your question touches on the problem of suffering. I.e. why does it work sometimes when someone does an exorcism or a spiritual healing, but not others. Why doesn't God heal everyone who is sick, even without our having to ask? Why is there suffering? I would call that a Mystery, in the Catholic theology sense. In that sense, a Mystery is not something to which there is no answer, or we cannot know the answer. Rather, we can learn the answer and go on learning it ever more deeply all our lives, without exhausting its meaning.

Blessings,

Alder

P.S. Glad you liked my post on your other question, about the ghosts of living people. That's the joy of the internet--no matter how far out, you can always find somebody who's into that thing. ;)

[Fr_Chuck]

The spirit world works on rules and guidelines. And while demons do work on those rules and can be driven from a person but then if that person again does not set up safe guards or even does those things to allow the demon back into their life. And it is not just as easy as reading a few prayers, it is often a hard battle of faith, and is dangerous to the priest as well as the possessed person.

And yes, priests do go to hospitals for healing prayers on daily basis for many and there are times there are healings, but in the end man is to grow old and die.

[CanonMissioner]

Exorcism... Far more complicated than one might think. It is actually a very dangerous practice in some cases where true evil is involved. You see, priests are really no different than other folk; priesthood merely indicates a personal "setting aside" for a particular role in the lives of others.

Exorcism is not something a "person" (priest or otherwise) ever "does." It is an invocation on behalf of *this* reality that is in opposition to the forces of *another* reality. The danger arises when a person--again, priest or otherwise--tries to "exorcise" a spirit or such. We priests can no more "make" an unclean spirit depart than we can "make" the dead come back to life. Exorcism is soul versus soul, begging God to help in enraged and depserate situations. Healing is soul supporting soul, trying to understand and share all that the soul in need of healing has going on. If we pray for healing and a person dies, we are left with many questions because we have allowed ourselves to become emotionally vulnerable, "sharing" the experiences of the distressed. When we attempt to exorcise without understanding what we're doing, we make ourselves vulnerable spiritually in ways that can be disastrous.