Blessings dear beloved ones,
Well, dear friends, this is a special post for this blog, MaryRefugeOfSouls, as it contains two related commentaries. As the Lord has indicated through a few different chosen messengers that the Great Warning (Illumination of Conscience) experience will likely take place this upcoming Fall (Autumn) 2020, He and the Blessed Mother Mary have also stressed Their Holy Desires for each of Their beloved children to make complete “life confessions” if possible with a priest. That way, more people will be spiritually prepared for the Warning, which will be an all-encompassing encounter with Our Lord–similar to what people experience after dying and being judged to their eternal state before God. So, it is really important that each of us strive to have as pure souls as possible before Our Lord, which comes about through a good Confession with our priests, Christian pastors, or directly with God (if we somehow do not have access to a Catholic or Orthodox priest for Confession).
And so, in this blog post, I have included two related commentaries on how to make a more perfect confession. I, “a soul”, am not perfect myself, but both commentaries contain helpful advice and tips on how to make better Confessions, which the Holy Spirit has guided me in doing for several years. And so, because I have followed this advice myself, it has brought me to closer spiritual union with Our Lord. So, my hope is that others will benefit from this advice, too, because we all should be striving to be closer with God–Our Heavenly Father, His Divine Son, Jesus, and His Holy Spirit.
Finally, please note that only the second commentary is totally brand-new for this blog, MaryRefugeOfSouls. The first commentary was released over a year ago as part of my Love-Letter One series, and can be also found on that blog page–so, blog followers may have read the first commentary already. I am actually working on Love-Letters Two and Three, which I hope to finally release in July, so that is something else to look forward to reading. Meanwhile, I hope that these two commentaries on Confession will greatly help many people as we prepare for the Great Warning.
God bless,
I love you all,
–a soul
REFERENCE:
LOVE-LETTER ONE – Healing Holy Mother Church and the World Through Holy Communion and Confession
https://maryrefugeofsouls.com/love-letter-one-healing-holy-mother-church-and-the-world-through-holy-communion-and-confession/
Click below for a free downloadable PDF, ODT, and WordDoc copy (8 pages) of this special commentary:
1 – HOW TO MAKE A MORE PERFECT CONFESSION – By a soul (PDF)
1 – HOW TO MAKE A MORE PERFECT CONFESSION – By a soul (ODT)
1 – HOW TO MAKE A MORE PERFECT CONFESSION – By a soul (WordDoc)
SPECIAL COMMENTARY:
HOW TO MAKE A MORE PERFECT CONFESSION
By a soul
(January 15, 2019, Feast of Our Lady of Prompt Succor)
Dear My Beloved Friends,
I am excited to be able to share with you all the best practices that the Holy Spirit has guided me on concerning the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) during the past several years. My hope is that by providing you all with this information that the Body of Christ will experience healing and so the apostasy currently taking place in Holy Mother Church will be halted as knowledge of how to make a perfect confession becomes known. I hope that you will take all that I say to heart so that reparation to the Most Sacred Heart of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, can take place, as well as purification of your own souls so as to prepare yourself for final divine union with Our Lord one day in Heaven.
The grace that I am able to tell you all these things is firstly, attributed to Our Lady and Blessed Imelda Lambertini, Patron Saint of First Communicants, as well as generally, to the Communion of Saints. It is the hope of Our Lord that the healing of the Catholic Church will be the Miracle needed to elevate Blessed Imelda to Sainthood in Holy Mother Church.
And so, let me say firstly, that everything that I recommend is in addition to all the general practices taught about making a good confession by Holy Mother Church. I am not adding any instructions for priests to follow as this Sacrament was instituted in a proper way by Our Lord and developed properly by Our Beloved Catholic Church. However, what I am revealing is all the sins that remain unaccounted for by most people when they take part in Confession. Because these sins remain unconfessed, reparation is not fully made to Our Lord’s Most Sacred Heart and the need for Divine Justice grows as all these sins increase unabated and unchecked. This is why Our Blessed Mother weeps so much for Her dear Son whose Ultimate Sacrifice at Calvary is set aside due to ignorance and other causes for poor confessions. So, I am lifting the veil sorta speak to help people to understand how to make a good confession—may I even say a perfect confession, which will place them in a purer state of grace before God so as to grow in personal holiness and love of Our Lord.
So, let me begin.
On August 6, 1982 (Feast of the Transfiguration), Our Lady of Medjugorje said:
“One must invite people to go to Confession each month, especially the first Saturday. Here, I have not spoken about it yet. I have invited people to frequent Confession. I will give you yet some concrete messages for our time. Be patient because the time has not yet come. Do what I have told you. They are numerous who do not observe it. Monthly Confession will be a remedy for the Church in the West. One must convey this message to the West.”
Now, Our Lady said that monthly Confession will be a remedy for the Catholic Church in the West. However, I want to invite all people to more frequent Confession—I attend 2-3 times a month to maintain a purer soul and for those who are under demonic oppression should attend weekly so as to break the demonic chains that bind them to satan. However, at a minimum, everyone must attend Confession monthly so as to receive the necessary graces that Our Lord desires to give them through this Sacrament. It is important.
Right now, there is a current crisis of the faith in the Church in the West. Much of it has to do with sodomy in addition to other mortal sins. This is now the time that Our Lady of Medjugorje spoke of monthly Confession being the remedy—the healing balm for the Church. The proper utilization of the Sacrament of Reconciliation is critical for the restoration of the Catholic faith.
Now, the first sins that I confess is that I break the Two Great Commandments. What are the Two Great Commandments?
(Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 22, Verses 34-40)
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they assembled in a body; and one of them, a lawyer, in an attempt to trip Him up, asked Him, “Teacher, which commandment of the law is the greatest?”
Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments the whole law is based, and the prophets as well.”
Now, at first, it was hard, because I do Confession face-to-face and having a priest look at me while I confess breaking the First Great Commandment was a bit embarrassing. But, I felt compelled to do this, because honestly, I strive to have the perfect love that casts out fear and to be perfect as Our Heavenly Father. (See 1 John 4:18 and Matthew 5:48). Doing this is not about having scruples (feeling excessive guilt for sins), but about striving to love God as best I can while knowing that I fall short most of the time, because I am a sinner. This is about humbling ourselves to know that we are not perfect individuals before God. And so, these are the words I say that I open up my Confession with:
“Forgive me, father, it has been _(time-frame)_ since my last confession. Here is a list of my sins:
1) not loving God with all my heart, mind, strength, and soul”
Now, I need to point out here, I always prepare for the Sacrament of Reconciliation ahead of time by creating a typed list of my sins. I review the Ten Commandments as my guide. Creating a list ahead of time actually makes my Confession pass by really quick and makes sure that I do not forget anything. And so, I suggest this for everyone, so lines for Confessionals can go by quicker for priests’ valuable time.
Then, the next sin that I confess is the second part of the Two Great Commandments—lack of charity towards my fellow brothers and sisters.
A major sin of omission that most people are not confessing is their participation in societal sins. Yes, in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, every person is supposed to confess only their individual sins. But, every person is also responsible in charity for their fellow brothers and sisters in error. If Christians do not pray or do other acts everyday to prevent societal sins, then they are contributing to the moral degeneration of their communities, societies, and nations. This is why societies are collapsing so much in different countries throughout the world. Christians are failing to acknowledge their part—their communal sins—before God for reconciliation. And so, to restore society, we must repent before God and ask for His forgiveness. Otherwise, the need for Divine Justice through chastisements grows and grows.
I always confess my part in societal sins at every Confession that I attend. This also, at first, was hard for me to do as I felt embarrassed before the priest. But, I started first by confessing my contribution to the sin of abortion. Then, over time, the Holy Spirit taught me to confess other collective sins like sodomy and failure to pray for the clergy, etc.
Here is how I confess my participation in societal sins:
“2) lacking charity in my heart; not doing everything I could, especially in prayer, for the plight of the unborn babies, the less fortunate, to prevent sodomy, to support the clergy and for restoration of Holy Mother Church, to relieve the poor souls in Purgatory, for righteous government leaders, for the sick and the dying, for strengthening of family life, and for those wishing me and others harm.”
Now, as I review the Ten Commandments, here are other sins that I sometimes confess:
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not praying everyday as I should be; indulging in distractions while in prayer
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not adequately preparing spiritually in advance for Holy Mass
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being late to Holy Mass
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not keeping the Sabbath holy by eating out, shopping, and doing other activities that detract from honoring God on Sunday
NOTE: Whenever I miss Sunday Mass or a Holy Day of Obligation, I literally run to the next available day and time for the Sacrament of Reconciliation—even if I have to attend a different Catholic parish for the first available Confession day. I never approach Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in Holy Communion with any slightest stain of sin for breaking the Third Commandment by missing Holy Mass—even if I was sick or there was some type of emergency. I am really strict on myself on keeping the Third Commandment, because it is the easiest way—at least for me—to fall into mortal sin. And because I love Jesus so much, I never approach Him in Holy Communion taking Him for granted that I might be “alright” because I was sick, etc. I just do not take a chance on my soul.
NOTE: I always confess my bad thoughts. The thing is, everyone has bad thoughts—it is impossible to escape thinking throughout our day and satan is always tempting us in our mind with bad, negative, and even lustful thoughts. And well, rather than speculate to myself, did I indulge in this bad thought or that lustful thought, etc., because there is such a fine line when it comes to indulging in a thought or not in regards to temptation, so to make sure that my confession is good before God, I confess generally all my bad, negative, and lustful thoughts.
However, confessing generally my bad, negative, and lustful thoughts does not replace the need to confess specifically, mortal sins like pornography, etc., and thoughts against God, like atheism, belief in abortion, etc., or addictions, etc. People need to use their better judgment before God to know what mortal sins are that need to be specifically confessed. But, in general, almost everyone goes throughout their day with bad thoughts in their head given to them by satan and other demons. And since sin can be committed by thought alone, I generally confess all my bad, negative, and lustful thoughts, so I can obtain the necessary graces from God to fight the good fight by training my mind. By doing this practice regularly, I have gained great peace of mind over time and it has helped me with my discernment between knowing the difference between good and evil. Because the origin of all sin first begins in the mind.
Here are some other sins that are noteworthy to confess if they apply to you:
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adopting an argumentative spirit with others
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not taking better care of my tongue; adopting a bad tone of voice with others
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lacking patience with others and their weaknesses
NOTE: These are only a few of some of the sins that I have recently confessed and I am working on. Although these days, I do not have more graver sins, I am trying to conquer different evil spirits that are trying to attach themselves to my own spirit as I strive for greater personal holiness.
Now, I know that a question will come up from readers, but since these sins all seem like venial sins (not mortal sins), why do we need to confess them at all? If we are in a state of grace and receive worthily Holy Communion, do not all these venial sins get washed away by God? What is the point of this?
Well, that is the difference between spending time in Purgatory after we die and going straight to Heaven as a saint. When we go to Confession, we receive special graces to help us conquer our bad habits and venial sins, that does not necessarily happen through reception of the Most Holy Eucharist. Yes, the guilt of our venial sins is taken away in Holy Communion, but not the penance due. We are pardoned, but we still need to do penance for all the bad repercussions of committing these sins before God and neighbor. Also, if you have any desire to attain the highest level of Heaven for all eternity—the highest state of beatific joy and divine union with God, you must gain mastery over yourself and conquer everything that is preventing full loving union with God.
One time, St. Faustina of Divine Mercy, was told by God that if she died at the moment, she would have to suffer two days in Purgatory for one venial sin. Oh, My Sweet Jesus, my dear friends, I have mystically suffered the pains of Purgatory twice in my life. These are personal accounts that I shared publicly on my blog, MaryRefugeOfHolyLove, and in other writings. The worse pain was feeling the deprivation (loss) of God in my soul that the poor souls feel all the time. It was the worse pain that I have ever suffered in my life—and I have broken bones before and almost died once. But, the spiritual pain I felt in my soul knowing that God truly existed but that I could not be with him—that I was separated from Him due to my faults—my sins—was devastating for me. I was going out of my mind. I went through the motions of my day that I normally would, but all I wanted to do was sit on a stool before the Blessed Sacrament and cry for the rest of my life. It was so spiritually painful.
My dear friends, yes, it is good that you are saved and have Purgatory as an option, but my beloved readers, you do not want this. Trust me, you want to go straight to Heaven. Strive for this. It is the best option for you.
Finally, we as Christians need to make reparation to the Most Sacred Heart of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, for all the sins of the world. The best way to make reparation starts first with us as Christians seeking Our Lord’s forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. What better way to appease the grieving and anguished Most Sacred Heart of Jesus for sin but through Confession? This is the surest, direct, and most concise path that Our Lord desires for us to take to lessen and mitigate the coming chastisements that are due to our sins according to Divine Justice.
We must adopt a better practice to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We must strive to make more perfect Confessions.
Now, there are two other items that I must discuss before I close this love-letter on Confession. These two items are important discoveries that I found out about the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
The first discovery that I found out about Confession is its true value as a healing sacrament in Holy Mother Church. All my life, I have suffered from horrible nightmares and when I returned to Holy Mother Church at the age of 24 years old due to the intercession of the Blessed Mother (Holy Virgin Mary), all the nightmares became demonic. These nightmares would involve murder, rape, etc., and other sinful situations. Well, one day, I spoke to a kindly priest who was at the time at my parish and asked him if I could offer up my nightmares regularly in Confession for healing and he agreed to my request. Because, simply put, having nightmares almost every night of a good portion of my life was so disturbing to me, because the nature of what I would dream about would be so opposite to the person that I desired to be—a good and righteous person before God.
And so, I began to offer up my nightmares regularly in Confession while I continued to work on myself trying to overcome my sins. And my beloved friends, do you know what I discovered? My nightmares began to lessen and lessen over time as I used the Confessional for healing. Then, it got to a point where it was like clockwork—about 3-4 weeks would pass with no nightmares and then, at a month’s passage, the nightmares would return. Then, I would go to Confession and they would disappear. Over a couple of years, this experience happened to me. Month after month, when the nightmares returned, I knew it was time for my monthly Confession.
I realized that the amount of sins on my soul were acting as a portal for demons to attack me in nightmares. Even if all my sins were lesser venial sins, just the sheer mass of them collecting on my soul was acting as an open invitation for demons to attack me in my sleep. These days, I do not experience the disturbing nightmares that plagued me my whole life. These days, I attend Confession 2-3 times a month, but even when I attend Confession once a month, I do not experience the nightmares like those that happened to me years ago. However, the nature of demonic attacks have become more sophisticated for me as I work on my personal holiness. Yes, I will get attacked by demons in my sleep but in a different way from passive disturbing nightmares. But, that is a level of advanced spiritual warfare than is beyond the scope of this love-letter. Just simply know, that if any of you are suffering from nightmares of any kind, the Sacrament of Reconciliation is the healing balm that you need to become whole in your mind, body, and spirit.
The second discovery that I found involving Confession is the way not to feel excessive guilt for sin (scruples). Let me explain. One of the traps of satan is to make people think that God has not truly forgiven them for their sins. Now, in this love-letter, I have spoken about asking for forgiveness of repeat sins—for example, communal sins and sinful habits. These things are good to confess over and over, because you are striving to overcome your bad tendencies and weaknesses. So, you need the helping graces from the Sacrament to master yourself and also, to reduce the penance due to the repercussions of committing sin that harms yourself, harms others, and offends God. So, it is a healthy thing to confess these venial sins—these sinful habits—as a continuing act of humility as you strive for greater holiness before God. It is only in this way, that you can achieve a deeper union with Him in your heart.
However, what is not healthy is confessing over and over again sins that have already been confessed in the past. You should only be confessing sins that occurred since your last confession before a priest. You need to be forgiving of yourself and accept God’s Mercy towards your actions. Now, when I returned to Holy Mother Church in 2003, one of my mental struggles was that I had never had First Confession with a priest before, as the only Sacrament that I had was Baptism. So, I had a lot of sins on my soul to account for. Well, after I confessed to a priest the major sins that I could recall at the time, it always haunted me the idea that I had forgotten some major sin from my past. I would regularly confess to a priest, but I could not accept completely God’s Mercy for my former sinful life.
Finally, in May 2008, I approached a priest at my parish and asked if I could confess my whole life before him. So over three separate one hour sessions, I confessed my whole life with him. I would confess my life as a story to him and he would ask me questions. Then, at the end, he prayed deliverance prayers over me to break various sinful ties that I had to satan. And when I confessed my whole life, it was like a huge heavy weight was lifted from me. I felt tremendous peace in my soul having felt that I had said everything that I needed to in order to say sorry to God for sins in my life.
It was liberating.
Now, I recommend making general life confessions to everyone. However, I also know that the time of priests is valuable and perhaps, not everyone needs a general life confession. But, the reason I share that story is because afterwards, satan tried to make me start feeling guilty about not being forgiven for all my past sins by God. And so, that scrupulous mentality started to come back. But then, I had an epiphany. I discovered how to disarm satan so effectively that I no longer feel any guilt for my past forgiven sins.
I learned that I must confess generally all my forgotten sins and sins of omission in every Confession that I make. It is only in this way that satan no longer has any hold over me in guilt for the past. It is only in this way that I learned how to be truly accepting of God’s Mercy for myself.
Here is what I say at the end of every Confession that I make:
Finally, father, forgive me for any forgotten sins and sins of omission. Amen.
The words that I just wrote is what I consider the most important words of my confession. Because, truly, I am only a sinner and my memory is imperfect. But, I want to be righteous before God. I want to truly know in my heart that I have been forgiven by God for all my sins at Confession. Truly, it is only by saying those words at the end of every Confession that I have continuing peace of mind and peace of my soul. That I know that I have accounted for everything that I needed to say sorry to God for in that confession. Blessed Be God for this precious Sacrament.
Peace be with you, dear children of God.
I love you all.
—a soul
Click below for a free downloadable PDF, ODT, and WordDoc copy (12 pages) of this important commentary:
2 – HOW TO MAKE AN EVEN MORE PERFECT CONFESSION – By a soul (PDF)
2 – HOW TO MAKE AN EVEN MORE PERFECT CONFESSION – By a soul (ODT)
2 – HOW TO MAKE AN EVEN MORE PERFECT CONFESSION – By a soul (WordDoc)
IMPORTANT COMMENTARY:
HOW TO MAKE AN EVEN MORE PERFECT CONFESSION
By a soul
(Began June 25, 2019, Feast of the 38th Anniversary of Our Lady of Medjugorje)
(Finished May 28, 2020, Month of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
* * *
Dear My Beloved Friends,
I, “a soul”, am so excited to be able to share with you a few more best practices and tips on how to make an even more perfect Confession.
I know that for most people, the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) is their least-liked Rites in Catholicism. This is because for most people, it can be embarrassing to confess to another human being (the priest) our deepest faults and transgressions, because we feel like that other person will think poorly of us and judge us. But, truly, because priests listen to so many Confessions during their ministry work, really, they have basically heard it all, and honestly, most of them forget afterwards what people tell them during the Sacrament. So, challenge yourself and overcome your embarrassment. Because, as I shared in my previous love-letter on Confession, once you receive the necessary absolution from a priest for your major sins, it is a very liberating experience. Truly, it feels like a huge weight is lifted off your spirit. And because I do more frequent Confessions these days, it has brought me to to a higher state of personal holiness, because it takes away the barriers in my soul from deeper spiritual union with God. In fact, a few times, I have walked away from Confession and it feels like my face is glowing. Confession can give a wonderful, purifying feeling in your soul as you break the many chains of bondage due to the collection of daily sins.
Honestly, I would love for everyone to experience the joy of a well-made Confession. It is a great blessing.
PRAYER FOR DAILY NEGLECTS
In the well-known Pieta Prayer Booklet, there is a prayer given that deserves mention in this love-letter for its many benefits and graces. The prayer is for daily neglects and is not to meant to be a substitute for Confession. However, reciting this prayer does help to encourage us to also include mentioning our daily neglects during the Sacrament of Confession—so as to further purify our souls. The story regarding the prayer is this: A Poor Clare nun, who had just died, appeared to her abbess, who was praying for her, and said to her, “I went straight to heaven, for, by means of this prayer, recited every evening, I paid my debts.” And so, I am including this wonderfully helpful prayer below to make it more known and recited by more people:
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with all its Love, all its sufferings and all its merits.
First – To expiate all the sins I have committed this day and during all my life. Glory be to the Father and to the Son…!
Second – To purify the good I have done badly this day and during all my life. Glory be to the Father and to the Son…!
Third – To supply for the good I ought to have done and that I have neglected this day and during all my life. Glory be to the Father…! AMEN.
HIDDEN SINS
As I mentioned in my previous love-letter about Confession, a very important best practice for me is to always end with asking for forgiveness of any forgotten sins and sins of omission that I may have committed since my last Confession. Doing this keeps me from becoming scrupulous (developing an excessive feeling of guilt for sin). Since I learned to do this, it has helped me greatly in accepting properly the Divine Mercy of God due to me for making a good Confession. It keeps the devil in abeyance from attacking me mentally—by him trying to nitpick my faults and keep me in constant fear of unforgiveness from God.
Well, related to forgotten sins, is the concept of “hidden sins.” I am not referring to sins that we deliberately hide from the priest in Confession—which no honest Catholic should do as that makes the Confession invalid before God. But, rather, I am referring to sins that the devil deliberately hides from us so that we constantly forget to confess them before God.
How does that happen? Well, although our souls belong to God if we are devoutly practicing the faith, it is important to remember that the mind and the physical body are under the domain of the devil due to our fallen nature and must be brought by us into discipline. And the devil loves to manipulate our memories in two major ways—one, hiding memories of major sins that we may have committed during a time when we were less devout in the faith; and two, reminding us of hurtful memories of the past, which we need to rebuke the evil spirit whenever that happens so we can be set-free.
Let me share a personal story about hidden sins, because this is very instructive. Once, I was attending an inner healing conference hosted by a Catholic visionary and during the individual consultations, Jesus indicated through this visionary that I had taken an oath to the devil in the past and I needed to find it so I could be set-free.
I was totally shocked when I learned this, because I had no recollection of an occult vow, but I trusted in this visionary because I knew her charisms and spiritual gifts were genuine. And so that became my goal for the weekend—to figure out what I did in the past—this “hidden sin”—so, I could be forgiven by God.
Well, the Lord did take pity on me. While I was interceding in prayer for several people who could not come to the conference, the Lord unlocked my memory due to my act of charity for others. And so, I remembered that when I was about 8-9 years old, I had done a childhood occult game and that was when I took the oath to satan. And I was both shocked and amazed at this self-discovery, because truly, if Our Lord, Jesus, had never revealed this memory to me, I would have continued to this very day, to be in this state of serious sin—totally oblivious to any need for reconciliation with God and penance due for my transgressions.
Now, I do understand that most people do not have access to a Catholic mystic to ask such questions of the Lord about any hidden sins that they may have. However, I will share with you the next best thing to do, so you can find out from the Lord if you have any blocked memories of serious sins that need to be absolved by the priest in Confession. You just need to ask Him during your next Confession. Here is a simple way to do this. Simply say these words at the conclusion of your Confession before you receive absolution by the priest:
“Finally, Father, I ask for forgiveness of any forgotten sins and any sins of omission that I may have. I also want to ask the Lord for Him to reveal to me if I have any sins that the devil may be blocking in my memory so I may confess them during my next Confession. Thank you, Father.”
The Sacrament of Reconciliation is very much a healing sacrament in which Our Lord truly desires to free us from all our sins. So, do not be afraid to ask Him to help you to remember hidden sins and blocked memories during proper use of Confession. You will be truly happy that you did.
ABUSE OF THE IMAGINATION
I believe that most people are aware that satan and his devils cannot read our minds, like our private thoughts—only God has this ability. However, what most people do not know is that every time we are thinking, speaking, doing something in the physical world, our spirit is manifesting something related in the supernatural world. So, for example, let’s say you are thinking about baking something in the kitchen. Well, in your spiritually body, you may be manifesting a spiritual image of chocolate chip cookies or a chocolate fudge recipe, etc., and so, satan and his devils can “read your spirit” and because of their sophisticated mental and supernatural abilities, they can “guess” or anticipate your next step in the natural world.
Let me illustrate with a brief story. As I have shared sometimes on this blog, MaryRefugeOfSouls, I get spiritually attacked by demonic nightmares. Well, a few weeks ago, I experienced a demonic nightmare in which satan and a few devils were attacking me in my sleep. satan and his devils were circling around me while I was praying in the spirit. They were trying to find an “opening” in my prayers, so they could get closer to me to spiritually attack me, because my prayers were keeping them at bay from me.
Well, this encounter happened for quite awhile and I learned something very profound. I found out that they were “reading my spirit” trying to anticipate my next prayer or my next thought of God. And satan and his devils were correct at figuring out what I was about to say or do next about 70-80% of the time. I knew this, because satan and his devils would respond verbally to me—before I even finished the thought or before I even said the prayer that I was thinking. Then, because satan and his devils were already responding to my spirit, I would immediately change my tactics against them, so they could not find any spiritual opening to my next prayers and thoughts. It was a very sophisticated way of spiritual warfare, which I did win, because they eventually gave up on trying to attack me that way in my dream and so, they moved on to other ways to manifest their frustrations towards me.
And so, I share this fact with you, because yes, satan and his devils cannot truly read our private thoughts like God, but they are so highly-skilled at reading our spirit that it does almost seem like they can read our minds. They know how the human mind works. However, I will also reveal something else about satan and his devils. They are not perfect. I have engaged in spiritual battles where satan and his devils have tried to impersonate saints and God with me. But, because they are not perfect, even with their heightened abilities, they can make mistakes. This is because if you are engaged in a very sophisticated battle with a devil, because they have to respond so quickly to your prayers, your thoughts, and your words, to try to gain the upper-hand over you, in the process, they can say or do something that is not quite right with what you know about the saints and God or your memories, etc. These type of mistakes can often happen with lesser devils, but if you are battling satan or a stronger devil, it will be less so—especially, satan, because he is so clever, even if he makes a mistake somehow, he is very adept at covering them up, so you often do not realize it until after it has happened in the battle.
Anyways, I share these things with you, in this love-letter about best practices with the Sacrament of Reconciliation, because one of the greatest spiritual battles that people often in engage in and are not aware of is the abuse of their imagination. Not only will people purposely abuse their gift of imagination from God, by indulging in bad, sinful, and even impure thoughts and mental images, they often have devils attacking them to encourage them on in the abuse of their imagination. The devils are often reading their spirits, so they can try to manipulate people’s thoughts to make their sinful indulgences even worse. Thus, it is a good practice to confess generally any abuses of imagination that we suspect ourselves of having so we can gain a mastery over ourselves and greater resulting peace in our souls from God. Also, we need to learn how to rebuke evil spirits that may be encouraging us to abuse our imaginations, especially, if the sinful thoughts, images, and memories, happen all of a sudden—a tell-tale sign that a devil is within your presence that you need to battle. As Sacred Scripture says, satan is a roaring lion who never sleeps.
PHYSICIAN OF SOULS
I heard once a priest make this profound statement: “We are only as sick as our secrets.” Although all sin is spiritual, if left unconfessed, it does cause a toll on us physically. The effects of any unconfessed sin can become internalized and will manifest years later in our body, mind, and soul, as various possible illnesses – physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. This is why we need the Physician of Souls—Our Lord, Jesus Christ, to heal us from our sins. Because there is always a physical dimension to every sin besides the spiritual dimension.
I am not an expert in this field, but I want to speak about soul ties. Soul ties are defined as emotional bonds that form an attachment. They may be godly or ungodly, pure or demonic. Ungodly attachments can be formed with any person, place, or thing.
Firstly, I want to discuss soul ties that develop due to broken covenant relationships, such as between a parent to child, sibling to sibling, etc., and in particular, regarding intimate relationships with others than our Godly-recognized spouses. When we commit fornication (intimate relationships before sacramental marriage) and adultery, we form unhealthy and sinful soul ties with others than our Godly-recognized spouses, which need to be broken in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It is not simply a matter of confessing the sin of fornication and adultery in Confession. We actually need to name each individual partner that we have been intimate with and ask Our Lord to break the spiritual connection that we have made with that person, to be fully healed, body, mind, and soul. This will repair any spiritual damage that we have made in breaking the covenant relationship we have made with our current or future spouse (if we are unmarried at the time) or with God if we have broken our religious vow. This will also break the cycle of recurring memories of that intimate relationship in our spirit and psyche, which the devils will especially love to bring up time and again when we least expect it.
Likewise, if we have broken covenant relationships with family members, we need to ask God to repair our souls however they need to be repaired spiritually. We need to do this even if those persons are no longer in our lives or have passed away. This is because when we break a covenant relationship—whether it be spousal or familial—these are recognized as special relationships under God and accordingly need to be healed by Him in a heightened and special way than other types of broken human relationships, such as friendships, neighbor relationships and employer-employee, coworker relationships, etc. God has placed these persons especially in our lives—family and spouse—and so, they are very dear to God and should be dear to you as well. Thus, we need to take extra care in Confession to heal these types of relationships in our lives and with God.
Now, there are other types of soul ties that we can make that are unhealthy and sinful. Remember, we can form other ungodly attachments to any person, place, or thing. Other types of unhealthy attachments can be formed with counselors, physicians, teachers, and even celebrities whom we have never met, etc. Any type of addictive behaviors are worldly attachments that need to be especially broken in Confession, because all addictive behaviors have demons associated with them. Also, if we are subject to any generational curses, such punishments can follow to the fourth generation with the passing of related demons down the ancestral line from generation to generation.
Most people do not realize this, but there has been much research on this subject. It is a fact that in the physical body, everything that we have ever done, said, thought, etc., is stored in our DNA—in our very chemical make-up of our cellular tissues. Also, tears are as unique as snowflakes. Each tear is a complete reservoir of our past memories of tears and emotions, etc.
The reason that I bring up this very real fact about our physical bodies, is to illustrate that likewise, our spiritually bodies carry memories of all our encounters and actions, emotions, thoughts, words, etc. Perhaps it is even-more meaningful in our spirits, the spirit connections and attachments that we make than even our memories in the physical bodies, because our spirits are more powerful than our bodies—as we are commanded by Our Lord to master ourselves in the spiritual.
And so, with a physical muscle or even vital organs like our brains, regular use of such muscles or vital organs will result in “muscular” or “cellular” memories, so such use becomes routine and natural. Likewise, we build related “spiritual memories” through regular use—habits and attachments—in the natural world. That is why if we form any ungodly soul ties, such as sinful physical or mental addictions, we need to take extra care in Confession to break them such unhealthy habits and the related memories. So, for example, if we have an addiction to pornography, it is not about simply saying, forgive me Father for I have viewed pornographic images xyz number of times. A more thorough confession should be said like, forgive me Father, I have viewed pornographic images xyz number of times. I ask the Lord to break me of this sinful habit along with its associated demons. I also ask the Lord to take away all sinful images from my mental and spiritual memories.
Or, another example of a more thorough confession is this, forgive me Father for I have engaged in sodomy/fornication xyz number of times with name xyz. I ask the Lord to break the sinful spiritual connection—soul tie—that I have made with this person along with the generational curse of demons that follows on my ancestral line to the fourth generation. I also ask the Lord to take away all sinful mental and spiritual memories that I may have from engaging in this mortal sin.
UNFORGIVENESS OF SELF
Sometimes we can accept forgiveness from God in Confession, but we cannot actually forgive ourselves. I want people to know that unforgiveness of self is a sin. It is actually a form of anger and manifestation of self-hatred. The key to treating unforgiveness of self is first recognizing it as a sin so it can be resolved. It is all about learning to trust in God by surrendering ourselves to the Divine Mercy of Jesus. We need to give completely our burdens to Jesus and not take them back. To be honest, when we do not surrender our burdens to Jesus, it actually breaks His Most Sacred Heart, because the whole mission of His earthly life is to make us a new creation in Him. But, He cannot do this in us if we hold ourselves back in any way of accepting His Divine Love and Divine Mercy for us. When we do not forgive ourselves for sin, because we are a Mystical Body in Christ, it is like we are hurting a limb or vital organ of Jesus. Jesus desires us to love ourselves as He loves us. Not in a selfish way, but in a way that honors His Ultimate Sacrifice for us. Jesus died to save us and make us anew in Him. We need to be open to His complete healing of our souls by not holding back.
Gospel of Matthew
Chapter 11, Verse 29-30
“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
A FINAL BEST PRACTICE
In conclusion, I want to say that it is also important to pray for the priest who will hear your confession. For God to give them a good word of wisdom, especially, if you need guidance or advice on a confessed sin. St. Faustina of Divine Mercy prayed for her confessors and spiritual director and wrote in her spiritual diary that she often received better advice afterwards. So, let us imitate a great Saint in Heaven on this piece of advice. It will certainly help us in our spiritual life.
God bless,
I love you,
—a soul
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION:
Our Lady of Emmitsburg
To the World through Gianna Sullivan
http://centeroftheimmaculateheart.org
January 29, 1998
My dear little children, praised be Jesus!
Have control over your imagination and thoughts so that you may have peace of mind.
Purity of mind and purity of heart allows you to pray in union with the Holy Spirit.
The avoidance of sin gives you the opportunity to receive fully and cooperate with God’s graces.
Purity of mind, heart and conscience allows you to live in unity with the Holy Spirit.
Little children, do not be afraid of what the future holds for you.
Do not exert energy of fear or anxiety or worries.
Look to Jesus as your source of Peace.
It seems you are tired, children. I am with you.
Jesus is not in a distant place. He is merciful and compassionate.
Put an end to your restless thoughts and allow Jesus to sustain you with the gift of His Peace of Heart.
Too much emphasis is placed on what the future holds for humanity, which is creating lack of peace, anxiety, worry and even fear.
Tomorrow will take care of itself. Today is the gift God has granted you.
Use every opportunity to love to its fullest.
You need to be instruments of love, not vessels of fear.
Is it not enough that Jesus is made present to you in the Holy Eucharist?
Is it not enough that the Holy Spirit is in you, there to guide and help you?
Is it not enough that I have said My Immaculate Heart shall triumph? What then are you so afraid of in anticipation of God’s coming?
Why are you so filled with anxiety and fear instead of Peace and Joy?
Do you not desire evil to cease and Peace to reign?
Your focus has been diverted, little children, and needs to be redirected on Jesus, You are children who seem to be running and being scattered because of fear. Slow down, little ones.
Cease the entertainment of futuristic events and simply do God’s works of Love and Mercy each day.
Work for God today and let tomorrow take care of itself.
He will give you the grace and strength to endure what is necessary tomorrow.
Cooperate with His grace today and live in His Love today.
Peace to you, little children.
I thank Jesus for permitting me to be here with you in this special way.
Thank you for responding to my call.
AD DEUM.
Our Lady of Emmitsburg
To the World through Gianna Sullivan
August 6, 2006
The Feast of the Transfiguration
The Feast of the Father of All Mankind
Little children, praised be Jesus!
Thank you, little ones, for your prayerful intentions and the reverence that you give to my Son. I take all of your intentions to my most Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, which praises God on your behalf. I love you, little ones, and I thank you for coming to pray with me. You are special indeed! You are always welcome, and all are invited to return to God.
In this time of urgency, as I have mentioned before, I can no longer hold back the Angel’s sword. I am in great need of your prayer and your commitment to be true ambassadors of Light. There cannot be a casualness about this. If you are a true ambassador on my behalf, then you must indeed speak the Truth at all times and join me in inviting all people to listen to my words and to return to God. You cannot listen only when you desire. You must place God always first, above all things.
I can tell you, little ones, be cautious of those who claim that they know whom God should choose and use as a vessel for His Words. There is no theologian, no priest, no authority in Mother Church who in certainty can say who is or is not receiving words from Heaven. God chooses whom God desires, of all genders, of all races and of all ages. I do not come only to peasants. I come to whomever God allows me to come.
Yes indeed, you must use prudence and holy Wisdom to discern what is true and what is not. That comes through prayer and through a closer Union with God in the Eucharist. But you must have an open heart. For if you do not, then you will be held accountable for the sin of omission.
These times are urgent times, but times when there is tremendous Hope; and all the peoples of the world must know there is Hope; and Hope comes through Faith and through your Love. You must be who you say your are; and if you are a true child of God, you must live it, breathe it and be it. You cannot say you are and then not follow through. You cannot say it and live it if you do not pray with your family and live the words proclaimed in the Gospel.
You are all welcome, but do not come only to only hear my words and then leave and return back to your old ways. You must live it now, and continue to. This is what’s needed now of my true ambassadors of Light—to be holy as God is Holy!
I bless all of you, children, in the Name of the Triune God Who is glorified through your suffering which no eyes can see except the Eyes of God. May you always praise Him so that you may live with Him.
Peace to you! Thank you for responding to my call.
Our Lady of Emmitsburg
LESSONS from Our Lord for the World
Volume I Lesson #22
December 26, 1988
RESPECT
People in your age do not have respect for one another; and so, they cannot have respect for Me!
This is a continuation of your Lesson on selfishness. It is selfishness when My people do not listen; when My people choose to absorb only what they wish; and when My people do not respect one another and do not respect Me. How can My people absorb what is to come if they will not allow Me to teach them? They are the people, who do not give respect to their God, but want their God to respect them by acknowledging their wishes. What would you have Me do? Should I fulfill their hearts by granting their wishes to receive their love for the moment?
No, I tell you! I, out of thanksgiving and Love for My Father, and compassion for My people, will answer their requests, but at the time that is pleasing and respectful to My Father.
When My people come to Me to pray, I ask that they first pray in thanksgiving to My Father for the many graces He has bestowed upon them, even though they may not have recognized them. In a respectful manner, they may then ask Me what it is they wish. I will fill them with what they need. When My people come to receive My Body at Eucharist, I ask that they fold their hands in prayer, and receive in thanksgiving to My Father His gift of Me to them. So many people today come and receive Me in a manner that does not give respect to My Father. This is a selfish habit, and it needs to be stopped!
I wish for My people to understand the many facets of My Kingdom, but they need to understand the basic rules first. It is selfishness which is preventing them from understanding thoroughly. With selfishness there is lack of respect.
If you have respect for Me, you would be willing to practice and eat the fruits on the pathway to My Kingdom.
Mary Refuge Of Souls 