HOW SATAN SEES MAN

The following excerpts are taken from an account by the famous Jesuit priest, Domenico Mondrome, who had a personal encounter with an evil spirit during the ritual performance of an exorcism.

“You will never understand says Satan how deeply I despise you, human beings. You disgust
me to no end. You boast of your superior rank to animals, when in fact you are the most wretched among them. Your very existence sickens me. I consider you worse than your pigs. You claim to be intelligent when in point of fact you are stupid. One has only to look at the steady diet of pseudo-scientific slop I feed you on. Yes, and served up by so-called ‘scientists’ – my underlings. Then there’s the trash I serve up in the press. Can you really be His most prized creature? A few little perversities and presto! you are on my side. How readily you fall prey to the blandishments of my messengers! You value your freedom but fall easily into my traps. How easy to deceive you in the name of freedom? You feel disgust when you see something dirty but you readily give in to your filthy passions. You wallow in your wickedness, like swine in the mud. Men cut each other’s throats over a woman or a handful of gold. Not that I’m complaining, mind. So why the big to-do over the One who suffered on the cross to save you? Was anything gained? Save you from what, from sin? Why, you are so deep in sin, you are drowning in it! And then consider what happens when I tempt you with the spirit of jealousy, hatred, competition and vengeance”. “It is the Virgin Mary – adds Satan elsewhere – who most thwarts my designs. She brings destruction to my kingdom. She stands between me and final victory. She may yet be the cause of my defeat. She is always there to hinder me. She incites her fanatics to deprive me of souls. Wherever the stridence of my power extends, she silently multiplies her victories.”

Domenico Mondrone

Articles
:: How Satan Sees Man
:: Immorality of Homosexual Acts
:: Healing Homosexuality

IMMORLITY OF HOMOSEXUAL ACTS

Jesus tells us that every extramarital and premarital sexual union is a grave violation of the virtue of chastity; this is also true in the case of homosexuality.

In its Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons (1986), the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith states that although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder.

Therefore, special concern and pastoral attention should be directed toward those who have this condition, lest they be led to believe that the living out of this orientation in homosexual activity is a morally acceptable option.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and teaches within the Church, clearly states what the aims of the sexual act must be. Natural law, Holy Scripture and Tradition insist on two inherent aims of the marital act: namely, the unitive (i.e. the inseparable bond between the man and woman) and the procreative (the bearing of children). To exclude one of these fundamental aims is morally impermissible. Since homosexual acts do not meet either of the two aims of the conjugal act, all such acts are contrary to natural law and immoral. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture – states the Catechism of the Catholic Church – which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.” They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be appoved (2357).

Holy Scripture lists homosexual acts among the sins that exclude people from salvation. Do not be decieved; neither idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor 6:9; cf. 1 Tim 1:9-11).

St. Paul deplores homosexual behavior as a grave depravity: women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error (Rom 1:26-27).

In Leviticus we read that if a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination (Lev 20:13; cf. 18:22).

Thus, Holy Scripture condemns all extramarital, including homosexual, sexual acts as a depravity contrary to the natural law. Any attempt at a moral justification of homosexual acts and homosexual marriages constitutes action against the Divine Law.

Human beings are either male or female in every cell of their bodies from the moment of birth until death. Homosexuality, however, is an acquired orientation, not unlike other personality traits such as trust or lack of trust, sense of inferiority or superiority, emotional dependence or inner freedom. These attitudes take shape through the individual’s personal interaction with his parents, peers and other people. Homosexuality is a disorder, a peculiar developmental anomaly. Claims that homosexuality is an innate tendency have absolutely no scientific basis. God created us as heterosexual beings. The homosexual orientation is a psychosexual deviation acquired through the negative influence of the environment.

Our hedonistic culture of death is blind to the objective evil of homosexual acts. The best way of dealing with the orientation – it claims – is to find a partner and live with him. The Church founded by Christ, however, teaches that only in matrimony between a man and a woman can sexual acts be moral.

Thus, the person who engages in homosexual behavior commits immorality. "To chose someone of the same sex for one’s sexual acivity is to annul the rich symbolism and meaning, not to mention the goals, of the Creator’s sexual design. Homosexual activity is not a complementary
union, able to transmit life; and so its thwarts the call to a life of that form of self-giving which the Gospel says is the essence of Christian living" (Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons,7).

The homosexual act achieves little more than mutual masturbation.

Articles
:: How Satan Sees Man
:: Immorality of Homosexual Acts
:: Healing Homosexuality

HEALING HOMOSEXUALITY

The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity.

Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition. Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By their virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection (The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2358-2359).

People with homosexual attitudes must be treated with love and compassion, the more so since in most cases they have acquired these attitudes through the negative influence of their social environment. Rather than blame them, we must try to imagine how deeply wounded they are, both spiritually and sychologically. Total cure of homosexuality may well require therapeutic counseling (see suggested reading material below) but ultimately it is God’s love that makes such a cure possible. Only Divine Love is able to deliver people from their loneliness and sorrow, to make them aware that they are loved at all times and unconditionally. Homosexual persons must redirect their attention away from their sexuality to the love of Jesus Christ.

To fully receive this healing love, people suffering from homosexual desires must forgive all those who, by their deeds, attitudes and evil influence, have contributed to their disorder. They must offer their anger and sorrow to God in prayer, and ask for the grace of bestowing forgiveness. This unconditional forgiveness is the necessary condition to opening one’s heart fully to the Divine gift of healing. This must be accompanied by intensive prayer and frequent reception of the Sacraments of Reconciliation and Holy Communion.

The return to chastity is a long and arduous journey marked by frequent and painful failure. Patience is of paramount importance throughout this stormy period. In time, as the spiritual and emotional wounds heal, the homosexual desires will become less severe, and, in many cases, may disappear altogether.

For Christ there are no situations without solutions. There are no people too sinful, too impure, or too wounded to be healed. Those prone to homosexual behavior stand every chance of being healed, provided that they have complete trust in Christ and follow these steps:

***They will accept the teaching of the Church on homosexuality, and make an effort to live in chastity.

***They will devote their entire lives to Christ through daily prayer, meditation, recitation of the rosary, the reading of Holy Scripture, and frequent reception of the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion.

***They will make a clean break with everything that may incite the sin of homosexual behavior. It is especially important to get rid of homosexual materials such as books, videos, and to sever all ties with the homosexual milieu. This includes avoiding bars, public baths, etc.

***They will do all they can to spend time with heterosexual men and women. Joining a parish prayer group or self-help groups under the auspices of organizations like Courage may be a good solution. The sense of solidarity that one derives from belonging to such a group is of tremendous help in warding off temptations against chastity.

The healing of homosexual tendencies is possible only when a true spiritual conversion takes place. It requires total trust in Christ and a willing effort to walk with Him through life. This spiritual renewal will not occur immediately, nor will full personal maturity be quickly restored. To regain full control of one’s life requires time, and this time will certainly be difficult. In the meantime, intensive prayer and trust in Jesus will help one to overcome strong homosexual temptations. Jesus will heal our wounded emotions only if we agree, in obedience and trust, to abide by His life-affirming principles.

If we lose faith in the healing power of Jesus, we fall prey to the propaganda of homosexual groups who claim that homosexuality is an inborn tendency and a natural, “alternative” expression of human sexuality.

It is in the saving Cross of Jesus – observes Pope John Paul II – "in the gift of the Holy Spirit, in the Sacraments, which flow forth from the pierced side of the Redeemer (Jn 19:34), that believers find the grace and the strength always to keep God’s holy law, even amid the gravest of hardships" (Veritatis Splendor 103).

M.P.

Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on the Pastoral Care of Homosexual Persons, Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, 1986; see also The Homosexual Person: New Thinking in Pastoral Care, by Fr. John Harvey, OSFS, Ignatius Press, San Francisco; Healing Homosexuality: Case Stories of Reparative Therapy and Reparative Therapy of Male Homosexuality: A New Clinical Approach by Dr. Joseph Nicolosi. The latter two books may be purchased by phoning 1-800-782-0015 or by writing to Regeneration Books, P.O. Box 9830, Baltimore, MD 21284. Readers may also wish to contact Courage, an organization directed by Father Harvey to support those who suffer from homosexual temptations. Not to be confused with the dissident homosexual group Dignity, Father Harvey’s movement and its sister organizations Courage-Anon and EnCourage are approved by the Church and are growing steadily throughout North America and abroad. For more information write to: Courage, c/o St Michael’s Rectory, 424 West 34th Street, New York, NY 10001, USA or telephone: (212) 421-0426. Write also to the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) 16542 Ventura Blvd., Suite 416, Encino, CA 91436, tel. (818) 789-4440. Dr. J. Nicolosi, Director of the Thomas Aquinas Clinic and Executive Director of NARTH, also provides counseling over the telephone.

Articles
:: How Satan Sees Man
:: Immorality of Homosexual Acts
:: Healing Homosexuality