Posted on 07/19/2013 5:39:12 AM PDT by fatima
http://www.spiritdaily.com/lorig.htm
For Father Lorig, going strong at 77 and full of the Spirit, it's a matter of seeing some of it with his own eyes.
On about a dozen occasions, says the priest, he has personally encountered spirits of the dead, including at bedside during the night, and has been led to pray their souls toward Jesus.
Father Lorig, who was ordained a Catholic priest in 1984, and who is married with four children (and fifteen grandchildren), had some special experiences while at Saint Andrew's Episcopal Church in Nogales (near the Mexican border).
"It was built over an Indian graveyard -- paleo-Indians who were peaceful," says Father Lorig, pastor of Saint Maria Goretti parish (he is not associated with previous claims at this church of the supernatural).
"While we were digging a sacrarium -- a dry well [for proper disposal of Communion wine] -- the workmen came upon hand-made pots. We called the University of Arizona, which had paleontologists, and they came down.
I Corinthians 9:27 But I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection : lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway.
I also don't see how "abide in goodness" here
Romans 11:21 For if God hath not spared the natural branches, fear lest perhaps he also spare not thee.
Romans 11:22 See then the goodness and the severity of God: towards them indeed that are fallen, the severity; but towards thee, the goodness of God,if thou abide in goodness, otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
can possibly be construed as meaning only to keep believing as opposed to meaning that we must persist in reflecting Christ in our lives by our actions.
I understand the contrary point of view, I just don't see how it holds water in light of what Christ and the Apostles taught. Especially the fact that Paul, of all people, was concerned with doing rather than only with believing lest he become a castaway.
Thank you Mitch- you are correct. What I meant was that religion equates to man made laws, rules and regulations and that Christianity means belief, faith and surrender to Jesus Christ, our Salvation. Religion will not get you into heaven but complete surrender to Jesus will.
It mentions evocation, but not in a limiting sense, as it says “evocation of departed spirits and “other superstitious practices” of Spiritism”. Probably the most chief among the superstitious practices of Spiritism is communication with spirits, threw a great variety of methods (seances, ouija boards, automatic writing, channeling, etc), so any of those methods must be included in the general prohibition. This spiritist’s method of communication is during a perverted form of the Catholic mass, instead of a seance, but that is a difference of form, not of substance.
You raise a good point that I forgot to bring up. This man is a priest. Should he not at least have consulted an experienced exorcist of his church for guidance in how to deal with this situation properly? He seems instead to have taken it upon himself to decide what he should do, and I don’t think that is wise considering the situation.
Let me look more into this.
I think the way to view the matter, that reconciles both points is this:
The work necessary for the salvation of any man is completely and irrevocably done, accomplished by Christ on the cross. By that standard, in general, the salvation of all IS done.
As for individual believers, well, some verses suggest that our salvation can never be lost, and yet the apostles even seemed to continually struggle with maintaining their conduct so as not to be lost. So either the apostles didn’t have a clear certainty of their own salvation, or they pretended not to for sake of illustrating a point, or they really believed that one could lose their salvation.
I think the answer to this dillemna is pointed at in 2 John 2:18-19 -
“18Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.”
This suggests, to me, that salvation is assured for those that truly believe, and that those who eventually seem to “lose” their salvation were never truly faithful to begin with. One could view that from the Calvinist stance, that those “true believers” were elected by God in advance, or a non-Calvinist view, that we really make the choice ourselves. Either way, it seems that the best course of action is to assume our faith is strong enough for us to overcome, for if it turns out not to be, we’ve lost nothing in the effort, but if it turns out to be, we have gained a reward without measure.
Some people are given Charisms for other people.Father did not ask for this it is given by God for other people.He has a special devotion to the Holy Souls-many people have-but he was given this Charism to help other souls.He did not ask for it but wrote about his experience which I love because for most it is hard to talk about it let alone understand it.He brings comfort to many souls.
First off, the deception is yours to believe...You couldn't find a purgatory in the bible if you summoned up Sherlock Holmes to help you...
And secondly, there are no souls wandering the earth...If you see something, you probably do see something but it's not what you seem to think it is...
If I attended a church where the pastor talked like this guy, I get out of there as fast as these Red Ball Jets would take me...
**Christ did not found the Catholic Church.**
Yes, he did. The Apostles were ordained by him as the first Bishops. Remember him breathing on them and saying “Receive the Holy Spirit......”?
Or do you ignore that part of the Bible?
Even Paul ordained priests/presbyters for the Gentiles. Please get your facts right.
Yet Jesus Himself said..."Be not afraid, only believe." (Mark 5:36)
I suppose it hinges on what we think 'believe' actually means.
What we say we believe or even what we think we believe is not necessarily what we actually do believe deep down in our heart.For it's with the heart (not the head) that we believe unto righteousness.(Romans 10:10)
It's the state of our heart that will determine how we act and out of it's abundance the mouth speaks.(Luke 6:45)
Therefore doing the "work of God" (John 6:29) will enable us to "enter His rest" in order to cease from our own works. (Hebrews 4:10)
and not only that....but doing the "work of God" will ensure that we "never fall" (2 Peter 1:10)
So yes,only believing will cause you to cease from your own works and will ensure that you never fall.It's important to say the least.
So much of religion is about "do",the truth is "done" and the ball is in our court to get that to sink in ie:believe.
2 Corinthians 11:14 “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.”
Dead people do not come back. They are demonic posing as someone you love and trust.
I am confused. When and where did the priest commune with the dead? He had paranormal experiences in this area of Nogales, AZ. He knew enough about the life of a soul to realize that the soul had a need for prayers, and so he prayed for them. All the paranormal activities with these specific souls ceased.
Yes, it is a Catholic custom to pray for the dead. We believe in the Church triumphant (those who are in heaven; the Church militant (those still on earth) and the Church suffering (those in Purgatory). To be in purgatory is not the worst as someone above had=s written - it means that eventually you will be in heaven - but you need to have your soul “purged” so to speak. Imagine that when you die, you are not condemned to hell, but since you are a sinner as we all are, you approach the judgement with sins on your soul. Consider purgatory as one last opportunity to be cleansed before you are allowed to approach the throne of God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
2 Corinthians 5:17-19 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
Imagine that when you die, you are not condemned to hell, but since you are a sinner as we all are, you approach the judgement with sins on your soul. Consider purgatory as one last opportunity to be cleansed before you are allowed to approach the throne of God.
When we are forgiven, there is no sin left to pay for. It's been FORGIVEN. It's gone.
Suffering doesn't cleanse us from sin because it can't. Only death, the shedding of blood can do that so suffering in purgatory would be useless.
Colossians 2:13-14 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
Hebrews 9:22 22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
Hebrews 9:24-28 24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Hebrews 10:12-14 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
Hebrews 10:19-22 19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
And finally.... *Allowed* to come before the throne???????
Hebrews 4:15-16 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Should we ever be anywhere else?
That sort of thing, along with the idea that we have to be purged before being permitted to see God, portrays a God who is a demanding, harsh, taskmaster. One who is not loving, who is never satisfied, one who constantly needs to be appeased with people begging and groveling for mercy, hoping against hope that somehow they might be found good enough to make it to heaven and find out when they die, being grateful for being tossed the bone of having nothing worse than an extended stay in purgatory to suffer more before they;’re good enough to be “allowed” to see God.
One who is on again, off again in regard to salvation, comes and abandons, comes and abandons, ad nauseum based solely on ones works. One who would disown His own children and throw them into hell for the least infraction of His Law. One who Catholics feel they have to go through Mary or some other saint to get to because they’re more merciful?
THAT’S their idea of a loving heavenly Father?
That was what that priest was doing, praying for the repose of those souls. God heard his prayer and they are now at peace.
It is a good, holy, and right thing to do.
Sometimes I wonder if those posters who cite scripture do so as to promote their own “opinions” and take the scripture way, way out of context?
Welcome home brother priest! Thank-you for posting the article.
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