tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post8830060975091716062..comments2023-12-16T16:17:43.886+00:00Comments on Fr Ray Blake's Blog: The Devil's Work!Fr Ray Blakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05584140126211527252noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-3828399073666046302013-06-11T17:47:49.930+01:002013-06-11T17:47:49.930+01:00Just a clarification on the meaning of "exorc...Just a clarification on the meaning of "exorcise / exorcise"<br /><br />Exorcise is from Greek ex + orkizo. Orkizo is "I adjure" or "I swear an oath," "ex/ek" is out.<br /><br />So it's a bit stronger than just "I pray out", it's "I adjure out". Exorcism has a commanding or adjuring element which intercessory prayer doesn't have. That correlates with it needing apostolic / episcopal authority. F Marsdenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04348628602646025343noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-30458980731149564912013-05-31T08:33:52.539+01:002013-05-31T08:33:52.539+01:00"Hell" for example, means a state that i..."Hell" for example, means a state that is eternally seperated from God, humanities ultimate loneliness. It tends to get glossed over by images of a medieval torture chamber, which actually for those who love God might be considered light relief compared to the horror of perpetual exile from his presence. Hell is doctrine that is based on our freewill, we can choose to say yes or no to God and his reign.<br /><br />Is that not essentially the Greek, heretical view of Hell? According to Fr. Ripley's 'Hell', hell is the 'place and state where the demons along with those who die in the emnity of God suffer torment forever'. Pope Innocent III said that the 'punishment for original sin is the loss of the vision of God' (which seems to be what you are describing, Father)but the punishment for actual sin is Hell.<br /><br />The pain of Hell is both the pain of loss and the pain of sense - there is 'real, created, physical fire' in Hell which burns and torments the souls of the damned without ever being snuffed out and after the last judgement the bodies of the damned also.<br /><br />Forgive me if this is impertinent, Father, to upbraid a priest on a matter of doctrine, but could you explain?<br /><br />[of course, I am thoroughly traditional and Catholic now - I was abominably Modernist and sympathetic to the evil Liturgical Movement when last I posted - God have mercy on my soul!]Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-35854772434213650522013-05-29T01:07:36.525+01:002013-05-29T01:07:36.525+01:00These words of the Pope remind me of some lyrics b...These words of the Pope remind me of some lyrics by Bob Dylan: <br /><br />"You gotta serve somebody, you gotta serve somebody. It may be the devil, or it may be the Lord, but you gotta serve somebody!"<br /><br />Not that I have ever been a fan of Dylan, but it did strike me when I heard them that he certainly had got one thing right.<br /><br />GOR, thank you for mentioning the "black and white" thing. I am of the firm opinion that if anybody ever tries to fob me off with that phrase, then whatever precedes it or follows it is a pile of stinking, liberal manure. It is one of my pet hates which ranks alongside the modernist verb "to be Church".Deacon Augustinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03549825303646357455noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31069882.post-73705103419074730662013-05-28T23:58:06.466+01:002013-05-28T23:58:06.466+01:00Many years ago I spent hours arguing with a libera...Many years ago I spent hours arguing with a liberal American priest – Dick, now deceased, RIP - about good and evil. We were at dinner in a well-known Dublin hotel with two other priests. I was ‘fresh out of the seminary’ and very conservative - having spent four years in Rome where the ‘spirit of Vat II’ had not yet colored the teaching of the professors at the Gregorian.<br /><br />It was only afterwards I realized that the other two priests had just sat back and let us have at it. Maybe they couldn’t get a word in edgewise! Dick became rather exasperated with me and his parting shot was: “Everything is not black and white!” <br /><br />After a couple of hours of this (dinners back then were leisurely affairs), the waiter came over and said that a couple at another table asked to buy us a round of drinks. We accepted of course and, as is usual in these situations, invited the couple to join us. Unsurprisingly, they were Americans.<br /><br />They had obviously overheard our discussion, but what hit me was the man’s pronouncement that he “had assumed Dick was a Protestant Minister and I was a Catholic priest” and hence our different views!<br /><br />We have come a long way since then, but Pope Francis’ emphasis on good, evil and the Devil certainly points out that some things definitely are ‘black or white’.GORhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14313101159848740722noreply@blogger.com