Curses

[beckycmarie]

I don’t understand, how are these curses accomplished? is it when someone just has the desire or the thought to curse another person? What if someone says to you “go to hell” or “go to the devil”- is that putting a curse on them?

Monica, it can be all of those things, plus I would add using the word “damn” followed by a pronoun or someone’s name, and using witchcraft to put a spell, hex, curse, etc. on someone. All of these things work by inviting the devil to torment another person.

Cases of full-blown possession have happened as a result of curses; for example, the case described in Begone Satan. Additionally, Fr. Gabriele Amorth says many of the cases of possession he deals with are the result of curses.

Now before I cause anyone to lose sleep over possibly being cursed, remember that God is in control, and demons can do nothing unless He allows it for our own good:

CCC #395:
"The power of Satan is, nonetheless, not infinite. He is only a creature, powerful from the fact that he is pure spirit, but still a creature. He cannot prevent the building up of God’s reign. Although Satan may act in the world out of hatred for God and his kingdom in Christ Jesus, and although his action may cause grave injuries - of a spiritual nature and, indirectly, even of a physical nature- to each man and to society, the action is permitted by divine providence which with strength and gentleness guides human and cosmic history. It is a great mystery that providence should permit diabolical activity, but “we know that in everything God works for good with those who love him.”

There are things we can do to fight back against a curse; see the links I provided to Angels Unaware for a good place to start. Demonic activity, while frightening and discouraging, is often a catalyst that brings people closer to God.

 

[Monica4316]

Monica, it can be all of those things, plus I would add using the word “damn” followed by a pronoun or someone’s name, and using witchcraft to put a spell, hex, curse, etc. on someone. All of these things work by inviting the devil to torment another person.

Cases of full-blown possession have happened as a result of curses; for example, the case described in Begone Satan. Additionally, Fr. Gabriele Amorth says many of the cases of possession he deals with are the result of curses.

Now before I cause anyone to lose sleep over possibly being cursed, remember that God is in control, and demons can do nothing unless He allows it for our own good:

CCC #395:
"The power of Satan is, nonetheless, not infinite. He is only a creature, powerful from the fact that he is pure spirit, but still a creature. He cannot prevent the building up of God’s reign. Although Satan may act in the world out of hatred for God and his kingdom in Christ Jesus, and although his action may cause grave injuries - of a spiritual nature and, indirectly, even of a physical nature- to each man and to society, the action is permitted by divine providence which with strength and gentleness guides human and cosmic history. It is a great mystery that providence should permit diabolical activity, but “we know that in everything God works for good with those who love him.”

There are things we can do to fight back against a curse; see the links I provided to Angels Unaware for a good place to start. Demonic activity, while frightening and discouraging, is often a catalyst that brings people closer to God.

thanks for the info…

I had someone tell me to go “to the devil”, several times, I hope nothing happened as a result of that I’ve forgiven the person though, I don’t think they really truly meant it and were just angry.

 

[beckycmarie]

Monica, I don’t think every single curse-like utterance unleashes demons, but sometimes these curses do have consequences. It can’t hurt to say a prayer to break curses if you are concerned.

 

[Lost_Wanderer]

Monica, I don’t think every single curse-like utterance unleashes demons, but sometimes these curses do have consequences. It can’t hurt to say a prayer to break curses if you are concerned.

_>

<_<

Psst… um… do you happen to know an, er, official method (you know, Vatican approved) of determining if you really are cursed? >_>;;

Not that I’m saying I’m cursed but, eh, like the OP I too have had seriously harsh strokes of bad luck. (Like the day before yesterday when the beaker my group and I were boiling in the Biology lab started to crack around the bottom for no apparent reason. Thank goodness I stopped the stove or else I wouldn’t be as eh… handsome as I am right now. >_<;; Sadly, we still had to pay for the bloody thing. )X )

 

[MtnDwellar]

Monica, I don’t think every single curse-like utterance unleashes demons, but sometimes these curses do have consequences. It can’t hurt to say a prayer to break curses if you are concerned.

Becky is correct. It is not the words that have an effect. Thoughtless words without emotion do not have an effect. The thoughts and emotions without the words can curse.

 

[beckycmarie]

_>

It’s important not to become so paranoid we think the devil is behind everything that goes wrong. There is probably a perfectly natural explanation for the beaker cracking. That one doesn’t sound demonic to me. But a series of “seriously harsh strokes of bad luck,” especially like what Angels Unaware describes, can be demonic harrassment.

Fr. Jose Antonio Fortea, an exorcist from Spain, gives this advice on his website:

How can one know if he is the victim of a curse? There is no way to know it, since the devil’s action is invisible. It can only be sure when a possession or other diabolic intervention occurs in the person, the signs of which are visible to the exorcist. It is also possible to know if an evil is caused by a curse when that evil is accompanied by malignant preternatural events. But unless there appear external signs which reveal a diabolic origin, one can never know if these happenings come from natural causes or not.

What should be done if one suspects that someone has put a curse on him? As has just been said, it is not possible to achieve certainty in this matter, not even for a specialist, much less for a particular person without much knowledge of the subject. But if a curse has been made, the only way to destroy it will be to do exactly the contrary: invoke God.

In other words, if a person has invoked the devil to do evil, the victim must invoke God to be protected, helped and blessed by God. Good is always stronger than evil.

When people come to my parish saying that they are suffering from a curse, I tell them that, outside of certain exceptions, it is impossible to verify a diabolic causality; but if in fact they are suffering from a curse, the only remedy and medicine is to do the following daily:

-pray a mystery of the rosary.
-read the Gospel for 5 minutes.
-speak with God for a few moments.
-go to mass (on Sundays or even more frequently)
-place a blessed crucifix in the house.
-place a blessed image of the Virgin Mary in the house.
-make the sign of the cross with holy water once a day.

Doing this, if the evils they suffer are caused by the devil, these will begin to subside. But if they do not begin to diminish in any way, that will be a sign that they are not caused by a curse.

 

[puzzleannie]

One of the things that I’ve learned through this experience is that when undeserved and unfortunate things happen to others, the most common reaction that the average person has is to blame the individual. This has constantly happened to me, and I suspect it will continue.

.

another equally common and equally dangerous reactionis for the victim of what we might call bad luck to blame themselves. Both of those reactions are based in a grain of truth, which is that we start with the “victim” in order to look at the circumstances surrounding the ill happenings, but the idea of “blame” and “guilt” quickly jump in and confuse the process. The idea that it must be somebody’s fault, not the natural result of a series of unfortunate events. For instance: I lost my job, either I am to blame because I failed to be a good worker, or, somebody else is to blame because my boss hates me, my co-worker conspired to ruin my good name. Both analyses miss the overall picture: my industry has tanked and thousands are losing their jobs.

My point is that 99% of the time the reasons for bad “luck” or good “luck” are entirely natural. Yes they can be the natural result of good, wise, prudent, intellegent actions and choices of the “victim”, or of other people, or they can be totally unforeseen due to combinations of circumstances, but they are still natural events with natural causes and effects.

The first place to look for an explanation of what happens to us in life is not outside ourselves to the supernatural, other than of course that we even exist due to God’s love.

 

[MtnDwellar]

My point is that 99% of the time the reasons for bad “luck” or good “luck” are entirely natural. Yes they can be the natural result of good, wise, prudent, intellegent actions and choices of the “victim”, or of other people, or they can be totally unforeseen due to combinations of circumstances, but they are still natural events with natural causes and effects.

I either do not understand puzzl’s statement or I strongly disagree. I believe that events in our lives are always a combination of natural, preternatural, and super natural causes.

 

[beckycmarie]

It’s probably worth noting here the following admonishment from the Vatican document,
Directory on Popular Piety and Liturgy:

1. Popular devotion to the Holy Angels [which is legitimate and good] can, however, also give rise to possible deviations:

-when, as sometimes can happen, the faithful are taken by the idea that the world is subject to demiurgical struggles, or an incessant battle between good and evil spirits, or Angels and daemons, in which man is left at the mercy of superior forces and over which he is helpless; such cosmologies bear little relation to the true Gospel vision of the struggle to overcome the Devil, which requires moral commitment, a fundamental option for the Gospel, humility and prayer;

-when the daily events of life, which have nothing or little to do with our progressive maturing on the journey towards Christ are read schematically or simplistically, indeed childishly, so as to ascribe all setbacks to the Devil and all success to the Guardian Angels. The practice of assigning names to the Holy Angels should be discouraged, except in the cases of Gabriel, Raphael and Michael whose names are contained in Holy Scripture.

 

[MtnDwellar]

It’s probably worth noting here the following admonishment from the Vatican document,
Directory on Popular Piety and Liturgy:

The admonishment is valuable and well taken. Never think that we are helpless or powerless over our lives. God gave us many gifts. We are empowered through them.

 

[Monica4316]

Becky is correct. It is not the words that have an effect. Thoughtless words without emotion do not have an effect. The thoughts and emotions without the words can curse.

I’m not sure about emotions… sometimes the enemy can confuse us… for example, sometimes I feel emotions that go against my will completely. A few times, this has been feeling hatred towards God, which I don’t want to have. (this might be due to scrupulosity). I think it’s more the will that counts here?

 

[MtnDwellar]

I’m not sure about emotions… sometimes the enemy can confuse us… for example, sometimes I feel emotions that go against my will completely. A few times, this has been feeling hatred towards God, which I don’t want to have. (this might be due to scrupulosity). I think it’s more the will that counts here?

I wish that it was the will that counted. For instance, feelings of anger and thoughts of revenge will have a major effect, whether they are willed or not. The will is part of our higher faculties and emotion is from the lower. As Christians we struggle to control the lower faculties with the help of God through prayer and by leading a spiritual life.

A simple example involves the lower faculty that desires food. Our intellect and our will decide that we are on a diet and we had enough to eat. The lower faculty says food is good and satisfying. EAT MORE! If we eat another plate, clearly the will was not a major factor in the result.

The same applies to our emotions. Emotions effect spirituality. Our intellect and our will may tell us that our anger is misplaced and that we don’t want to feel it. Anger can occur against our will and cause problems. We have to make an effort to turn those feelings over to the care of God.

 

[Monica4316]

I wish that it was the will that counted. For instance, feelings of anger and thoughts of revenge will have a major effect, whether they are willed or not. The will is part of our higher faculties and emotion is from the lower. As Christians we struggle to control the lower faculties with the help of God through prayer and by leading a spiritual life.

A simple example involves the lower faculty that desires food. Our intellect and our will decide that we are on a diet and we had enough to eat. The lower faculty says food is good and satisfying. EAT MORE! If we eat another plate, clearly the will was not a major factor in the result.

The same applies to our emotions. Emotions effect spirituality. Our intellect and our will may tell us that our anger is misplaced and that we don’t want to feel it. Anger can occur against our will and cause problems. We have to make an effort to turn those feelings over to the care of God.

I see what you are saying, - that is why I confess emotions like that too. But the way I’ve understood it, - if you feel something like anger, but don’t 'want it and are trying hard to fight it, that is a sin but not a mortal sin? I agree it still weakens us spiritually and it’s something to be avoided for sure.

 

[MtnDwellar]

I see what you are saying, - that is why I confess emotions like that too. But the way I’ve understood it, - if you feel something like anger, but don’t 'want it and are trying hard to fight it, that is a sin but not a mortal sin? I agree it still weakens us spiritually and it’s something to be avoided for sure.

My line of thought did not involve whether the unwanted manifestations of our lower faculties are sinful or how sinful they are. Confession means that the sins are forgiven, but the effect of the sin remains. I was relating to the effects.

During the Sermon on the Mount and while talking about lust, Christ taught us that “mental sins” are serious sins. Generally, we think that the more harm that is caused, the more serious the sin. The harm caused by these sins is not of a direct physical nature. At the final judgment we will learn all of the effects of our sins.

 

[Monica4316]

My line of thought did not involve whether the unwanted manifestations of our lower faculties are sinful or how sinful they are. Confession means that the sins are forgiven, but the effect of the sin remains. I was relating to the effects.

During the Sermon on the Mount and while talking about lust, Christ taught us that “mental sins” are serious sins. Generally, we think that the more harm that is caused, the more serious the sin. The harm caused by these sins is not of a direct physical nature. At the final judgment we will learn all of the effects of our sins.

I see what you mean… I sometimes struggle with a lot of unwanted thoughts and my hope has always been that Jesus would be merciful to me and forgive me of those thoughts when I confess them, but sometimes I get really afraid, so this is sort of an issue for me.

 

[Angels_Unaware]

My great grandfather was a Mason. I know very little about Masons, but I found a prayer to break generational curses if you are the descendent of a Mason. I don’t know if this is really a concern or not, but I thought it could not hurt to pray. It was somewhat hard to pray. Kind of like praying through a wall, with a tightness around my forehead?

I guess the feeling of tightness could be my imagination, I don’t know. There were some things that happened over the weekend to a person that I knew that made me think about the possibility of family transmission of curses. That event just lead me to think about the possibility of this.

I am really not a person who is interested in secrets and conspiracy theories, or even in ideas that seem superstitous like curses, but I have to admit I am considering these things.

The one idea that seems to fit is that if the Masons are about having power (and I’m guessing that is the aim), then it would seem fitting to have constant burdens and obstacles that are dis-empowering as the inverse effect of a sinful desire for power, and perhaps an effect like that could be passed through to future generations.

 

[Monica4316]

One thing I know about the Masons is that it’s against Church teaching to be a Mason, and that in the upper levels of the organization they have demonic like rituals and deny Christ, - their concept of God is different from ours. Also Our Lady appeared 400 years ago to a nun (Our Lady of Good Success) and said that in our time, the Masons would have much power. I hope this doens’t sound too much like a conspiracy theory lol - I’m not into conspiracy theories - but the Popes have written some really negative things about the Masons, and I think there’s more to this than people think…

But I’m not saying that what is happening to you has anything to do with the Masons, - I have no idea about that.

God bless

 

[BigRedpg51]

It is entirely possible that a person can become “cursed” through another person putting a curse on them. Whether you, personally, are cursed or not is difficult to say without proper discernment by a competent authority.

The competent authority is a duly authorized exorcist for your diocese. I suggest you seek him out and ask him to help you to discern whether a curse has been placed upon you or not…and, if so, then to help you remove it. This is the Catholic Church’s way of dealing with curses upon people. It works!

God bless you!
John

 

[Christina009]

I know how you feel.
I have had so many things happen to me through out my life,well since I was early 20s.
These things seem so had to explain,accept to say I am cursed.
People accusing me of doing things I would never do. And they never can explain why they accuse me. They usually say,“I just feel like that’s what you think” or " I just think you did it".
And sometimes these are people who just meet me.
One most recent story I can tell you,and I’ll condense it as much as possible.
My brother finds out he has a daughter in Germany.
He didn’t know this,though he suspected.
The mother of the daughter comes to visit before daughter comes over.
The mother at one time says,“If anyone does not believe that she is his daughter,we will be glad to go through DNA testing”. I talk to some family members and one suggest I look into it just in case. I look into DNA testing. I tell the mother what I found out.
The mother tells her daughter that I do not believe she is my brother’s daughter.
And that I want her to have a DNA test done.
I saw a picture of this girl and I sent pictures of my brother and his daughter to family members. I stated clearly that she was his daughter, they looked to much alike to deny.
Anyway,here is someone who I had never met before but she thought the worse of me.
This is only one thing of many.
I have been accuse of stealing,crashing a party and well I could go on and on.
I am curse. I pray and ask the Lord to help me understand.
I don’t get it yet,but I cling to Him because he’s my only true friend.

 

[Dorothy]

My great grandfather was a Mason. I know very little about Masons, but I found a prayer to break generational curses if you are the descendent of a Mason. I don’t know if this is really a concern or not, but I thought it could not hurt to pray. It was somewhat hard to pray. Kind of like praying through a wall, with a tightness around my forehead?

I guess the feeling of tightness could be my imagination, I don’t know. There were some things that happened over the weekend to a person that I knew that made me think about the possibility of family transmission of curses. That event just lead me to think about the possibility of this.

I am really not a person who is interested in secrets and conspiracy theories, or even in ideas that seem superstitous like curses, but I have to admit I am considering these things.

The one idea that seems to fit is that if the Masons are about having power (and I’m guessing that is the aim), then it would seem fitting to have constant burdens and obstacles that are dis-empowering as the inverse effect of a sinful desire for power, and perhaps an effect like that could be passed through to future generations.

Last year in July I went on a four-day ladies silent retreat. The only time for speaking was at the conferences that the retreat master gave, if we had questions. He was a very spiritual priest, known for his gift of delivering people who were involved in the occult. The main focus of the retreat was his encouraging us to do St. Louis Marie de Montfort’s “True Devotion to Mary.” He gave us wonderful sharings about this, and inspired many to want to make the consecration.

He did talk quite a bit about the passing down of problems to those who had parents, grandparents or relatives who were masons. He prayed over them and counseled them, and gave examples of how it could affect future generations if not confronted and prayed about. He also mentioned the need to forgive those relatives for their involvement with the masons.

It was a very powerful retreat.