Don’t contact dead people, priest warns

A Catholic priest who is an expert on exorcism warned yesterday against contacting spirits during the observance of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day next week to avoid talking to the devil.

Fr. Jose Francisco Syquia said the Catholic Church prohibits practices that involve communicating with the dead, such as spirit of the glass and séance, since these activities involve witchcraft and the worship of Satan.

“In the Bible, particularly in the Book of Deuteronomy, it is very clear that we should never contact or search for spirits because you only open up yourself to demonic interaction. These are the tools being used by the witches or satanic worshippers so they could contact the devil and gain power,” Syquia told The STAR.

Syquia explained that the Church recognizes that all people have a natural psychic sense, more popularly known as the sixth sense. But the hierarchy discourages the development of this ability, which could be used by evil spirits to manifest themselves and even attack human beings.

He said it is very dangerous if a person would allow the devil to possess his or her body just so he or she could share evil powers.

“This is an abomination to the Lord. There is always exchange. It could be a part of your life or your soul. That is why we see those possessed people, their lives are destroyed, full of backlogs and misfortunes because they left the affection of God,” explained Syquia, who studied exorcism and deliverance at the Angelicum University and has worked in Rome with chief exorcist Fr. Gabriel Amurth.

The priest advised those who want to contact their dead loved ones to refrain from using occult practices and instead offer prayers or Masses so they would go to Heaven.

Syquia also revealed that Filipinos should be extra-careful in avoiding occult and pagan practices common in the Philippines, which make them prone to possession by evil spirits.

“Many Filipinos are possessed because they believe in supernatural healing, witchcraft, fortune telling, ghost hunting through the spirit of the glass and other occult practices. These are forms of worship that allow evil spirits to have power over people,” said Syquia,

Syquia said Filipinos do not seem to realize that possession and occult practices are “demonic” in nature.

“Never in the whole 2,000-year history of the Church that a person has been possessed by Mama Mary or Jesus, making all those claiming to be possessed by Mary or the Sto. Niño (Infant Jesus) as fakes,” he said.

Apart from subscribing to occult practices, Syquia said the use of drugs could make people susceptible to possession.

“It is one way of opening a transit to the world of the dead and allow evil to come in. You can notice that addicts hear a lot of voices while high on drugs,” he said.

However, he said the Church has the power to heal possessed people through exorcism, which was practiced by Jesus Christ and all his apostles to drive away the demons and heal the sick.

Syquia said they use a four-way test to determine whether a person is possessed, including psychiatry to determine if the person is mentally ill, parapsychology to measure the supernatural strength of the possessed, use of religious objects to establish aversion to the sacred, and confirmation with the community.

If all four standards are met, a bishop or an authorized priest would then perform exorcism rites, which include four-century-old prayers in Latin.

Syquia said the Church has been “very secretive about exorcism” and that none of the past cases were filmed because the ritual is considered very sacred and solemn.

He added that in almost all recorded cases of possession, the victims became closer to God after they were successfully exorcised.

He also said the Church recognizes scientific means to help combat evil spirits, specifically the use of gadgets to determine presence of spirits.

“They need electromagnetic energy to manifest themselves. If your psychic sense is active, then you would feel the energy. You would get goose bumps and feel cold,” he said.

Syquia added that evil spirits are everywhere and usually reside in “haunted areas that are dark, unoccupied, dirty, and cold houses where too (many) sins and violence were committed.”

“That is why it is important to have protection. We can use exorcised salt, holy water, exorcised oil, to ward off these evil spirits from entering our home,” he said.