Ask a Question - or - Return to the Spiritual Warfare Forum Index

Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
Imprecatory and deprecatory delivrance prayers	NICK	Monday, April 28, 2008
Question: Brother Ignatius, I have read this morning several opinons that you posted regarding the use imprecatory prayers, and instructing laity to stay away from it. I am not particulary heavy in 'spiritual welfare' and my experience of it is basic: to me prayer life is spritual welfare LOH and daily rosary regularly do the trick. However a year and a half ago after witnessing a 'delivrance' I have picked up the prayer said "Exorcism of Leo XIII" once a week for protection. than I read somewhere (PREFECT CARDINAL RATZINGER) that I did not have this authority as a lay person (go figure). But any way after reading some of your responses I gather that I am to stay away form it principally because of the imprecatory charater of the prayer. I am not sure I agree with it. Although I beleive that a prayer of faith asking God and the Saint for delivrance is just as, if not more powerful than the simple reading of deprecatory prayers, I do beleive that these prayers may have a psychological value that may be beneficial to the person praying for himself. On top of that popular and traditional prayers of 'delivrance' are clearly deprecatory. 2 example: Of Saint Anthony of Padua (inspired from a psalm): Behold the Cross of the Lord, be scattered ye hostile powers... Of Saint Benedict (from the cross st benedict): "... Step back Satan / Never tempt me with vain things What you offer me is evil / Drink the poison yourself." these are cleary imprecatory in character addressing the evil one. You mention Saint Michael invoking God against Satan but he did even in this invocation addressed Satan (though I would not advise this) How about the imprecatory psalms which can be prayed with fevor against Satan our ennemy?? Lot of confusion here. NB: keep in mind I am not arguing for the exorcism of Leo to be said by Laity. I am just wondering about imprecatory prayers as a whole. Thank you for your opiniated response :-) Nick Pallo OCDS, STD JD PhD
Question Answered by Dear Nick: Well, I am not sure my response is "opinionated". That is a derogatory term suggesting uninformed opinion. Perhaps you did not mean that. The primary issue is not the efficacy of imprecatory or deprecatory language. The issue is obedience to lawfully promulgated legislation from the Sacred Congregation on the Doctrine of the Faith. The Pope Leo XIII prayer certainly cannot be recited as originally written because it contains phrases that pertain specifically to the ministry of the Priest. If one is not a priest then those phrases cannot be used. It should also be noted that Pope Leo wrote that prayer to priests, not to laity. Even if those phrases of priestly ministry are removed, under usual circumstances I would suggest it is imprudent to use the prayer as written with imprecatory commands directed to the devil, or any other prayer with imprecatory commands to the devil. In Jude 9 St. Michael did speak directly to the devil but he used deprecatory language (which should tell us something). Again the issue is obedience (and prudence). Before 1984 it was perfectly okay for the laity to use these prayers as written (except for the priestly language). Since 1984, we must obey the restrictions of the legislation and be generally more careful and prudent given the warnings and cautions of then Cardinal Ratzinger. What is certain is that we are not to get into conversations with the demons. We are not to ask demons their names or seek information from them. This clear in the document and thus obedience is mandatory. As to the use of imprecatory language there is some disagreement about that and differing interpretations of the 1984 document. The document is rather vague on this point. The issue of prudence, then becomes even more important, especially of the extremely imprudent culture of America. Prudence is that virtue that seeks to do what one ought, to do what is the best thing to do, NOT to do something merely because one has the right or capacity to do it. If we are to side in the debate that imprecatory language is okay as an ordinary practice, then we still have to ask, Is it prudent? Because we are allowed to does not mean we ought to. I would suggest that personally butting heads with the devil as to command him directly is not prudent in the ordinary circumstance and is not necessary. What is the essential difference between the following two prayers: 1) In the name of Jesus, I command you demon of hate... 2) In the name of Jesus, Father please command this demon of hate... The difference is the almighty "I". Why does it "sound" more powerful to say "I command..." instead of "Father please command..."? Does not the Father have more power than us? Even if the Father delegates authority to us, does not the Father have more power than us? Is is not safer to let God butt heads with the devil directly instead of us? Ego is something we must avoid at all costs for we are at risk of being slapped down hard otherwise. Prudence would say, I suggest, that we ought not to use imprecatory language in the ordinary setting, especially when deprecatory language works perfectly well. Why not use safer, yet still powerful deprecatory language and let God take care of the head butting? The use of imprecatory language ought to be reserved only for Solemn Exorcisms and for those who have been specifically called into Deliverance Ministry and are thus trained and prepared to go to battle in this way. Even then, prudence suggest a rare use of imprecatory language. Directly commanding the devil is dangerous. You will find a lot of imprecatory language by the Saints. You can even find writings of the Saints that encourage imprecatory language. But, two things must be kept in mind regardless... 1) The Magisterium outranks the advice of the Saints. If the Holy See restricts something then it is restricted no matter how much it was permitted in the past. 2) The law of prudence ALWAYS outranks the liberality of license. God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

Imprecatory and deprecatory delivrance prayers

NICK

Monday, April 28, 2008

Question:

Brother Ignatius,
I have read this morning several opinons that you posted regarding the use imprecatory prayers, and instructing laity to stay away from it. I am not particulary heavy in 'spiritual welfare' and my experience of it is basic: to me prayer life is spritual welfare LOH and daily rosary regularly do the trick. However a year and a half ago after witnessing a 'delivrance' I have picked up the prayer said "Exorcism of Leo XIII" once a week for protection. than I read somewhere (PREFECT CARDINAL RATZINGER) that I did not have this authority as a lay person (go figure).

But any way after reading some of your responses I gather that I am to stay away form it principally because of the imprecatory charater of the prayer. I am not sure I agree with it. Although I beleive that a prayer of faith asking God and the Saint for delivrance is just as, if not more powerful than the simple reading of deprecatory prayers, I do beleive that these prayers may have a psychological value that may be beneficial to the person praying for himself. On top of that popular and traditional prayers of 'delivrance' are clearly deprecatory. 2 example:

Of Saint Anthony of Padua (inspired from a psalm):
Behold the Cross of the Lord, be scattered ye hostile powers...
Of Saint Benedict (from the cross st benedict):
"...
Step back Satan / Never tempt me with vain things
What you offer me is evil / Drink the poison yourself."

these are cleary imprecatory in character addressing the evil one.

You mention Saint Michael invoking God against Satan but he did even in this invocation addressed Satan (though I would not advise this)

How about the imprecatory psalms which can be prayed with fevor against Satan our ennemy??

Lot of confusion here.

NB: keep in mind I am not arguing for the exorcism of Leo to be said by Laity. I am just wondering about imprecatory prayers as a whole.

Thank you for your opiniated response :-)
Nick Pallo OCDS, STD JD PhD

Question Answered by

Dear Nick:

Well, I am not sure my response is "opinionated". That is a derogatory term suggesting uninformed opinion. Perhaps you did not mean that.

The primary issue is not the efficacy of imprecatory or deprecatory language. The issue is obedience to lawfully promulgated legislation from the Sacred Congregation on the Doctrine of the Faith.

The Pope Leo XIII prayer certainly cannot be recited as originally written because it contains phrases that pertain specifically to the ministry of the Priest. If one is not a priest then those phrases cannot be used. It should also be noted that Pope Leo wrote that prayer to priests, not to laity.

Even if those phrases of priestly ministry are removed, under usual circumstances I would suggest it is imprudent to use the prayer as written with imprecatory commands directed to the devil, or any other prayer with imprecatory commands to the devil. In Jude 9 St. Michael did speak directly to the devil but he used deprecatory language (which should tell us something).

Again the issue is obedience (and prudence). Before 1984 it was perfectly okay for the laity to use these prayers as written (except for the priestly language). Since 1984, we must obey the restrictions of the legislation and be generally more careful and prudent given the warnings and cautions of then Cardinal Ratzinger.

What is certain is that we are not to get into conversations with the demons. We are not to ask demons their names or seek information from them. This clear in the document and thus obedience is mandatory.

As to the use of imprecatory language there is some disagreement about that and differing interpretations of the 1984 document. The document is rather vague on this point.

The issue of prudence, then becomes even more important, especially of the extremely imprudent culture of America. Prudence is that virtue that seeks to do what one ought, to do what is the best thing to do, NOT to do something merely because one has the right or capacity to do it.

If we are to side in the debate that imprecatory language is okay as an ordinary practice, then we still have to ask, Is it prudent? Because we are allowed to does not mean we ought to.

I would suggest that personally butting heads with the devil as to command him directly is not prudent in the ordinary circumstance and is not necessary.

What is the essential difference between the following two prayers:

1) In the name of Jesus, I command you demon of hate...

2) In the name of Jesus, Father please command this demon of hate...

The difference is the almighty "I". Why does it "sound" more powerful to say "I command..." instead of "Father please command..."? Does not the Father have more power than us? Even if the Father delegates authority to us, does not the Father have more power than us? Is is not safer to let God butt heads with the devil directly instead of us? Ego is something we must avoid at all costs for we are at risk of being slapped down hard otherwise.

Prudence would say, I suggest, that we ought not to use imprecatory language in the ordinary setting, especially when deprecatory language works perfectly well. Why not use safer, yet still powerful deprecatory language and let God take care of the head butting?

The use of imprecatory language ought to be reserved only for Solemn Exorcisms and for those who have been specifically called into Deliverance Ministry and are thus trained and prepared to go to battle in this way. Even then, prudence suggest a rare use of imprecatory language. Directly commanding the devil is dangerous.

You will find a lot of imprecatory language by the Saints. You can even find writings of the Saints that encourage imprecatory language. But, two things must be kept in mind regardless...

1) The Magisterium outranks the advice of the Saints. If the Holy See restricts something then it is restricted no matter how much it was permitted in the past.

2) The law of prudence ALWAYS outranks the liberality of license.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

For information on how to receive help see our Help page. We suggest that before contacting us directly for help you try the Seven Steps to Self-Deliverance. These self-help steps will often resolve the problem. Also our Spiritual Warfare Prayer Catalog contains many prayers that may be helpful. If needed you can ask for a Personal Consultation.