Please note the new addition of the following prayer under the section Prayers. This discernment prayer was given to me many years ago by a good Catholic friend. However, neither of us knows the source of this prayer, so if someone recognizes this and knows where it originated, please file a comment so that I can give it due recognition.
This prayer is one that I have used several times in the dream state when I was not sure which ‘spirits’ I was experiencing. This prayer has been approved by Rev. Joseph Kane as an effective one to discern spirits. While this prayer may not be something the average person will use in their daily life, it may be useful to some who are advancing on the spiritual path, as the enemy often tries to scare, discourage or mislead such souls to prevent their advancement in holiness. It may also be that this prayer will be useful for future times. Father Kane has indicated to me that the section referring to the ‘holy wounds of Jesus’ is particularly effective in combatting the enemy. In addition to this tool in our prayer arsenals, the invocation of the protection of the Precious Blood of Jesus is also a quick spiritual prayer of protection. I present the following for your information, discernment and use in our common spiritual battle:
“If you are of my Lord Jesus Christ, then you are welcome, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (making the sign of the cross). If you are not of my Lord Jesus Christ, then by His holy wounds, His agonizing passion, cruel death and glorious resurrection, you are to be gone now, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (also while making the sign of the cross). Amen.”
I have used this prayer more than once in the dream state when it appeared I was experiencing something of the spirit world. I have wondered if it is with the help of grace that I am so ‘conscious’ in my sub-conscious when experiencing these things and therefore know to use and can remember this prayer! On occasion it would appear the spirits were good and stayed, and unfortunately, on other occasions, they disappeared after my recitation of this prayer in the dream state. There is so much we do not know! I present the following example of its use in one of my own early spiritual experiences:
NOVEMBER 12, 2000
Dream of me being a Bride Called to a Wedding Supper
I dreamt I was walking up a hill at my campsite. I was escorted to a forest on the grounds after I climbed the hill and while there by a table a spirit voice said to me:
“How can I explain to you what we are?”
I said back to (her?):
“You don’t need to. I believe in you.”
Then she appeared in front of me as an angel. She looked human, with a long robe, long wavy auburn hair with a band tied around her forehead and she had wings. When I saw her I remembered I should be testing the spirits and became very afraid. I said the prayer (above) my friend had given me in real life, but said it in my head in the dream as my throat was frozen with fear. She came closer and kneeled down in front of me as if to bow or kiss my hand and I guess it made me less afraid as she humbled herself before me, so I just barely audibly said the prayer out loud a second time and she didn’t disappear! I told her she was welcome.
Then my husband to be came, all dressed in a tuxedo (not my husband in real life). He told me it was time for the feast – that the guests were gathering. While he was talking to me the angel hid, almost shyly, behind a huge tall upright box – it’s uprightness was the main, outstanding feature. It appeared to be an upright cardboard box on the picnic table in front of us. The angel had her hands touching the box. After my husband left I saw myself with pen and paper in hand writing something. It was only one line I wrote as I stood looking at the pad, but I can’t remember what I wrote except to remember the name at the beginning of the line. It was phonetically Maria, but it was spelled Marea. I kept reading the name over and over again so that I would not forget it. I was dressed in a beautiful, elaborate white wedding dress.
Then the angel disappeared because it was time to go to the feast, which everyone around me was busily preparing. It was a huge, beautiful home and they were preparing a meal. I don’t know whose home it was. It seemed everything was being done for the benefit of my husband, whom everyone knew, and I just had to show up. I loved my husband very much and he loved me. I woke up.
This dream shows a personal experience that illuminates the scripture references to Jesus as the Bridegroom calling us to the wedding feast. Scripture imagery is a help to our prayers and teaching, so we should nourish our prayer life with the scriptures regularly.
This dream was also one of the profound early spiritual experiences that has changed me interiorly, as is the common path in the spiritual walk to holiness. It is often in these unseen, deep, personal, profound experiences that God changes a person from the inside out, in a way known to the experiencer, but unseen by even those closest to them. Those of you who have experienced things like this will understand what I say here.
Regardless, I have included this experience mainly to illuminate the need for the use of prayer and discernment in spiritual experiences. We know very little about the ability of the enemy of our souls, Satan, to impersonate beings of light. Our safe refuge, one way or another, is always Jesus. Perhaps next week will be a good time for me to illustrate the use of this prayer in another spiritual dream where it unmasked the deceit of the enemy…
Karen
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