religious-behaviour-and-experience

"The Church venerates thee as protector and patron; in thee holy Church glories as her defense against the malicious powers of this world and of hell; to thee has God entrusted the souls of men to be established in heavenly beatitude."

"When we fight with the devil, we must remain ‘seated’ in Christ. To perform exorcisms, absolute chastity is required."

"The true exorcist knows that he must pay a very high price for his ministry."

"There are several exorcists in identity crisis who send everyone to psychiatrists."

"All religions and spiritual groups, since the dawn of human times, had some form of exorcism to fight the evil-bringer, whatever the name they give to both exorcistic practices and the ultimate enemy of all that is good."

"Exorcism has no effect on the will of a man who freely chooses to sin."

"We're very conscious of making ‘rice Christians'. Our organisation is purely a religious organisation.... We don't even teach English here, so if they want to become a Jehovah's Witness, it's because they want to become a Jehovah's Witness, not because they're getting any material benefit out of it."

"As to the Converts these people have made, I have been credibly informed that they are chiefly of the very poor people; and that in the scarce times, their alms of rice have converted more than their preaching; and as to those also have been converted, as they call it, that is, to beads and new images, and belief in the Pope, they have fallen off again, as Rice grew plentiful, and would no longer be Christians than while the Priests administered food to them."

"Divination has always embraced strange, ultimately disproved customs."

"Divination is the art of obtaining knowledge through hidden means, and has been a part of civilizations around the world - likely for tens of thousands of years. Divination can help us understand situations, answer questions, and give us insight on the threads that weave our lives together."

"[A]spiration is a kind of divination of an enigmatic vision."

"DIVINATION, n. The art of nosing out the occult. Divination is of as many kinds as there are fruit-bearing varieties of the flowering dunce and the early fool."

"The songs of a city are its diviners."

"There is a deep, ancient connection between gambling and divination."

"(About demons) Sometimes, however, they predict beforehand, not things they themselves are doing, but things which they know by natural signs are going to take place. [...] Sometimes also they learn with complete ease the dispositions of human beings not only as they are expressed in speech, but also as they are conceived in thought, when certain signs from the mind are expressed in the body, and on this basis predict even many things that will come to pass, things wondrous to others, who have not known these things which were so disposed."

"The purpose of the I Ching or the tarot […] is to help you get access to yourself, by providing ambiguity for you to interpret. And this quality of ambiguity is shared with nearly all forms of divination — cast artifacts, or entrails, or weather formations, or events such as the flight of birds, that one could choose either to see as "omens" or to ignore. The very thing that makes these divination techniques seem so unscientific is what makes it possible for them to work."

"Criticism is properly the rod of divination."

"I know I would not be able to work one week if it were not for that continual force coming from Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament (during my Holy Hour of Adoration)."

"On the Cross Jesus said ‘I thirst’. From the Blessed Sacrament Jesus continues to say to each of us ‘I thirst’. He thirsts for our personal love, our intimacy, our union with Him in the Blessed Sacrament."

"To be alone with Jesus in adoration and intimate union with Him is the Greatest Gift of Love - the tender love of Our Father in Heaven."

"Every holy hour deepens our union with Him and bears much fruit."

"It will make your soul everlastingly more glorious and beautiful in Heaven."

"It opens up the floodgates of God’s merciful Love upon the world."

"A Holy Hour of adoration helps bring everlasting peace to earth."

"It brings us personal peace and strength."

"It brings us a greater love for Jesus, for each other, and for the poor."

"When you look at the crucifix, you understand how much Jesus loved you. When you look at the Sacred Host you understand how much Jesus loves you now. This is why we need Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration in every Parish throughout the entire World."

"What will convert America and save the world? My answer is prayer. What we need is for every parish to come before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in Holy Hours of prayer."

"When the Sisters are exhausted, up to their eyes in work; when all seems to go awry, they spend an hour in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. This practice has never failed to bear fruit: they experience peace and strength."

"If you are looking for vocations, as a community have adoration every day. Once the Missionaries of Charity started daily adoration, their vocations doubled."

"Nowhere on earth are we more welcomed or loved than by Jesus in Eucharist."

"Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration offers to our people the opportunity to join those in religious life to pray for the salvation of the world, souls everywhere and peace on earth. We cannot underestimate the power of prayer and the difference it will make in our world."

"The Blessed Virgin rightly receives a singular and unique place of special devotion in the Church which is higher than that of the saints and angels, but always humbly below the adoration due to God alone."

"Adoration, which is known as latria, in classical theology, is the worship and homage that is rightly offered to God alone. It is the manifestation of submission and acknowledgement of dependence appropriately shown towards the excellence of an uncreated divine person and to his absolute Lordship. It is the worship of the Creator that God alone deserves."

"The complete attention of the faithful in the infant years of the One Church of Christ had to be directed pre-eminently to Jesus Christ himself. The proper adoration of Jesus had to be established before any secondary veneration of Mary would be appropriate or fitting. Her honour, of course arises first and foremost from her being the mother of Jesus."

"Adoration whereby we adore God is an act of religion."

"I find fame to be quite unnatural. Humans are not built for extreme adoration."

"What did you expect when you unbound the gag that muted those black mouths? That they would chant your praises? Did you think that when these heads that out fathers had forcibly bowed down to the ground were raised again, you would find adoration in their eyes?"

"Those who wish to seek out the cause of miracles and to understand the things of nature as philosophers, and not to stare at them in astonishment like fools, are soon considered heretical and impious, and proclaimed as such by those whom the mob adores as the interpreters of nature and the gods."

"Christmas in Bethlehem. The ancient dream: a cold, clear night made brilliant by a glorious star, the smell of incense, shepherds and wise men falling to their knees in adoration of the sweet baby, the incarnation of perfect love."

"Adoration is caring for God above all else. Charity is the outward swing of prayer towards all the world...embracing and caring for all worldly interests in God’s name."

"The basic problem with my love relationships with women is that my standards are so high - and they apply equally to both of us. I seek full-blast mutual intensity, fully fledged mutual acceptance, full-blown mutual flourishing, and fully felt peace and joy with each other. This requires a level of physical attraction, personal adoration, and moral admiration that is hard to find."

"Adoration is obviously love. "I adore you" are the words lovers speak. If spoken to a human being and meant literally, it is idolatry. Adoration literally means infinite love. It is to be given only to the infinitely perfect, infinitely lovable being, God. The Latin word for adoration is latria, as distinct from dulia, which is finite, human love and respect. Hyperdulia is the highest, greatest finite and human love and respect, which is to be given to the greatest merely finite and human being who ever lived, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, who alone was sinless, "our tainted nature's solitary boast"."

"To gather with God's people in united adoration of the Father is as necessary to the Christian life as prayer."

"Although we see in English a broader usage of the word “adoration” which may not refer to a form of worship exclusive to God—for example, when a husband says that he “adores his wife”—in general it can be maintained that adoration is the best English denotation for the worship of latria."

"Veneration, known as dulia in classical theology, is the honor and reverence appropriately due to the excellence of a created person. Excellence exhibited by created beings likewise deserves recognition and honor. We see a general example of veneration in events like the awarding of academic awards for excellence in school, or the awarding of Olympic medals for excellence in sports. There is nothing contrary to the proper adoration of God when we offer the appropriate honor and recognition that created persons deserve based on achievement in excellence. We must make a further clarification regarding the use of the term “worship” in relation to the categories of adoration and veneration. Historically, schools of theology have used the term “worship” as a general term which included both adoration and veneration. They would distinguish between “worship of adoration” and “worship of veneration.” The word “worship” (in a similar way to how the liturgical term “cult” is traditionally used) was not synonymous with adoration, but could be used to introduce either adoration or veneration. Hence Catholic sources will sometimes use the term “worship” not to indicate adoration, but only the worship of veneration given to Mary and the saints. Confusion over the use of the term worship has led to the misunderstanding by some that Catholics offer adoration to Mary in a type of “Mariolatry,” or idol worship given to Mary. Adoration of Mary is a grave rejection of Christian revelation and has never been nor will never be part of authentic Catholic faith and life."

"The Importance Of Eucharistic Adoration - Saints Give Over 600 Reasons To Signup For A Holy Hour"

"Every Holy Hour we make so pleases the Heart of Jesus that it will be recorded in Heaven and retold for all eternity."

"Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is the best time you will spend on earth."

"I do not think I should care to go on worshipping a Madonna even if she did wink. One cannot make much out of a wink. We want something more than that from the object of our adoration."