PREPARATION FOR HEALING & DELIVERANCE
QUESTION?
I am part of a healing and deliverance apostolate here in my Parish under our Pastors supervision and guidance. Do you have any recommendations as to how we can prepare ourselves before we pray 'healing and deliverance' over a victim of demonic torment?
ANSWER!
HOW TO PREPARE FOR A DELIVERANCE
(A Guide for the Laity)
Pray the rosary for 9 days before the deliverance session.
Pray the divine mercy 9 days…
Pray the Auxilium Christianorum prayers for 9 days…
Try to go to Daily Mass 9 days before the deliverance session.
Make sure you go to Confession the week of the deliverance…
Wear blessed objects around your neck or carry them in your person.
Keep the victim, the Priest and the team in your prayers for those 9 days.
No Sexual Intimacy for 3 days prior to the Deliverance. Those going into battle in King David's day abstained from sex because they were on a holy mission (1 Samuel 21:4-5). "Prepare yourselves for the third day. Abstain from sexual relations." (Exodus 19:10-11, 14-15)
End all your prayers with “I cover myself with the power and protection of the precious blood of Jesus, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit – Amen.”
After the deliverance, get down on your knees and thank God praying: Sirach 51:1-12. Sanctify Yourselves, But instead of making an immediate crossing, there is a three-day wait, and then a call for sanctification. Joshua commands the people, “…Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will perform wonders among you.”
This consecration is probably similar to that which took place at the foot of Mt. Sinai prior to entering into Covenant with God.
“The LORD said to Moses: ‘Go to the people and have them sanctify themselves today and tomorrow. Have them wash their garments and be ready for the third day; for on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people’”…Then Moses came down from the mountain to the people and had them sanctify themselves, and they washed their garments. He said to the people, “Be ready for the third day. Do not approach a woman” (Exodus 19:10-11, 14-15). In other words he called them to abstain from sexual relations.
QUESTION?
What significance did washing have?
ANSWER!
Spiritual cleansing. If you've ever camped, you know how dirty you can get and how glad you are for a shower. A pile of dirty clothes goes into the washer. But they may have had only one pair of clothes to wear, not numerous sets. So when they washed their clothes, it was a major undertaking. Perhaps it included bathing, too, though that isn't specifically mentioned.
Abstaining from sexual relations was so that the people would be ceremonially clean. Not that there was anything wrong with married sex. But the Law indicated, "When a man lies with a woman and there is an emission of semen, both must bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening" (Leviticus 15:18). This was necessary, for example, to partake of holy things. Those going into battle in David's day abstained from sex because they were on a holy mission (1 Samuel 21:4-5), which fits the situation at Jericho exactly.
So often we attempt to undertake a holy apostolate without adequate preparation and consecration. The result is powerlessness and sometimes disgrace. Our consecration / sanctification is not primarily outward, as it was for the Old Testament people, it is inward and spiritual. Having been involved in lay apostolates all my adult life, I know how easy it is to take for granted our apostolate, and carry out the work of the Lord very casually. Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23). That daily consecration, striving for holiness and renewal of death to self is essential for your apostolate.