Msgr Rossetti

Response: I have had a number of people come to me asking for a prayer to be delivered from the evil spirits of pornography or other sexual addictions. When I ask them what they are doing to overcome this evil, they typically say they go to confession often and pray, but the problem remains. Moreover, they often have suffered such problems for many years.

I respond, “Praying and going to confession are very important! Keep doing that. I also recommend they use the three R’s: “I reject, I rebuke and I renounce the evil spirits of pornography in Jesus’ name.” While one cannot always say that an habitual sin is the direct result of demons, the Evil One certainly promotes sin and encourages our sinful behaviors.

But I ask people what else they are doing, on a practical level, to overcome these sins? They often look surprised and often say, “Nothing.” Such an approach can be a bit of a misuse of prayer and the sacraments. Yes, we need God’s graces to overcome our sins. And we directly reject any and all demonic influence in our lives. But we also have the responsibility to take concrete steps, on the natural level, to fight these sins.

The previous approach, using only prayer, might be likened to a farmer who wants his field to yield a rich harvest. When asking the farmer what he is doing to achieve that, if he says he is standing by and praying intensely but nothing happens, a bystander might ask, “Have you thought of actually plowing and seeding the field?”

Regarding internet pornography, there are many fine programs to tackle such an evil which can easily be accessed online such as the Augustine Way (www.augway.org) among many others. These programs require commitment, perseverance and hard work. I ask them, “Are you truly committed to overcoming this sin? Will you make the effort and sacrifices to do so?” In addition, there are a number of concrete steps one can take, which can be helpful. For example, if someone engages in porn late at night, I encourage them to turn off their cell phones after dinner and put them in another room for the night. There are many such simple steps that, when combined with an intensive psychological and spiritual program, can slowly yield positive results. Also, some addictions are linked to underlying psychological wounds and trauma, which often benefit from engaging in healing therapies.

What we find in our center is that a combination of psychological and spiritual healing is most effective. In reality, we are not two human beings- psychological and spiritual, but one person. This “one person” typically benefits from multidisciplinary healing methods and therapies, keeping the healing presence of Christ foremost in our minds and hearts.

See Msgr. Rossetti's "Pray With Me: Deliverance From Evil Spirits of Pornography" or use this: https://youtu.be/FaJITTCXnN8