a spirit following us? QUESTION from Genevieve October 1, 2001 Dear Br. Ignatius,
I wrote once before but haven't seen an answer. Ten years ago we moved into a house that appeared wonderful. Within the first few weeks, we discovered the house was actually rotting, there was a horrible feeling in the house, my father-in-law became violently ill and then died six weeks after we moved in, my mother-in-law went insane and my husband began a downward spiral. I should mention that my husband is terrified of evil and yet he has opened innumerable doors to evil by his actions of the last ten years. Much of which has just come to light.
We have been married sixteen years. The last ten have been very difficult. I recently learned that my husband has been unfaithful for ten years off and on, since our move to that house. We finally escaped from that house, but I fear whatever was there has followed us. I am also not convinced that what is attempting to destroy our family and my husband is not generational. I suspect it is a combination of both.
During our time in the house, I had an encounter that I cannot forget, one night as we went to bed but before I had fallen asleep I heard footsteps and thought it was my brother-in-law getting in from work, the footsteps came however down the hall toward our room, I sat up and called out to my brother-in-law, no answer, but I did see a shape appear in the doorway. The thing approached and pressed me back against the bed. I could see nothing until I looked down and saw the whitest and coldest hands I have ever seen travel up my arms. I felt the weight and could tell this thing was male, but I saw no face, nor form. I could barely breath but I felt its breath against my cheek. I was struggling to cry out the simple prayer my mother had taught me as a child Mary and Jesus protect me. During this my husband woke, sat straight up, stared in my direction and his eyes grew huge and terrified. I managed then to scream what is it? And, then the prayer flew out of my mouth. The thing disappeared instantly and I was released from whatever had held me paralyzed. I screamed bloody murder and this really woke my husband, he didn't remember anything that happened prior to that however.
A week or so later I had a horrible encounter in the bathroom. A horrible pall seemed to settle over everyone and everything in the house after that. It was horrible, on arriving home i would be filled with a sense of oppression so choking i didn't want to go inside. I hated this house.
My husband is in a dangerous place at the moment. He is stiffbacked, refuses to even go to Mass, let alone Confession and return to the Sacraments. He is convinced he is going to hell because of his life growing up and his past actions within our marriage. If my husband had been like this prior to our marriage I would be able to say that I should have known, but one of the reasons I married him was the fact that he was faithful and honorable. He was raised without any faith basis at all but converted ten years into our marriage. Which would have been in the middle of his unfaithful period.
ANSWER by John-Paul Ignatius, OLSM on October 9, 2001 Dear Mrs. Genevieve:
We will certainly pray for your husband. From your story it would appear that your husband may indeed be weighted down with harassment from the evil one. He needs to snap out of it and get back to God obviously.
The prayers in our Spiritual Warfare Catalog are available for you to pray on behalf of your husband.
As for the question about a spirit following you? Yes, that can happen. Who knows what happened, which came first the chicken or the egg, but the focal point would appear to e your husband. His behavior opens the door to the devil.
We will be in prayer for you and your husband. If you need to, if the situation warrants more direct counseling, you can call me at 605-287-4187
God Bless.
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