“Prayer is the best weapon we have; it is the key to God’s heart. You must speak to Jesus not only with your lips, but with your heart. In fact on certain occasions you should only speak to Him with your heart.” – Saint Padre Pio
I had another dream on Wednesday night. In the dream I was on my knees praying the Rosary. Then God lifted the veil and he showed me what my prayer was doing. I saw myself holding a sword, slaying demons. Then I awoke remembering an old journal I had. God wanted me to remember it.
This journal was one that I kept long before I started journaling letters to God. It was simply a journal of my petitions for others. The petitions in them were huge. A sampling of some of the prayers;
For my friend who is infertile to have children.
For my relative who is infertile to have children.
For my relative who is an alcoholic to recover.
I could go on. But you get the idea. These were no small petitions. And one by one I realized all had been answered. My friend was able to conceive biological children. My relative was able to adopt. My other relative went in to rehab and has been a recovered alcoholic for years. As I looked at each petition, there was only one that wasn’t answered the way I would have wanted. That one, where I asked for healing for a friend, ended in earthly death. But even with that, God whispered, “she is healed.”
I realized how short sighted I am. I had written them down, prayed them for awhile, and forgotten about them and moved on to the next thing that seemed an anxiety in my life or the life of others. It wasn’t until later on my journey that gratitude became part of my prayer. Gratitude even in suffering. For the infertile couples who had to wait, the gratefulness for children is all the sweeter. We in our impatience want what we want now, but God has a larger plan, that when we pray and trust it, brings us joy beyond measure.
There is something else I want to point out too. I truly believe God does want to prosper us and not to harm us. He is a good Father and we are sons and daughters of a King. Prayer is how we come into union with Him. In our weakness we pray simply not to suffer, but if our prayer becomes one of uniting our will to His will, life becomes more joyful and filled with gratitude. We must pray with our hearts. It slays demons.
I noticed people either do not believe in the demonic, or if they do they are terrified of it. I know for a fact we have an active entity seeking to destroy us. I have witnessed it. God is not the one who wills all the evil we see. We must realize the devil is real, but in this realization we must not fear. You often see depictions in movies of a person shaking while they hold a cross when confronted with a demon. The demon throws the cross, because it is painful for the demon to touch, and he just wants it out of the way, and then the demon goes after the person who is afraid. But I say NO to that. We must get angry at the demons. We must have a Holy Hatred.
We should be totally angry, and have active enmity at the devil that he came to steal, kill and destroy. And we can claim our victory in Jesus Christ and tell that demon to go straight back to hell. Demons of depression, fear, anxiety, rage, bitterness, they have no right inside your domain, your circle of authority. But one thing to remember is the demons won’t leave unless you have forgiven.
“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
If we can forgive others all offenses the way Jesus forgave us, we can, in His Holy Name command demons to leave us alone. When we pray and unite our will with God’s will, He gives us the grace to forgive and love like he does, to see people the way He does. And this, this is what makes us WARRIORS. We are the Church Militant and our mission, to love, to forgive, and to put the devil under our own feet in the name of Jesus.
The Rosary is particularly powerful in this regard if it is prayed from the heart because it shows us the uniting of Mary with her Son. I came across this picture that depicts Mary in prayer;
(Rosa Mistica by Francesco Laporta Valor – 1894 )
Take a look at that look on her face. Her hands are folded in prayer, but that look is not one of passivity. That is a look reserved for Satan, that says, “DON’T MESS WITH ME OR MY CHILDREN, I WILL CRUSH YOUR HEAD.”
You see Mary, by uniting her will with God, KNOWS WHO THE ENEMY IS. It isn’t other people, whom we must love, but it is Satan, the liar and the accuser.
When I was on my retreat a couple of weeks ago, I went on a walk in the woods. I came across a statue of Mary standing on the serpent;
I lifted my own foot and stepped on his head too. For Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8), yet we see the devils works everywhere. But I say, in my life, I unite my will to Christ. I step on your head, you filthy serpent, and allow Christ to lift me out of weakness into perfection, through prayer, sacraments, forgiveness and holy hatred of the one who came to destroy. It is only in relying on my Savior that I can be lifted. I cannot save myself. Prayer unites me to Him who alone is good. And this unites us with each other, who understand this, making the Communion of Saints truly a Mystical Body of Christ.
“Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to his God and Father, when he has destroyed every sovereignty and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death, for “he subjected everything under his feet.” But when it says that everything has been subjected, it is clear that it excludes the one who subjected everything to him.When everything is subjected to him, then the Son himself will [also] be subjected to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.” 1 Corinthians 24-28
Veil of Veronica 
Beautiful, Thank you! I am part of our Diocese Unbound Prayer team, you are so correct.
God bless you always!
God bless you in all the work you do.
I came across this concept of Holy Hatred the other day in “Perelandra”, another life changing book by Lewis. You are right, as was he, in that the devil is real and he is out for souls. Keep up the good fight, my friend! Excellent piece.
Thanks and God Bless you!
Thabk you for always writing so powerfully and taking the time to share your private revelations… It brings a lot of good in us…
Im pregnant, lost my job, and my Syrian husband made me come back to my home country (Lebanon) because although Syria is safe now, electricity keeps getting cut and it’s bitter cold there now. Obviously, without prayer, this is making me sleep too late/drown time out with social media and YouTube, and just laze about.
It’s almost 3AM now in Lebanon, and you just made me want to go back to my daily rosary. Thank you. It’s what brought healing to my family and brought my husband to me in the first place…you reminded me of that power.
Praise God. May he pour blessings over your family.
Thank you for this, Susan. And that picture of the Blessed Mother is absolutely stunning… and chilling. Do you know the name of it? I’d like to look it up and see if (not too expensive) reproductions are available.
My friend had sent this to me so I don’t know how expensive it is. The portrait was done in 1894 by an artist called Francisco Laporta Valor. It’s called Rosa Mistica or “Mystical Rose” which is a title given to the Blessed Virgin from the Litany of Loreto which was written in 1587.
Thanks for the info, Susan. I’ll do some sleuthing.
Update: I found it, in case anyone else may be interested:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/650051999/art-print-of-rosa-mistica-by-francisco?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_d-art_and_collectibles-prints-giclee&utm_custom1=f5e474a4-896e-4784-9fa5-31a8f8eb7061&utm_content=go_304499795_22746228395_78727463435_aud-318222619806:pla-106555092035_c__650051999&gclid=CjwKCAiAhp_jBRAxEiwAXbniXSE-qC-pw_m9Ni0b6wqufy4ZUWSZX-u9K3-se9QiHcJpl4dVN0ygqxoCZzYQAvD_BwE
Thanks Mick, though I have to say, the name of the seller is somewhat alarming 😬. Not sure the painter would like that sellers name!
Yikes! I didn’t even see the seller’s name! I’m pretty unobservant (I tend to get “tunnel vision” when I’m focused on a task). Given what I learned about Laporta Valor this morning, I get the impression that he was very devout. He most certainly wouldn’t be up for his works being purveyed by someone of the occult ilk. I’ll keep looking. Rats….
yes, he was devout from what I have read too. The danger in buying from that seller is they definitely aren’t seeking God alone… so you never know what they can do with an item. We have to be careful where we get things because of the people selling them. Always pray about that before a purchase
Alright… I’ll try this again. I actually found this link before I found the link for Creepy Occult Dude; but the words “Rosa Mistica” are mostly cut off, so that’s why I didn’t link to it. However, this is the only other one I could find:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/614971127/maria-rosa-mistica-virgin-mary-poster?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=rosa+mistica&ref=sr_gallery-1-28&organic_search_click=1
It’s a public domain photo. Maybe you can make your own print.
Wise words, Susan: “Always pray about that before a purchase.” And I will see if my artistic and computer-savvy daughter can find a way to make a print for me.
Thank you for all you are inspired to bring to us. Our Priest doesn’t discuss spiritual warfare, but last Sunday’s sermon was indeed on that very subject. What struck me the most were the definitions he came across for pagan and Christian. A pagan is “a noncombatant”, and Christians “are anointed for Battle.” I have pondered those terms all week, and they have given me the reminder that indeed, we have work to do here and w/ Our Queen, we crush the head of the serpent. And thanks to Mick for coming across that poignant print of the Rosa Mystica (I too saw the other seller – we’re never at a loss of people to pray for…)
Amen, we are never at a loss for people to pray for.
Oh Susan, I love this post. For 3 years now I have been fighting with “you know who” for the soul of my husband of 50 yrs. I kid you not, it has been a raging battle. Every time I showed my husband the light of Jesus through scripture readings, rosaries, or talks–hairy legs would beat him down, like nothing that had ever been said. Over and over again the battle raged. One day, I took a bottle of holy water and through it on my husband to get the demons off him! By the grace of God, we have made progress and it is “sticking”. I am so grateful everyday when I see my husbands spiritual depression lifting. We’re not out of the woods yet, but I have heroic faith, hope and confidence that my husband will stay on the holy path, stumbling, crawling and clawing until the end. As a side note, this struggle has not only been for his salvation, but for mine too. During many battles, God has shone a light on my numerous imperfections, which I continue to work on and confess. Whatever it takes, dear Lord, whatever it takes! I desire You and only you. Blessed be God. Blessed be Jesus. Blessed be Our Holy Mother, who without her constant support and aid, this battle would have taken a sorry turn for the worse. Our Guardian Angels have been working OVERTIME! Again, Susan, keep blowing that horn! Together we will help to save souls. God bless you and yours.
God Bless you too!