Intrusion
The days were vile, the several days. Last year on Wednesday, October 6, my nephew John had phoned to tell me that his mother, my sister Gina, had rolled her RV and was on her way to the ER at Bay, by ambulance.
All her life, Gina was a character and her own person. This had culminated in final proof of it when, a couple years earlier, age 80 or coming up on 80, she had sold her home, bought a bus-size motor home, and began living as a Traveler, driving here and there, pausing to park wherever she wished, at a campground somewhere here in the South and making friends with other campers there, or in the yard or driveway of a relative, staying a while and moving on. I think she was loving the gypsy life.
Now, driving on SR20, she had been on her way from Lynn Haven to Pensacola to visit our brother Walt and a nephew. As I got it, overtaking and passing another vehicle, she had lost control and her RV rolled several times, completely disintegrating. She was taken by ambulance to the ER at Bay, diagnosed with severe injuries, and flown by helicopter to Sacred Heart, Pensacola. After a few days there she was taken off life support and died. Her death was Tuesday, October 12, 2021. She was 83. Her life was a changing series of adventures that she lived vigorously and enthusiastically, often, from my POV, breathlessly. And, not least, by no means least, eccentrically.
I'd had the blessing to visit with her in the ER while she was conscious though in pain. She was sedated before the helicopter flight and not conscious again. Fr Steve drove Linda and me to Pensacola on Monday, October 11, and Walt, Linda and I were with her in her ICU room for a goodbye visit and final blessing.
It was to Gina that I owe the privilege of having been, at age 29 going on 30, promoted in the family from just plain Bubba to Uncle Bubba. One of these days, perhaps, if ever I get used to the idea that I can't email, text or phone her to ask a family question (she was our family genealogist), or to ask where she was and when she'd be back in town, I'll write a +Time blog or two about Gina's life from my perspective as her older brother. Maybe! It's not a commitment. These things, getting used to that empty place in your life, take Time, don't they.
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The rest of this morning's blogpost is totally unrelated and totally other.
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In part the Book of Occasional Services does, liturgy for blessing a home; our Book of Common Prayer "Pastoral Offices" does not but no matter, everything one needs is available online. Here, from the Roman Church, rites for creating holy water, which years ago I got when I needed, as I recall, from The People's Anglican Missal; and rites for exorcism authorized by Pope Leo XIII that specifies for use only by a priest. It isn't common that Episcopalians need or use, but one of life's wonders is the Internet. George Washington would be astounded. What might they have in three hundred years that today would blow my mind?!
Also online unlimited, art for every situation, serious art, comic art, clipart, classical, old masters, modern, impressionist, bizarre. For religious art, two longtime favorites are Picasso's crucifixion and his ascension. Yesterday, googling art about exorcism, I came across French artist Bouchra Jelloul - - most of her work is abstract, most of it bold and bright, and she uses a lot of red, which immediately captures me. Above: "Intrusion" that I thought described self-invited evil spirits who may have been here before us or may've come because of us.
Here is "Pondora La Gitane",
Somehow, over against hope and intent, abstract art may better express what does or does not happen, imagined or real, sensed but unseen, than does precision. What do we do? We meet pastoral needs that may not be entirely definable, however.
Scroll down: not unlike a priest's Communion box of bread and wine, a pastoral kit of words for confronting the sensed but unseen.
Holy Water
R. Who made heaven and earth.
Exorcism and Blessing of Salt
O salt, creature of God, I exorcise you by the living God, by the true God, by the holy God, by the God who ordered you to be poured into the water by Elisha the Prophet so that its life-giving powers might be restored. I exorcise you so that you may become a means of salvation for believers, that you may bring health of soul and body to all who make use of you, arid that you may put to flight and drive away from the places where you are sprinkled every apparition, villainy, and turn of devilish deceit, and every unclean spirit, adjured by Him Who will come to judge the living and the dead and the world by fire. Amen.
Almighty and everlasting God, we humbly implore Thee, in Thy immeasurable kindness and love, to bless + and sanctify + this salt which Thou did create and give over to the use of mankind, so that it may become a source of health for the minds and bodies of all who make use of it, and may rid whatever it touches or sprinkles of all uncleanness and protect it from every assault of evil spirits. Through our Lord, Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who lives and reigns with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. R. Amen.
O water, creature of God, I exorcise you in the name of God the Father almighty, and in the name of Jesus Christ His Son, our Lord, and in the power of the Holy Spirit. I exorcise you so that you may put to flight all the power of the Enemy, and be able to root out and supplant that Enemy with his apostate angels: through the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who will come to judge the living and the dead and the world by fire. Amen.
O God, Who for the salvation of mankind has built Thy greatest mysteries on this substance, water, in Thy kindness hear our prayers and pour down the power of Thy blessing + into this element, made ready for many kinds of purifications. May this, Thy creature, become an agent of divine grace in the service of Thy mysteries, to drive away evil spirits and dispel sickness, so that every-thing in the homes and other buildings of the faithful that is sprinkled with this water may be rid of all uncleanness and freed from every harm. Let no breath of infection, no disease-bearing air, remain in these places. May the wiles of the lurking Enemy prove of no avail. Let whatever might menace the safety and peace of those who live here be put to flight by the sprinkling of this water, so that the healthfulness, obtained by calling upon Thy holy name, may be made secure against all attack. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who lives and reigns with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
R. Amen.
Exorcism
In the Name of Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, strengthened by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, of Saint Michael the Archangel, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and all the Saints. and in the power and authority of our ministry, we confidently undertake to repulse the attacks and deceits of the devil.
God arises, His enemies are scattered
and those who hate Him flee before Him.
As smoke is driven away, so are they driven;
as wax melts before the fire, so the wicked perish at the presence of God.
V. May Thy mercy, Lord, descend upon us.
R. As great is our hope in Thee.
We drive you from us, whoever you may be, unclean spirits, all satanic powers,
all infernal invaders, all wicked legions, assemblies and sects.
In the Name and by the power of + Our Lord Jesus Christ, may you be snatched away and driven from this place and from the souls made in the image of God and redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb.
+ Most cunning serpent, you shall no more dare to deceive the human race, and torment God's people.
+ The Most High God commands you, + He with whom, in your insolence, you claim to be equal.
+ God the Father commands you. + God the Son commands you. + God the Holy Spirit commands you.
+ Jesus Christ, God's Word made flesh, commands you; He who to save our race "humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death”. He who has built His Church on the firm rock and declared that the gates of hell shall not prevail against Her”.
+ The Sign of the Cross commands you.
+ The Holy Mother of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, commands you; she who by her humility and from her moment of Immaculate Conception crushed your proud head.
+ Peter and Paul, and all Apostles command you.
+ The blood of the Martyrs and the intercession of all Saints command you.
Thus, cursed dragon, and diabolical legions, we adjure you by the living God, by the true God, by the holy God, by the God "who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that all who believe in Him not perish but have everlasting life,” cease tormenting human creatures and pouring out on them the poison of eternal damnation.
Begone, Satan, master of deceit and enemy of our salvation.
Give way to Christ in Whom you have found none of your works; give way to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church acquired by Christ at the price of His Blood.
Stoop beneath the all-powerful Hand of God; tremble and flee when we invoke the Holy Name of Jesus, the Name that causes hell to tremble, the Name to whom Virtues, Powers and Dominions of heaven submit, the Name the Cherubim and Seraphim praise unceasingly: Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord, the God of Hosts.
V. O Lord, hear our prayer.
R. And let our cry come unto Thee.
V. The Lord be with you.
R. And also with you.
Let us pray.
God of heaven & earth, God of Angels and Archangels, Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, and Martyrs, God who has power to give life after death and rest after work: because there is no other God than Thee and there can be no other, for you are the Creator of all things, visible and invisible, of Whose reign there shall be no end, we humbly pray before your glorious Majesty and we beseech you to deliver us by your power from all tyranny of the infernal spirits, from their snares, their lies and their furious wickedness.
Deign, O Lord, to grant us your powerful protection and to keep us safe and sound.
We pray through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.
V. From the snares of the devil,
R. Deliver us, good Lord.
V. That your holy Church may serve you in freedom and peace:
R. We beseech Thee to hear us, good Lord.
V. That you may crush down all enemies of Christ:
R. We beseech Thee to hear us, good Lord.
Holy water is sprinkled throughout the place where we are.
Blessing of a Home
The Presider, members of the household and friends assemble,
Presider: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.
Presider: Let us pray.
Almighty and everlasting God, grant to this home the grace of your presence, that you may be known to be the inhabitant of this dwelling, and the defender of this household; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Let the mighty power of the Holy God be present in this place to banish from it every unclean spirit, to cleanse it from every residue of evil, and to make it a secure habitation for those who dwell in it; in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Presider, with members of the household, and others as convenient, move from room to room, concluding the procession in the living room.
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Art: Bouchra
Rites pinched online