Rumor of Evil Spirits and Angels

Over two weeks ago, a father brought his nine-year old daughter to the monastery. He told me that the girl had been seeing evil spirits and was even possessed a number of times. She would faint and then when she woke up she would have a different voice. The father asked me if can I heal her. The girl looked dazed and frightened.

I was on the verge of telling him to bring her daughter to the psychiatrist. But I told myself - no use telling the father and child that these were just hallucinations or some form of hysteria. So I prayed over the girl and asked God to send a guardian angel to watch over her. I sprinkled her with holy water. After blessing the girl I told her not to be afraid, her guardian angel would be there to protect her and the evil spirits won't be able to harm her. I also told the father to come back after a few weeks and report to me any progress.

This evening, just before mass, the father came with his daughter. The girl looked very well. The father told me that her daughter has been healed. He recounted that as they were leaving the monastery, the girl told her that she could see her guardian angel. For a week, the evil spirits tried to come near her but she was not afraid because her guardian angel was there to protect her. So after a while the spirits were gone.

I really don't know whether the evil spirits and the guardian angel were just the product of her imagination. What is important is that she's well. My prayer seemed to have an effect on her.

In this day and age, it is very difficult to believe in evil spirits and angels. We have been influenced by a rational-scientific world-view that rules out the reality malignant spirits and angels. What you see is what you get. Everything can be scientifically explained. If there are cases like the one above let the psychiatrist take care of that. Yet, the rumor of spirits and angels persist. And they are very real to many people. And the doctors and psychiatrist are helpless to deal with these cases.

I have not seen or felt the presence of spirits and angels. But does it mean that they do not exist? Of course, the Sacred Scriptures affirm their existence. But it is difficult to determine which ones are real and which one are just hallucination.

I really hope that angels do exist and I wish I can see them. Maybe there are here but I do not recognize them.