(Epiphany 2020: This homily was given on January 5, 2020 at
St. Pius X Church, Westerly, R.I., by Fr. Raymond Suriani. Read Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72:1-13; Ephesians
3:2-6; Matthew 2: 1-12.)
[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Epiphany 2020]
Fr. Paul Desmarais is the pastor of St. Mary’s Church in Carolina,
Rhode Island. He’s also widely
recognized as an authority on the occult.
He’s given talks on the subject all over the country; he’s even worked
at times with local police and law enforcement officials when they’ve had to
deal with crimes in which occult practices were involved.
Fr. Desmarais came here to St. Pius a few years ago to give
a talk to our confirmation students and their families on this very important
subject, and during that talk he mentioned the fact that many young people
today are being drawn into the occult (sometimes with the support of their
parents) by things like psychic readings and Ouija boards and tarot cards and
horoscopes and séances at sleepovers.
(And, I might add, by popular TV shows like “Long Island Medium”). Fr. Desmarais warned our young people and the
adults who were there that night that these kinds of activities can easily open
the door to demonic forces: demonic forces which are beyond our ability to
control with our limited strength and human resources.
He then shared several stories of young men and women he’s
helped over the years who did open
the door—and who lived to regret it.
Now one occult practice that’s opening the door to evil for
many people today—young and not so young—is astrology, which is the one I want
to focus on this morning in my homily.
Now I realize that calling astrology “an occult practice” is something that bothers some people. That’s because they don’t think of it in that
way. They’ll say to me, “Fr. Ray, you’ve
got to be kidding! What’s wrong with
astrology? What’s wrong with reading my
daily horoscope? It’s not like I’m
having a seance or playing with a Ouija board.
I just read my horoscope to get a little thought for the day. I really don’t take it very seriously.” Well, if we want a little thought for the
day, we should read a verse from the Book of Proverbs every morning. The author of the Book of Proverbs is
Almighty God, the author of astrology is not.
Now some might respond by saying, “But Fr. Ray, what about
that star the Magi saw? That star led
them to Christ. And besides, these so-called Magi were astrologers
themselves.”
Well, it’s true. The
Magi were more than likely astrologers.
But we need to understand: the term “astrology” back then had a much
wider meaning than it does today. Back
then astrology also referred to the legitimate study of the heavens that we
would now call astronomy. We also need to remember that the Magi were
pagans; they didn’t know God’s revealed truth to the extent that we know it
today. So they had an excuse for
believing some false ideas. We don’t. And furthermore, there is a difference—a very
big difference—between God giving an occasional sign in the heavens, AND
LOOKING TO THE HEAVENS AS YOUR GOD, which is in effect what people do in modern
astrology. We know that at various
points in history God has given special signs in the sky: the rainbow that Noah
saw after the flood, the star that the Magi followed, the eclipse on Good Friday, and more recently the miracle
of the sun at Fatima. But recognizing
these as signs from God is very
different from looking to the stars to
guide your life, which is what modern astrology is all about. I once read about an English astrologer who
said that the sun is god and the planets are angels, and therefore we should
reverence and worship them all.
That idea, my brothers and sisters, is in direct conflict
with the truth of Sacred Scripture.
The dangers of getting caught up in astrology really became
clear to me just a few years after I was ordained a priest. As some of you will recall, when I was first
ordained I was sent to a parish in North Kingstown, St. Francis de Sales. There I got to know a young woman named
Joanna. Joanna was (and is) a very
intelligent person and a very talented musician. In fact she played guitar and sang every week
at Sunday Mass. But at the time (in the late 1980s) Joanna
was also heavily involved in astrology.
She even got to the point where she was doing astrological charts for
people—supposedly telling them what the stars revealed about their
personalities and about their futures. I
remember talking to Joanna back then, along with my mother and several other
people in the parish, and we all told her in no uncertain terms that she was
making a big mistake. We told her she
was opening herself up to evil forces—to demonic spirits—even though she didn’t
realize it. When Joanna herself tells
this story she says that her first reaction to us was to think to herself, “Oh,
these poor souls. Fr. Ray, his mom,
Noel, Barbara, Dorothea they’re really nice people, but so unenlightened. Someday they won’t be so ignorant. Someday they’ll understand.”
Well, two or three years passed. I got moved to beautiful Westerly, and one
night the phone rang. It was Joanna—in a
veritable panic. She said, “Fr. Ray,
something’s wrong with me and I don’t know what to do. I have this fear that I can’t get rid
of. I think I’m going crazy. This has never happened to me before in my
life. And please don’t
misunderstand. This is not a normal
fear. It’s a different kind of
fear. It’s a PARALYZING spirit of
fear.” I said, “Well, Joanna, quite
frankly I’m not at all surprised. Something
like this was bound to happen sooner or later, because the fact is you’ve been
trying to serve two masters—Jesus and Satan—and you can’t do that; you can’t
serve both. You’ve opened the door to
this spirit through your involvement in astrology; I have no doubt about
that. Now Jesus can free you from it, no
problem—he’s infinitely more powerful than Satan is. But you have to do your part. In Jesus’ name you’ve got to renounce
astrology, and you’ve got to repent of all your past involvement in this evil
practice. That will allow the Lord to
come in and straighten things out.”
Well, praise God, Joanna did it, and she eventually found
God’s peace again. But that incident
really made it clear to me: this is very dangerous stuff which must be avoided
at all costs. And our loving God warns
us about this over and over again in his word.
As we are told, for example, in Deuteronomy, chapter 4, “When you look
up to the heavens and behold the sun or the moon or any star among the heavenly
hosts, do not be led astray into adoring them and serving them.”
Joanna learned from her terrible experience of fear what
the Magi learned from their joyful experience of following the star of
Bethlehem: that Jesus Christ is the King of kings and the Lord of lords and the
true light of the world—and that we need to submit our lives to him in order to
find true and lasting happiness.
On this feast of the Epiphany, may we all learn that very
same lesson, and live our lives accordingly.
