The Catholic Truth Society (CTS) has published a new booklet by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales offering a treasury of prayers drawn from Holy Scripture and Sacred Tradition that can be used by Catholics to protect themselves from the powers of darkness.
Deliver Us From Evil does not provide a formula of words to be prayed over others, it is a set of useful prayers and supplications, humble requests for the Lord’s help, that can be used by Catholics in times of fear, distress or temptation.
Father Robert Taylerson, a member of the Spirituality Committee for the Bishops’ Conference and Spiritual Director at Oscott College, explains that while it is important to acknowledge the forces of evil in the world, Catholics must also maintain a sense of hope.
“We are not centrally a people who are overawed by evil. We are centrally a eucharistic people of thanksgiving,” says Father Taylerson. “The evil which we see, which distresses us and causes us lament, prompts us to renew our efforts and our journey of prayer.”
Therefore, Father Taylerson explains, evil must be viewed in the light of Christ’s death and resurrection so it is not overwhelming:
“The sense of thanksgiving is great and necessary to put the whole thing in context because we see the continued presence of evil in the light of the power of the passion, death and resurrection of Christ, which we celebrate as the source and summit of our Christian life in the Masses we celebrate.”
The booklet includes prayers of protection, prayers of thanksgiving, and prayers of faith and confidence. Father Taylerson explains that prayer is something that always leads to an increase in faith.
“Prayer of its essence always renews hope,” he says. “The ideal prayer is also to have one’s heart in union with the heart of Christ. And that’s something that both unites God’s people as the body of Christ and enables the full power of God’s spirit to work through us, who are the body of Christ, and to see it all as a great privilege.”
Father Taylerson also describes how we can understand the presence of evil in the world as the denial of good:
“One of the good ways to approach the presence of evil is to understand it as the corruption of something that is good. That’s most easily seen in things like virtue.
“And if one goes back to the ancient Greek philosophers, they would see moral virtues as being somewhere between two vices.
“So if you’re talking about the virtue of courage, you would see if you go too far one direction, you get to recklessness, and if you go too far in another direction, you get to cowardice.”
Deliver Us From Evil costs £9.95 and can be purchased from the CTS website. It’s a handy pocket-sized guide to help us in the struggle against the powers of darkness.
Listen to a podcast on the booklet Deliver Us From Evil with Martin Foster, Director of our Liturgy Office, in conversation with Father Robert Taylerson, a member of our Spirituality Committee and Spiritual Director at Oscott College.
