Those wondering if there is a basis for "generational healing " -- deliverance from ancestral darkness, or what they called cleansing the family tree -- need look no further than a Mass reading this week (on June 7), whereby it says:
"Grief-stricken in spirit, I, Tobit, groaned and wept aloud. Then with sobs I began to pray: 'You are righteous, O Lord, and all Your deeds are just; All Your ways are mercy and truth; You are the judge of the world. And now, O Lord, may you be mindful of me, and look with favor upon me. Punish me not for my sins, nor for my inadvertent offenses, nor for those of my ancestors."
It's Tobit 1, and it's hardly the only passage that can be drawn from Scripture to bolster an argument in favor of ancestral cleansing. We have visited this before. Let's revisit.
Does not the Bible refer to "sins of the fathers" and how they can be passed down through generations?
Many others are detailed by Father John
Hampsch in a book called Healing Your Family Tree, among others.
"We sinned against you, and disobeyed your
commandments. So you handed us over to plundering, exile, and death, till
you made us the talk and reproach of all the nations among whom you had
dispersed us."
Clearly, darkness can be handed down through the generations. (Below, find a prayer from Father Hampsch for purging your genetic line).
Seemingly intractable disorders and tendencies -- divorce, business failure, depression, greed, illness, addiction, adultery, homosexuality -- often seem to follow a pattern that goes beyond behaviorism and genetics.
Focusing solely on Tobit: was it just a manner of speech, the mention, above, of ancestral offenses?
Clearly not, for it is said a second time in the same passage. "Yes," says the excerpt, "your judgments are many and true in dealing with me as my sins and those of my ancestors deserve. For we have not kept your commandments, nor have we trodden the paths of truth before you."
When we die, we may find out that part of our mission in life was exactly this: purging the family tree, so that darkness is not handed down through us to future generations.
[resources: family healing books, Healing Your Family Tree and The God of Healing]
Prayer for family cleansing:
Heavenly Father, I come before You as Your child, in great need of Your help. I have physical health needs, emotional needs, spiritual needs, and interpersonal needs. Many of my problems have been caused by my own failures, neglect and sinfulness, for which I humbly beg Your forgiveness, Lord. But I also ask You to forgive the sins of my ancestors whose failures have left their effects on me in the form of unwanted tendencies, behaviour patterns and defects in body, mind and spirit. Heal me, Lord, of all these disorders.
With Your help I sincerely forgive everyone, especially living or dead members of my family tree, who have directly offended me, or my loved ones in any way, or those whose sins have resulted in our present sufferings and disorders. In the name of Your divine Son Jesus, and in the power of His Holy Spirit, I ask You, Father, to deliver me and my entire family tree from the influence of the evil one. Free all living and dead members of my family tree, including those in adoptive relationships, and those in extended family relationships, from every contaminating form of bondage; By Your loving concern for us, heavenly Father, and by the shed blood of your Precious Son Jesus, I beg You to extend Your blessing to me and all my living and deceased relatives. Heal every negative effect transmitted through all past generations, and prevent such negative effects in future generations of my family tree.
I symbolically place the Cross of Jesus over the head of each person in my family tree, and between each generation; I ask You to let the cleansing blood of Jesus purify the blood lines in my family lineage. Set Your protective angels to encamp around us, and permit Archangel Raphael, the patron of healing, to administer Your divine healing power to all of us, even in areas of genetic disability. Give special power to our family members' guardian angels to heal, protect, guide and encourage each of us in all our needs. Let Your healing power be released at this very moment and let it continue as long as Your sovereignty permits.
In our family tree, Lord, replace all bondage with a holy bonding in family love. And let there be an even deeper bonding with You, Lord, by the Holy Spirit, to Your Son Jesus. Let the family of the Holy Trinity pervade our family with its tender, warm, loving presence, so that our family may recognize and manifest that love in all our relationships. All of our unknown needs we include with this petition that we pray in Jesus precious Name. Amen. ~ (Fr. John Hampsch)
Deliverance Prayer (from the late famous exorcist Father Gabriel Amorth):
Kyrie eleison. God, our Lord, King of ages, All-powerful and Almighty, You Who made everything and Who transforms everything simply by Your will. You Who in Babylon changed into dew the flames of the "seven-times hotter" furnace and protected and saved the three holy children. You are the doctor and the physician of our souls. You are the salvation of those who turn to You. We beseech You to make powerless, banish, and drive out every diabolic power, presence and machination; every evil influence, malefice, or evil eye and all evil actions aimed against your servant. . . Where there is envy and malice, give us an abundance of goodness, endurance, victory, and charity. O Lord, You who love man, we beg You to reach out Your powerful hands and Your most high and mighty arms and come to our aid. Help us, who are made in Your image, send the angel of peace over us, to protect us body and soul. May he keep at bay and vanquish every evil power, every poison or malice invoked against us by corrupt and envious people. Then, under the protection of Your authority may we sing, in gratitude, "The Lord is my salvation; whom should I fear?" I will not fear evil because You are with me, my God, my strength, my powerful Lord, Lord of peace, Father of all ages. Yes, Lord our God, be merciful to us, Your image, and save your servant . . . from every threat or harm from the evil one, and protect him by raising him above all evil. We ask you this through the intercession of our Most Blessed, Glorious Lady, Mary ever Virgin, Mother of God, of the most splendid archangels and all yours saints. Amen."
ANIMA CHRISTI
Soul of Christ, sanctify me; Body of Christ, save me; Blood of
Christ, inebriate me; Water from the side of Christ, wash me; Passion of
Christ, strengthen me;
O good Jesus, hear me; within Your wounds, hide me; let me never be
separated from You; from the evil one, protect me; at the hour of my
death, call me; and bid me come to You; that with Your saints, I may
praise You forever and ever. Amen.
PRAYER AGAINST EVERY EVIL
Spirit of our God, Father, Son , and Holy Spirit, Most Holy Trinity, Immaculate Virgin Mary, angels, archangels, and saints of Heaven, descend upon me. Please purify me, Lord, mold me, fill me with Yourself, use me. Banish all the forces of evil from me, destroy them, vanquish them, so that I can be healthy and do good deeds. Banish from me all spells, witchcraft, black magic, malefice, ties, maledictions, and the evil eye; diabolic infestations, oppressions, possessions; all that is evil and sinful, jealousy, perfidy, envy; physical, psychological, moral, spiritual, diabolical ailments. Burn all these evils in hell, that they may never again touch me or any other creature in the entire world. I command and bid all the powers who molest me -- by the power of God all powerful, in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior, through the intercession of the Immaculate Virgin Mary -- to leave me forever, and to be consigned into the everlasting hell, where they will be bound by Saint Michael the archangel, Saint Gabriel, Saint Raphael, our guardian angels, and where they will be crushed under the heel of the Immaculate Virgin Mary.
PRAYER FOR INNER HEALING
Lord Jesus, You came to heal our wounded
and troubled hearts. I beg You to heal the torments that cause anxiety
in my heart; I beg You, in a particular way, to heal all who are the
cause of sin. I beg You to come into my life and heal me of the
psychological harms that struck me in my early years and form the
injuries that they caused throughout my life. Lord Jesus, You know my
burdens. I lay them all on Your Good Shepherd's Heart. I beseech You --
by the merits of the great, open wound in Your heart -- to heal the
small wounds that are in mine. Heal the pain of my memories, so that
nothing that has happened to me will cause me to remain in pain and
anguish, filled with anxiety.
Heal, O Lord, all those wounds that have been the cause of all the
evil that is rooted in my life. I want to forgive all those who have
offended me. Look to those inner sores that make me unable to forgive.
You Who came to forgive the afflicted of heart, please, heal my own
heart.
Heal, my Lord Jesus, those intimate wounds that cause me physical
illness. I offer You my heart. Accept it, Lord, purify it, and give me
the sentiments of Your Divine Heart. Help me to be meek and humble.
Heal me, O Lord, from the pain caused by the death of my loved ones,
which is oppressing me. Grant me to regain peace and joy in the
knowledge that You are the Resurrection and the Life. Make me an
authentic witness to Your Resurrection, Your victory over sin and death,
Your living presence among us. Amen."
PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE
My Lord, You are all powerful, You are God, You are Father. We beg
You through the intercession and help of the archangels Michael,
Raphael, and Gabriel, for the deliverance of our brothers and sisters
who are enslaved by the evil one. All saints of heaven, come to our aid.
From anxiety, sadness, and obsessions, We beg You: Free
us, O Lord. From hatred, fornication, envy, We beg You: Free
us, O Lord. From thoughts of jealousy, rage, and death. We beg You: Free
us, O Lord. From every
thought of suicide and abortion. We beg You: Free
us, O Lord. From every
form of sinful sexuality. We beg You: Free
us, O Lord. From every
division in our family, and every harmful friendship. We beg You: Free
us, O Lord. From every sort of spell, malefice, witchcraft, and
every form of the occult. We beg You: Free
us, O Lord.
Lord, You Who said, "I leave you peace, my peace I give you," grant that, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, we may be liberated from every evil spell and enjoy Your peace always. In the Name of Christ, our Lord. Amen."
[resources: The God of Healing]
