Evil: "Possessed" Teen Stabs 3 Younger Siblings

Shocking:

A troubled Bronx teen allegedly in a zombie-like trance stabbed his two younger brothers and sister yesterday – and was prevented from murdering them by a Good Samaritan, authorities said.

Cops say 17-year-old Nelson Santos lost it at about 3:30 p.m. and attacked his two brothers, ages 13 and 6, and his 9-year-old sister, with a knife in their second-floor apartment in Morrisania.

Police did not give a motive for the stabbing or what type of weapon was used, but the Daily News reports Santos told cops he was "zombie-like" and used a butcher knife.

A police source told the paper the boy said he was seeing demons and neighbors said he practiced black magic. (NBC New York)

This is so sad. Demonic possession is often *confused* with psychological causes, but the fact that this individual was also dabbling in black magic makes him a perfect candidate for real demonic influence. Demonic influence is real and Catholics ought to be careful to avoid things related to black magic and have frequent recourse to the sacraments.

We rarely appreciate how many harmful evil influences are baptism saves us from - now let's double our efforts to resist Satan and all his works through frequent reception of the Eucharist and Confession.

Confessions are often offered on Saturdays. It's my personal opinion that Catholics ought to go to Confession at least once a month, and ideally, every couple weeks, even for venial sins.

On confessing other people's sins

It's amazing how often I've heard priests say that people do this. Amanda Shaw agrees:

I’ve heard priests remark about the disconcerting tendency of penitents to confess other people’s sins. “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. My spouse got angry because I misplaced the car keys . . . ” Then, there’s our curious compulsion to confess offenses that are long past–the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, Columbus and Cortez. It’s a way of acknowledging the sins of our heritage, atoning for the atrocities of our unenlightened ancestors.

And yet, like the words of the finger-pointing penitent, there’s something decidedly imperfect about these comfortably distanced acts of contrition. “False Apology Syndrome,” Theodore Dalrymple calls it in the Templeton Foundation’s In Character journal. Under the guise of assuming the guilt of the past, it sets the righteous present apart in self-congratulatory humility ...

I think what broke me of this common tendency was a little philosophy class where I learned that guilt must include volition, and well, we aren't in charge of what other people have done - we have enough to worry about ourselves.