By Gina Marie

My grandfather was a mason. I don’t know to what degree, but he was at least a third degree.

He was shown in his apron and had a masonic funeral. My dad and his wife, my sister, my aunts, and my cousins all attended. I remember it now, but for 30 years I had no memory of it.
About two years ago I discovered the walking encyclopedia of Catholic spiritual warfare, Fr.
Chad Ripperger. It took a few months to listen to every one of his conferences. I binged them
back-to-back, entirely riveted, and ready to hear the wisdom of the church through this very knowledgeable priest.

At the time I had recently returned to the Sacrament of Penance after years of minimizing, if not avoiding my own sinfulness and not confessing everything. I prepared for nearly a month for that confession, and finally was able to leave in the confessional many, many burdens that I carried around with me for years. When I finished, my confessor advised me to go to confession once
per month. I’ve missed only once. I now cling to the sacrament of confession with my very soul.

I reached Father’s 3-part series on generational spirits. These are demons that attach themselves to families, due to persistent sin, curses, or occult practices. A family might have a generational
spirit when clear patterns of behavior seem to be passed down through their lineage. To root that spirit out, it is important to know exactly what kind of spirit one is dealing with. Fr. Ripperger says in part one of the conference, “precision is everything. You can pray until the cows come home, but you’re not going to get him out of your lineage until you know exactly what his angle is, that is, his nature.”
I started thinking that there must be a generational spirit affecting my family. My grandfather was protestant, but my father decided to convert to Catholicism when he was 18. I was raised Catholic and have always loved my faith. I worked in a Catholic bookstore at one time. I went to
Mass regularly. I attended Catholic conferences, bible studies, retreat weekends, and rosary cenacles. And still I found myself several times over the years gravely backsliding into terrible behaviors, behaviors I seem to share with many members of my family.

Note that this is not an attempt to sidestep blame. I bear the responsibility of all my sins, even those I committed when listening to the promptings of a family spirit. I could have said no. I could have confessed far better than I did over the years. I am very much aware that my weaknesses were, and still are, mine. I am a sinner, after all, susceptible to temptation, constantly in need of repentance when I take the bait. In the second part of the conference, Fr. Ripperger explains how to determine which generational spirit is attacking your lineage. He suggests meditation to calm the emotions in order to examine the self objectively; praying to your guardian angel who protects us from the unseen forces that
attack us; and asking the Blessed Mother under the title Our Lady of Sorrows to reveal the nature of the afflicting demon.

Our Lady and St. Joseph took Jesus to Simeon, and he told Our Lady, “And thy own soul a sword shall pierce, that, out of many hearts, thoughts may be revealed. (Lk 2:35)” Fr. Ripperger explains that, according to the Church Fathers, “St. Simeon recounted to her everything her Son was going to go through in the passion.” From that moment, she knew the world would reject her Son, and thus reject God. She carried this pain with her from that moment on. Our Lady shares the most intimate relationship with Our Lord. He withholds nothing from her, and if He wills it, allows her to reveal certain details with us.

I asked Our Lady of Sorrows to reveal to me the nature of the generational spirit in my family.
The next day, I woke up with the memory of my grandfather in his casket wearing a masonic apron, and three men wearing aprons conducting the funeral.
I have in my personal library several books about freemasonry. Some have been in my collection for over 20 years. These books did not stir my memory. Neither did learning from my husband that his grandfather was also a mason. I replied that there are no masons in my family. Even when watching Fr. Ripperger’s generational spirits conferences, I actually thought to myself, “wow, I’m sure glad there are no masons in my family,” while he was describing the deliverance generational effects of a masonic curse. It’s not that I didn’t believe Our Lady. It of course was true. Recall, though, what Fr. Ripperger says: “precision is everything.” I looked up my grandfather’s obituary and found on the same page the announcement of his masonic funeral.

I called my sister to tell her what I discovered. She also had no memory of our grandfather’s
funeral. She suffered from the same kinds of backsliding that I did, but to a lesser degree. There is an intense temptation toward impulsive, intemperate behaviors, such as alcohol or drug use and promiscuity attached to this curse. Broken families, abuse and molestation are all effects of
the masonic curse. All these behaviors and effects are rampant in our family. The insidious part is that these behaviors and effects are also how the curse is perpetuated through the generations.

Child death is an effect of the masonic curse. My sister had a miscarriage. Respiratory illnesses are another effect, from which I suffered for decades. I was also an insomniac, emotionally erratic, and was haunted by a feeling of dread that would last for hours, sometimes days.

Occasionally it preceded some terrible happening in my life, but most of the time it would come and go randomly.
The more we talked, the more we wanted to be freed from this burden. We decided to pray for deliverance on Good Friday 2021. We used the Prayers to Break the Freemasonic Curse, found in the book titled Deliverance Prayers for Use by the Laity compiled by Fr. Chad Ripperger. As I am the older sister, I led the prayers. It took us almost a half hour to complete the prayers. I got a
little lightheaded during the first few pages, but otherwise neither of us felt anything, except lightness and relief when we were done.

It was in the days and weeks that followed that we noticed a difference in ourselves. My sister said that until we prayed for deliverance, she had intense difficulty praying. No longer. She and her new husband, now married for over a year, are praying the Liturgy of the Hours together.

Her mood has also improved. She had a sadness that seemed to always be under the surface her entire life. It is now completely gone, as are my erratic emotions, insomnia, and that feeling of dread. I haven’t had a respiratory attack since before Good Friday 2021. Those intense temptations that would pull us out of grace have subsided.

I am ever thankful to Our Lady of Sorrows for restoring the memory of my grandfather’s funeral.
Not for what it was, but for what I have gained from knowing. I pray for my grandfather all the time. I have several perpetual masses said for him. I also pray for his deathbed conversion.
Even a freemason can repent.

Fr. Ripperger’s three-part conference on generational spirits: