My story

Catholic priest, exorcist. His blog: leopoldjablonsky.blogspot.com

St. Paul, the apostle, wished to visit Christians in Rome. But time to go to Rome had not come yet. So he decided to write them a letter. In the introduction of that letter he wrote strong words: "I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong — that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.“ (Romans 1, 11 -12)

My testimony has exactly the same goal. I would like to give you some spiritual gifts to make your faith strong.

In 1994 I met the living God, gradually, thanks to a community where I was invited within our parish in the city of Martin. I learned the meaning of prayer. I learned to read the Bible. I learned to live a faith that cannot accept mediocrity and compromises. At that time God greatly used people from that community, so that they could shape me and teach me a lot of things.

I remember that I was often reflecting about how God acts in the life of people. In the Bible I met a number of examples of how God intervenes in the life of people: miracles, healing, liberation, resurrection, etc. And He always makes all these things for the sake of love toward single persons, in order to reveal Himself as the living God, the Almighty God Who is present here and now. He shows His own glory. We just fall on our knees and shout: He is the Lord.

I got different answers on this theme. Somebody told me that such things occurred only in the first generation of Christians, in order to help them more easily spread the gospel, and in order to convince the Pagans that God is really the living Almighty God (God is Love and makes concrete acts of love). Somebody else told me that God still makes these things, even today (exactly the same things that are described in the Acts of the Apostles). They also told me that they didn’t see them with their own eyes, but they only heard about them. Sometimes I was happy with one simple answer; sometimes I needed another answer. But none of those answers lasted long.

At that time I was reading literary works close to the Beatitudes Community. The answer contained in these books was: "yes", today all this happens in our communities. God acts and pour His spirit. He gives Himself to us. He gives us His gifts and charismas for our ministry, in order to show us that he cares about us even today. In 2004 (it was my 6th year within the Franciscan Friars Minor) I first met the evil spirit. It was something I had so far knew only from the Bible. Before that day, it just appeared as a distant phenomenon.

I had a dream. I entered a little church in Bratislava, where people where praising God. A number of young people were there. I joined them and followed their prayer. Then a young lady in her twenties came in and looked at me. When I saw her eyes I soon understood that the Devil was there. Nobody ever looked at me like that before. She attacked me and started to threaten me with an unnatural voice. In my dream I started to pray and I was completely calm. I felt God’s presence. I was not surprised that that person attacked me. After a short prayer she fell on the ground, without forces, and remained there in complete calm. She had been liberated. Here I woke up. The first words I heard after I woke up were: “You will be an exorcist”; and I replied: “Sure“. And then I kept sleeping without being disturbed.

In 2007 I was transferred to another town. My priest ministry was going on in a standard way. I was doing my job and of course I took everything very seriously. If somebody asked me what my favourite activity as a priest is, I would reply: celebrating the Holy Masses. Nothing is more attractive for me than those moments after the transubstantiation, when I hold the living God in my hands.

Nevertheless, within this “standard” ministry, God decided to revive something in me. It was something that is present in the heart and in the hands of every priest. A person came to me for confession. Of course, it is something absolutely normal for a priest. When I pronounced the words of absolution, that person fainted. Was it perhaps the result of some nausea or ill-being? Probably yes, but suddenly that person started to speak in a language that looked like from India. We started regular meetings together and prayed for liberation. On the basis of unnatural symptoms I excluded the possibility of psychical disturbs. It was the first time I used the spiritual power I received as a priest and I prayed the prayer of liberation. After the final and total liberation I realized that even today God acts in the same way as in the Acts of the Apostles. He liberates and heals His sons and daughters. Since then, many people spontaneously came to visit me. They were people affected by problems with the evil spirit, interior wounds. Gradually, thanks to the help of a community of fervent Christians and wise priests (who gave me advice and prayed for me) I started to spend 2/3 of my time in prayers of intercession for the benefit of several people. Suddenly, I touched with my hands what I had so many times read in the Bible. God glorified Himself by healing infertility, psychic diseases, addictions, etc. Not everybody was healed, because only God is the Lord of Life and He decides if His glorious plan includes more suffering or healing. He decides if a person should go through the valley of the shadow of death or if he/she should be purified and fortified. Only God decides if a person should get closer to Him by means of miraculous healing. This is the most important thing: the healed and the freed shall turn to Jesus and throughout such experience they shall take Jesus as their Lord.

In late 2008 a community was praying prayers of intercession for me. After the prayer they had a word of knowledge for me, where God said “You will be an exorcist". I thanked the man who interpreted this message; but in my mind I was thinking: “this is not possible". I just took that sentence in the same way as though somebody told me: "You will become Pope”.

Three months later I received a letter from the archbishop. The archbishop wanted to see me. I thought: what did I do wrong? Is it maybe some anonymous complaint against me? It is a common practice in the town where I live. I didn’t do anything wrong. So I didn't see any reasons why the archbishop should reproach me. I said to myself: “We will see. It will be a surprise". Then I met the archbishop. He told me that he heard about my ministry based on prayers for intercession and for liberation. He thanked me for this service and proposed that he will entitle me to be an exorcist. You can imagine what thoughts I had in my mind. The word of knowledge I received three months before really came from God. The dream I had in 2004 was not actually the result of my subconscious. The conversation with the bishop continued in a friendly atmosphere. At the conclusion I did agree with his proposal.

I never longed for a “career” as exorcist. Nevertheless I perceive this ministry as a great gift and tool within the frame of the evangelization. In his letter to Thessalonians St. Paul says: “because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction”.

I thank God that I can experience this in my everyday life as a priest: to announce the gospel from the pulpit not only with words, but also with power and with the Holy Spirit. This is the gospel in its fullness. We need this just today in this exact historical time; i.e. in a time when Pope Benedict XVI calls the Christians to a new evangelization of Europe, a new evangelization of baptized people who live the faith in a superficial way... We need a return of signs and miracles just like at the times of the early evangelization.