Fr. Jose Francisco Syquia, head of the Commission on Extraordinary Phenomena for the Archdiocese of Manila, talks about tough love and the dangers of the internet and social media on children during a meeting with some of the media at the International Eucharistic Congress Convention Center of Cebu or IEC3 in Cebu City on August 25. | Mary Godinez
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Parents are encouraged to practice “tough love” on their children with regards to using gadgets and the internet or the social media.
Fr. Jose Francisco Syquia, head of the Commission on Extraordinary Phenomena for the Archdiocese of Manila, said this because the internet or the social media could be a source of things that could lead to sin or an addiction to use gadgets.
READ: Almost 200 students in Bohol ‘possessed’ by evil spirits
Fr. Syquia, exorcist, on social media
“Social media caters to the flesh not to the spirit,” said Fr. Syquia, who is also the director of the Archdiocese of Manila Office of Exorcism, and who has been an exorcist for 10 years now.
“With just one click, a child can be exposed to immoral sites, and continuous exposure to these sites desensitizes their conscious minds, and (they) might begin to perceive nothing wrong, becoming entranced to the carnal pleasure that social media actively provides,” Fr. Syquia said.
He said that by being exposed to these immoral sites for a long time would allow that child or person to be vulnerable or open to demonic attacks and inviting more evil spirits to their lives.
READ: US top health official sounds alarm on child social media use
He said that a way to address this problem would be to practice tough love or by being strict to your children on the use of the gadgets and what they would be allowed to watch or see.
“Especially in the beginning, you really (have to) invent what you call a tough love, that’s actually why it comes in,” he said.
“And the important thing is to be able to find an alternative for them (your children), because you can’t simply just take out these gadgets,” said Fr. Syquia, who is also a member of the International Association of Exorcists based in Rome.
How can parents do tough love? They can strictly monitor their children when using their gadgets and the internet so that the children could only visit sites that would be child-friendly.
Fr. Syquia said that the parents should also be strict in putting their foot down on how the children could use the gadgets and how long they could use these devices.
READ: Prayer is a game-changer
Develop spiritual lives
Aside from practicing tough love, he also encourages the parents to focus on developing their spiritual lives.
But the best way to address this problem is to develop the family’s spiritual life.
“Expose the children as much as possible to prayers just like the angels,” Fr. Syquia said.
READ: ‘Possession’ or mass hysteria?
Holy sacramentals
He also said that since parents could not watch over their children 24 hours a day and when a child would open a site with a curse or immoralities, a way to somehow address these would be putting holy sacramentals or blessed sacramentals in your home.
Fr. Syquia described these blessed sacramentals as rosaries, holy images, holy water, crucifix, holy statues, among others.
“Having blessed sacramentals around the house can help protect your house from the devil because the devil will feel that they are burning because the house is protected by these blessed sacramentals or holy sacramentals,” said Fr. Syquia.
He said that through the holy sacramentals, they would be protected by God.
READ: CCPO to parents: Don’t allow children to bring gadgets, valuables to school for their safety
Ward off evil spirits with holy water
He also said that everytime members of the family would have a fight, one should splash holy water in the house to ward off evil spirits.
“This is because evil spirits would manifest every time there is negativity in an environment,” he said.
Fr. Syquia was in Cebu last month to help organize a three-day exorcism congress here. | Mary Godinez, CTU Intern