Holy water and the holy salt, we use this for exorcism.
There's something evil in this coronavirus disease. That's the work of the devil.
My full name is Father Eduardo Carino Vasquez Jr.
The moment I heard about the lockdown,
the first two words that came to my mind was hunger and the
poor. The poor are the most affected. The Church must be felt in this present situation.
So every day our schedule depends on the call of the people, when
there are requests for sick calls, for the blessing of the dead, then I go.
[Reading blessing in Tagalog.] So we did the blessing, pray over the families.
I asked for the details of what's the cause of the death of this
guy? 'It's cardiac arrest, no?' 'Cardiac arrest.'
Twenty-two? Another guy died aged 22. Pneumonia?
For those requesting for priests, we just go here
to make ourselves available, because they find it hard to find
priests to bless the body of their loved ones.
These bodies are not tested.
It's better to be protected and just to presume that this guy died of Covid.
Holy water and the holy salt are used for healing and purification of the place and we use
this for exorcism, the process or the ritual performed by the priest to
really expel the evil spirit from a person and from a place.
This is not just something physical but spiritual. I suspect that people now do not feel the
presence of the Church. That's why as a priest I need to be very creative and
very prudent also in doing my ministry in this time of lockdown.
No one should stop us from doing our ministry, not even this pandemic.
So that means part of my vocation is risking my life for these people.