Dear Anonymous —

The difference is simple. A prayer is a petition, praise, confession, or thanksgiving (Merriam-Webster Unabridged) to God (or a god).

A spell is none of these things — it is an attempt to manipulate spiritual powers to gain what one wants. It's not a request at all but an instrumental use of the spiritual world.

• A prayer is an act of love, an act of trust and confidence in a personal God.
• A spell is more like a mechanism, like a computer command or pressing a button on a vending machine. It's an act of power, not of love.

The difference lies in the Will that lay between a prayer and its fulfillment, and a spell and its fulfillment. Someone who prays is submitted to the Will of God and it is conditioned on God's personal Will or Approval.

Spells, on the other hand, are an act of magick and are not constrained by the will of a deity. They represent the bald, unrestrained will of whoever casts it.

Eric

Dear Anonymous,

I just wanted to add a few things in response to your last reply.

You said:
As I said before, I know people that have said prayers, Catholic people, just to hurt others — not wishing well upon them.

• So what do you call that?
• Is that a prayer?

I call it scandal. Just because there is bad behavior among members of the Catholic faith doesn't mean the official teachings of the Church are not true. The Church has not changed one teaching since Jesus' Ascension in 33 A.D.

You said:
If you take away the label of a religion, we all will see that our beliefs are not different at all — Jewish, Catholic, non-Catholic Christian, Wiccan. We just have different rituals, different names for God. God is one you don't need a building or ritual to call it a church. The church is in your heart. It could be a church of a single person or a church of several people or community. Putting other beliefs down — stating they are wrong, places you in the wrong.

A person in a different religion is the same as you. They are human and we are all created the same with different opinions, minds, races, and creeds. I do respect my religion but I also respect others and wish that people will stop and think before they put others down and look at themselves instead. At the end, we are all the same: we are born, live, and die.

I see the Bible as a book of stories, prayers, and a history book. Guess what? That's what a book of shadows is about too: stories, history, and prayers. (called spells)

You don't need to reply. I respect your opinion as I expect you would respect mine.

While we are all the same biologically, as men and women, one can't logically deny that we all have different body's of beliefs.

• What a Catholic believes is different that what a Methodist believes.
  
• What a Methodist believes is different that what a Southern Baptist believes.
  
• What a Pentecostal believes is different that what a Muslim believes.
  
• What a Hindu believes is different that what a Mormon believes.
  
  and contrary to what you said, similarities may be found in rituals, like Christmas trees.

We should belong to a faith, not because it makes us feel good, or because we are challenged intellectually, but because we believe it is a truth-telling Church on issues of faith and eternal salvation.

You said:
God is one you don't need a building or ritual to call it a church. The church is in your heart. It could be a church of a single person or a church of several people or community. Putting other beliefs down — stating they are wrong, places you in the wrong.

• Where is that in the Bible?
• Have you read the quote from St Pacian of Barcelona on the AskACatholic.com home page?
  

No Catholic should look down at anyone else. We are to love the sinner but hate the sin.

Contrary to what the mainstream media is telling you, the Catholic Church doesn't hate homosexual people, She loves them, in the true sense of the word love. She loves them too much to allow them to stay in a lifestyle their bodies were not designed for.

You said:
I see the Bible as a book of stories, prayers, and a history book. Guess what? That's what a book of shadows is about too: stories, history, and prayers. (called spells)

The Bible is not a Catechism. The Bible is a Catholic book, written by Catholics and their ancestors, for Catholics, for use in the Catholic Mass, our worship service where we renew our covenant with Jesus. The Bible is a liturgical book, meaning one meant for worship. Worship and Witchcraft are at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Finally, while I do respect your free will to believe as you wish to believe, in no way do I respect your opinion when you claim to be a Catholic yet contradict what your own faith teaches you. Even if you struggle to understand what the Church teaches, please don't distort what we believe.

Purposely doing so borders on being anti-Catholic.

Let's pray for each other,

Mike