All the Help We Need 

   “The devil is afraid of us when we pray and make sacrifices.  He also is afraid when we are humble and good.  He is especially afraid when we love Jesus very much.  He runs when we make the sign of the cross.” (St. Anthony of the Desert) 

   There is a war being fought inside of me every second of every day.  It is a war between good and evil.  The war is not easy, but it can be won.  In fact, it has already been won.  Jesus won the war on the cross at Calvary, though there are still battles to be fought.

   Satan is an expert in packaging evil in a beautiful wrapper to convince me to choose wickedness.  He can wrap an abomination in such worldly appeal as to make it appear to be the work of God.  He can tell a lie so convincing that it is nearly impossible not to believe.  He is a gifted warrior and has a trained army of demons at His side.

   But I have a greater warrior and a larger, better equipped army at my side.  I have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit to help me recognize the lies and tricks of Satan.  I have the angels and saints standing beside me to give me strength.

“Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” (Eph 6: 10).”  St. Paul gives me the solution to successfully battle Satan; it is the whole armor of God.  No sword of Satan can penetrate such armor.

   Our Lord stands at the ready to defend me, to help me to overcome the tricks and deceptions of the evil one.  The angels and the saints will join me in the battle.  With such an army on my side Satan doesn’t stand a chance.  The battle will continue, but the war has been won.

 Yes Lord 

   “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’  And I said, ‘Here I am, send me!’” (Isaiah 6: 8). 

   “Yes” to the Lord cannot include conditions; there are no if’s and’s or but’s.  When a would be follower asked Jesus to let him go and bury his father first Jesus’ response was, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.” (Matt (8: 23).  It was not an offense to love of family, it was a clear statement of what it means to say yes to the Lord.  Jesus was offering the disciple, who had been dead due to sin, new life.

   Too many times I think many of us, myself included, want to put conditions on our faith.  We want to practice our faith when it is convenient, when we have the time.  If we miss prayer time, we will just make it up later, if we have the time.  We tend to forget that it was certainly not convenient for Jesus to be nailed to the cross, to suffer and die for our sins.

   If we go to the Lord saying, “Yes, Lord,” while adding, “here is how I will serve  you”, we have missed the point.  We act as if God needs us, but He doesn’t.  Everything we have came from Him, our very life included.  There is nothing we have and nothing within us that God needs, but still He wants us.  But He wants us without conditions, no strings attached.

   What God wants from us is our love, unconditioned, with no reservations.  Jesus loved us so much that He gave His life that we might have the chance to spend eternity in God’s heavenly kingdom.  He reopened the doors closed by the sins of Adam and Eve.  He will welcome us with open arms if we simply say, “Yes, Lord!”

 

 Be Still, Listen, Then Act 

   “Be still and know that I am God!” (Psalm 46: 11) 

   I think the exclamation point at the end of the verse is important; as least to me.  Sometimes I need my God to be emphatic, to tell me to shut up and listen.  Like many men, and I suspect more than most, I want to be the one making the decisions in life.

   Even in simple household things, little things like which way the toilet tissue must be placed on the holder, the way towels and sheets are folded and put away; and heaven forbid a picture is hanging even slightly askew.  My wife, rest her soul, used to tell me I was anal about such things.  I think it was her gentler way of telling me that I could be a stubborn ass at times.  She was right, of course.

   Even in my spiritual life this fault comes into play.  Rather than quietly follow the voice of God, I want to speak up and put in my two cents worth.  He will lead, and He will lead me where I need to go.  But I must shut up, listen, and follow, because He will also let me take the lead and go astray if I insist.

“Breathe on me, Breath of God,

Fill me with life anew.

That I may love what thou dost love,

And do what thou wouldst do.”

(“O Breathe on Me, Breath of God”; text by Edwin Hatch 1835 – 1839)

 

   I need to listen often to those words, then sit quietly seeking His will, doing what He would have me do.  If I can do this, I can serve Him as I should.

 

 Down Time 

   Down time, time away from the normal routine can be a good thing and is needed at times.  I believe there are three types of down times.

   The first is the time we take away from work and spend time with our families.  The trips we may take, the places we see as a family help build family relationships as well as giving memories that last a lifetime.  I remember the first time we took the kids to Disney World.  The joy my wife and I shared on that trip was mainly brought about by happiness we saw in the kids.  I still remember the weird looks when people would open an over-head bin on the airplane and find it filled with the huge stuffed Pluto my oldest daughter had insisted on having.

   The same type of time away brings a different, but in some ways more happiness; when it’s just the two sharing a new adventure together.  I remember the day my wife walked in and asked if I wanted to go to Paris next week.  She had found a great deal on the trip, so we took it.  We had a great time.  Paris was such a special place to share with the most special woman in the world.

   I recently experienced another type of down time.  I took a week and went to a Benedictine Abbey for retreat.  No phones, no computer, just the beauty of rural Oklahoma and the abbey.  It was a week of time with my Lord, seeking to better understand His will for me and my life.  I highly recommend that everyone take some time away from the world and spend it alone with God.

   The last type of down time is what I’ve known the last several days; one that came not by choice but by illness.  I didn’t have Covid, and they tell me I didn’t have the flu, so just a nasty cold I guess.  But one that was debilitating and that I am still not completely over.  However, I found that even this unplanned, undesired down time had some advantages; it gave me plenty of time to read and speak with the Lord.  At times I could barely do anything else.  I became so aware of the blessing of health that I and most everyone seem to take for granted.

   Whether for fun with family or just with that special person, a planned time away with the Lord, or even a period of sickness, they all remind me of the many blessings of God.

 The Beauty of the Psalms 

   There is wisdom and knowledge in all of the psalms. They give us comfort and hope in our life.  In the psalms we find great praise and thanksgiving for the many blessings of God.  One of the things I love about praying the Divine Offices, the Liturgy of the Hours, is that they bring the psalms to me.  When using the Monastic Diurnal and some earlier versions of the Roman Breviary, I read all of the psalms on a weekly basis.  That may sound like a lot, but remember, the early desert fathers recited all 150 of them each day, mostly from memory.

   My favorite psalms are psalm 139 and psalm 119.  Psalm 139 praises the all-knowing, all present God who is in our lives.  Everything we are or will become is know to Him.  He created us, He has a plan for us.  If we will follow that plan He has a heavenly kingdom prepared for us.  Meditating upon this psalm will give us a better understand of God’s presence in our life and all that exists, helping us to more fully trust in His ways.

   With 176 verses, psalm 119 is the longest of the psalms.  It speaks to the glory of God’s word, giving Him all praise and glory for the torah.  It prays for the protection of sinners who would attack those faithful to the law.  It speaks of the delights and consolations of God’s law and laments for those who would disobey it.  It begs for the wisdom to understand the law and for the rewards of remaining true to it.  Contemplating on this psalm, a few verses at a time, will bring a greater knowledge and desire to follow the will of God.

   There is tremendous help for us in the psalms.  Spending some time each day studying and reflecting on them is a wonderful way to grow closer and closer to God.

 Arguing With God 

   “When you are arguing against God you are arguing against the very power that makes you able to argue at all.” (C. S. Lewis) 

   Try as you may, you will never win an argument with God.  You can deny Him, you can reject Him, you can try to ignore Him, but there is no argument that can be made with God.  To try is futile.

   All Christians consider the Holy Scripture to be the divinely inspired word of God.  Trying to redefine those words or twist them one way or another to suit one’s own purposes is tantamount to an argument with the One who is unarguable.  The result can only be frustration.

   We want to make things say and mean what we wish they would, what our earthly desires would like them to mean.  Adam and Eve tried the same thing; they sought to know right from wrong so they could define good and evil for themselves.  By their efforts, they destroyed the one paradise this world has ever known.

   Contemplate the words of God, study them, just sit and think about them.  But never believe that you, a mere human, can change the words or the meanings of the words of the Immortal One, the One who created all.  He created you, He created your intellect, and He will help you understand the truth of His words and how to apply them to your life.

   To be successful, to attain eternal life in His kingdom, we must quit trying to change Him and His truths and start changing ourselves.

 Choose 

   “The refusal to take sides on great moral issues is itself a decision.  It is a silent acquiescence to the evil.” (Bishop Fulton J. Sheen) 

   Society frowns upon those who dare to speak up against the evil and sinfulness that is so prevalent.  They say it’s none of your business what others do, so just keep your mouth shut.  More and more those who speak up are ostracized and even threatened with legal action for professing their faith.

   The question is will we allow ourselves to be bullied into silence?  Will we have the courage and strength to stand up for what is right?  This decision becomes more and more important with each day we wait.  Even in the church we must expect and even demand that our priests, bishops and all the clergy, including the Pope preach the truth of God and quit trying to satisfy society.  Society cannot save us, only Jesus and His truths can lead us to heaven.

   “I foresee a day when the enemy will be both outside and inside the church.  And I pray for the poor faithful who will be caught in the crossfire.” (Cardinal John Henry Newman).  That day has come, that day is now.

   We, the laity, are caught in the middle of a great spiritual war and we must have the courage to stand and fight on the side of God.