Battle Ready
One
St. Paul points out that we are in a battle. In his letter to the Ephesians he states, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph 6:12). Man is social by nature. We are created for communion with the other, the other being both natural and supernatural persons. We are not called to live or to fight alone. We are made to know and be known; to be understood and to understand; to love and be loved. We are made to look out for and take care of our neighbor, which also means to fight against evil.
To live and fight for others requires trust, which implies responsibility and honesty. I trust only those upon whom I can depend/rely, and who tell the truth. Reliability and truth telling enables us to protect the vulnerable, to sacrifice lower goods for greater, to think of others ahead of oneself. This is how life is safeguarded for all; this is why love is the most essential component to life and reveals its connection to justice: to fight and defend the innocent against evil. This is why Christ became Man, to show us the way of life, the way of love, and to draw us into communion with the Father, and to lead us to victory!
Two
In order to destroy our world, the Devil seeks the disintegration of the fundamental components of living in communion, especially communion with God. He attacks our social bonds by destroying social foundations: love, marriage, family, and Divine intimacy. He has replaced these essential components with counterfeits like use, convenience, isolation, and selfishness. He suggests to us that we are victims of a rigged system to get us to revolt against the rule of law, and eventually against the order of God. To be sure, there is much corruption in political systems, but if the system is corrupt, it is because it is made up of sinners who need to repent and convert. He hides these truths because he doesn’t want us to seek Christ the Savior. He wants rather to offer a worldly solution that actually destroys us while leading to his tyranny.
He disguises his temptations to evil by calling them good. This is why he is called a deceiver by Jesus. The devil tricks us by appealing to our deep sense to be right all the while by excusing the evil we are presently doing. For instance, resentment is called fairness; envy called justice, wanton desire called human rights. Thus, any restriction is seen as a threat to our freedom and autonomy, to include the laws of God!
Yet, Jesus teaches that only in following the Father’s will can we truly be set free and discover our deepest fulfillment. “I have come not to do my will, but the will of Him who sent me.” AND “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
Three
The temptation of Jesus in the desert reveals the devils plan and our solution. Satan seeks to get Jesus and therefore His followers to pay attention only to the immediate, to the sensual appetites, to our fallen thirst for power. Our destiny is greater than these, and he simply wants to drag us down. The CCC #2849 says, “such a battle over temptation (faced by Christ in the desert) becomes possible only though prayer. It is by prayer that Jesus vanquishes the tempter, both at the outset of his public ministry, and as the ultimate of his agony. It is by prayer that we, too, may vanquish Satan from our lives.
In prayer, especially meditation, we find the love and destiny for which we hunger. Our selfish desires are uncovered by the wonderful light of the Holy Spirit.
As the CCC states, “to try to understand what sin is, one must first recognize the profound relation of man to God, for only in this relationship is the evil of sin unmasked in its true identity as humanity’s rejection of God and opposition to him, even as it continues to weigh heavy on human life and history” (#386-87).
Four
In Mark’s Gospel, chapter 9, Jesus comes upon a commotion in a village near His Transfiguration. After coming down from the mountain, Jesus asks, “What are you discussing.’ Teacher, I have brought my son to you for he has a dumb demonic spirit. Whenever it seizes him it dashes him down…trying to destroy him.” (Mk 9: 17-18.) After Jesus casts out the demon, his disciples ask Him why they were unable. He answers, “this kind cannot be driven out by anything except prayer and fasting.”
Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are the three characteristics of Christian discipleship, as Jesus teaches in His sermon on the mount. These practices make us battle ready. We must live these always if we are to be His disciples. We are particularly called to develop these traits so that we can join in our Lord’s mission to confront the works of the devil.
Since the devil prowls around like a lion ready to pounce, as St. Peter tells us in his first letter, we must recognize his constant and daily threats. He hates you and desires your soul to be with him forever in Hell. He is good at what he does, deceiving and murdering. Therefore, we cannot let a day go by without prayer, like the rosary, and fasting.
Five
When lions on the African plane prowl, every living thing becomes prey, and the prey have to look for the lions. They must choose to be alert, because the lion is waiting for just the right moment. So too, the devil. This is why Jesus calls us to be alert. He says, “Stay awake, watch and pray, that you might not enter into temptation…the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak.” (Mt 26: 41.) To be alert, to be prepared for satanic attack, Jesus gives us His strength through prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and the Sacraments. We must either put to death the deeds of the flesh, or these wicked deeds will destroy us. “if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the flesh, you will live” (Rom 8: 13-17). We must eat His flesh and drink His blood to have final victory over Satan on the last day. (Cf. Jn 6). And when we fail, Jesus leaves us with another weapon: confession, where we can be freed from our sins and fight another day.
Lord, grant us the grace to resist the devil by unmasking his wiles through prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and frequent reception of the Sacraments. Strengthen us in our flesh that by your same Spirit, we may live as sons and daughters of God, in communion with you and one another!