The Four Things We Need to Face the World
one
It’s easy to look at the world, our country, and the church and wonder who’s in charge. It can easily appear as if the Devil, the prince of this world, and his agents are. But no matter how it looks, God is in charge.
There is still opposition from the world, our fallen human desires and the devil but having great opposition isn’t a sign to be angry, fearful, or despairing. It is our opportunity to achieve the greatness for which we are made—to become saints. Afterall, who can be a hero without a problem or villain to overcome?
The world we’re living in is perfectly suited for us to become the saints God intended us to be. If it were any other way, it wouldn’t be! Therefore, this world is the perfect place for us.
All the circumstances, opportunities, struggles, hardships, suffering, life, and death that we will experience, God saw from all eternity then thought about us and designed us to match these times perfectly. We can’t become the masterpiece that God intended without the circumstances we’re facing now. So let us not be angry, fearful or despondent at what's going on in the world. Because we’re made for this.
It’s like God designed you to be the greatest football player in the world and now you find yourself on the field in a the game and your mad because someone tried to tackle you. If it were easy, would it be worth it? An easy victory is far less satisfying and beautiful than one we struggle for, so have courage and be inspired by God’s plan for you.
two
To respond to God’s invitation to greatness, we’re gonna need four things.
- Grace from the sacraments
- Prayer
- A team
- And a sense of humor
First, to meet the challenge of the age, we’re gonna need grace from the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation. The CCC tells us the Church strongly encourages the faithful to receive the holy Eucharist on Sundays and feast days, or more often still, even daily. CCC 1389
What are the benefits of receiving the Eucharist daily? The Eucharist increases our union with Jesus. It preserves, increases and renews the life of Jesus within us. As bodily nourishment restores lost strength, so the Eucharist strengthens our charity which tends to be weakened by daily life. Holy Communion cleanses us from past venial sin and preserves us from future sins. Finally, the word Eucharist means thanksgiving. Therefore, the Mass is the greatest way to thank God for all He has given and done for you.
Jesus also gave us the sacrament of Reconciliation. Why would He give this great gift unless He expected us to use it?
The CCC says: Indeed the regular confession of our venial sins helps us form our conscience, fight against evil tendencies, let ourselves be healed by Christ and progress in the life of the Spirit. By receiving more frequently through this sacrament the gift of the Father’s mercy we are spurred to be more merciful to others.
three
Now, God is in charge and he has a role for you, but how can you fulfill it if you never listen to the guy who’s in charge? Prayer is the most important way to listen to God so that you can know his will and do it. If your absolute responsibilities only allow you to meditate during the rosary podcast then be faithful to the rosary. If your absolute responsibilities do allow, then deepen your relationship with God by spending more time with him in silent reflection on his word.
The grace that God pours out through the sacraments is only received to the degree that we’re open to it. You can have a well, but if you don’t take the time to drink the water you can still die of thirst.
Now, you can’t talk and drink at the same time. Often in prayer, we spend too much time in prayer intentions and reading and too little time reflecting in silence on what God has said and relating to him. So make sure you spend an equal amount of time reflecting and relating to God as you spend praying for others and reading.
My first spiritual director told me to spend an hour in meditation every day, the first thirty minutes reading the life of Jesus and the next thirty minutes thinking about it in silence.
four
The last few days I have been reflecting on Judas Maccabees – the last great Jewish Warrior
In 167 BC the Greek king, Antiochus IV conquered Israel, outlawed the Jewish religion, imposed Greek culture and religion and decreed the final destruction of the Jews and that foreign peoples would be brought in to resettle their land. It looked as though it were over for Isreal. But God built Judas Maccabeus (which means The Hammer) for this moment. And the first thing he did was build a team. He gathered nine companions around him and then they went village to village and enlisted those who persevered in the faith. Sounds like what Troy and I are doing going house to house and town to town, helping people build up their teams. As soon as Judas got his army organized, the Greeks could not withstand him. And even though they were vastly outnumbered they slowly began a resistance that overcame the Greeks in three short years, winning their religious and national freedom.
We need to gather our teams. We were not designed to go it alone. We need a team. The team is the unit of transformation. Alone you are more vulnerable to attack and you are weaker. United as a team you are strong. Pray the Team Rosary. We used to say Family Rosary however many people do not have access to family that can or will pray the Rosary with them. Still, you need a team. Do not overlook who God has already placed in your life – that is your team. It might be a spouse or one of your kids, or all your kids, or a friend or small group of friends. Your team could be in person or over the phone or face-time or Zoom.
The Marines would never send out solitary soldiers. If the wisdom of the world knows the most effective fighting team is a small unit, then apply that to the spiritual battle and form a team.
five
Proverbs says God laughs at the plans of the wicked, so why shouldn’t his servants do the same?
The problem with anger, fear, and despair is that we’ve lost sight of the big picture. A sense of humor is one of the best ways to stand back and see things from an eternal perspective. Ten thousand years from now, when we’re in heaven and we look back on this we’re gonna see our imperfections and the way we blundered through this and laugh. When it’s all over, it’ll be easy to stand back and laugh, but we shouldn’t wait till it's over to start. In the same way we should try to live out heaven on earth.
Can you think of a time in which you thought things were deadly serious and someone had the ability to drop in enough levity to make you laugh?
Humor is more than consolation, it’s calming, it’s healing. Sometimes there’s very little we can do about a difficult situation, but is there anything better than making a crying friend laugh?