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St. John
gives us three great enemies of the soul: the world, the flesh and the
devil. It is, therefore, always a good idea to know how to challenge
these great adversaries. Here's a tip:
The devil: the cunning deceiver
He is the father of lies. He is to be always mistrusted, disdained and denied. St.
Peter describes him as a lion always prowling about looking for someone
to devour, and we are exhorted to resist him solid in our faith. He
will certainly tempt and entice with words of honey and half-truths of
spice.
How to Combat
A
best offence is a great defense, and we have to first know what we are
to defend against. The devil's plan is not, as is commonly thought,
that we should simply do great evil. He is far more crafty than that.
He wants only that we fail to do God's will. So when God says do good,
the devil either says do great evil or do a little evil. But when God
says do better, the devil says just do good. And when God says be
perfect, the devil says, just be a little better.
Your
great weapon here is the sacrament of confession. This followed by the
Sacrament of the Eucharist is a powerful combo against his lies because
this keeps us in a state of grace, a state of active friendship with
God. And the best part about being close friends with God is that he
shares with us his Divine Nature (or grace). Sharing in his divine
nature means that we walk in his light which enables us to see more
clearly the advances of the enemy and therefore resist them more
thoroughly.
The Moral
You
are master over yourself. God's grace, his divine nature elevates our
human nature to a divinized state that empowers us to see more clearly
the lies of the devil. If we should reject this state of life by a
deadly sin, we may regain it by humble repentance and the sacrament of
confession, but the more we can maintain divine life in our soul the
greater will our resources against evil be.
+ Br. Joseph Michael Fino, CFR
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Mother Mary said at Fatima: "My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge and the sure way which will lead you to God." St. Thomas Aquinas said: "The things we love tell us who we are!" With that in mind, I will try to post each day something about Our Blessed Lady, items about the Holy Roman Catholic Church, and public domain Catholic books too! I pray you enjoy my ministry! Below are two albums of pictures that I created: 1. Our grand daughter Adrianna. 2. Tears of Mary!
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