John
17:15. "I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you
to protect them from the evil one."
John
8:40-44: As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has
told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You
are doing the works of your own father.”“We are not illegitimate children,”
they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”Jesus said to them, “If
God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I
have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to
you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your
father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He
was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no
truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and
the father of lies.
Romans
8:31: If God is for us, who is against us?
Catechism
of the Catholic Church: 2851: In
this petition, evil is not an abstraction, but refers to a person, Satan, the
Evil One, the angel who opposes God. The devil (dia-bolos) is the one who
"throws himself across" God's plan and his work of salvation
accomplished in Christ.
2852: "A
murderer from the beginning, . . . a liar and the father of
lies," Satan is "the deceiver of the whole world." Through him
sin and death entered the world and by his definitive defeat all creation will
be "freed from the corruption of sin and death." Now "we know
that anyone born of God does not sin, but He who was born of God keeps him, and
the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole
world is in the power of the evil one."
The
Lord who has taken away your sin and pardoned your faults also protects you and
keeps you from the wiles of your adversary the devil, so that the enemy, who is
accustomed to leading into sin, may not surprise you. One who entrusts himself
to God does not dread the devil…
We now come to the last
petition in the Our Father. In it we find Jesus addressing the presence of the
devil within our lives and within the world. As we look at the words Jesus uses,
we see that He has us pray in the plural as He does throughout the prayer. We
are reminded that the evil one attacks every human being on the face of the
earth. We note that we need to be delivered from this evil, that we cannot do
it ourselves, and that we need God to fill us with His grace to fight the
master of lies and deception. We need to pray for all our brothers and sisters
to be delivered from their personal sins as well. As we have noted time and
again in this blog, it is not enough to get ourselves to heaven, but it is
necessary to bring as many people with us as possible.
This is very difficult
today. It is not “correct” to even mention the reality of sin, the possibility that
actions accepted by the world are unacceptable to God. It is not “correct” to
call a sin “a sin” and to remind people that the devil exists, he is real, as
are his minions, and that they wreak havoc on the beautiful souls of the
beloved children God created in His image.
The world has always succumbed to
the dance of the devil in the acceptance of inhumane practices such as
euthanasia, human trafficking, abortion, sexual abuse, oppression of human
rights and the indifference of the rich towards the sick, the elderly, and the
poor. We cannot help but picture the devil sitting in a chair, puffing on a
fine Cuban cigar, wearing an Alexander Amosu suit and fine leather shoes,
smirking as he watches countless souls buy his lie. He must love it every time
someone clicks on a pornographic image, or fights for abortion rights, buys
another expensive unnecessary gadget and chooses to play games with strangers
on the internet instead of joining an organization to mentor youth, offer
financial support and personal time to help women in unwanted pregnancies, or
assist in programs which are designed to give the unemployed the skills they
need to get a job. Why does this make him happy? Because, it causes us to put
ourselves and our own desires ahead of the needs of others. We then become easy
targets for any action, even sin that will make us happy. We have become immune
to the feeling of shame in sinful thoughts, words, and deeds because we have
locked our consciences in a box and thrown away the key.
Not a single person in
the world, now or in the past, or in the days to come can escape the evil one.
The best we can do is tell ourselves He doesn’t exist, or blame the evil in the
world on everyone else, or waste our time asking “Where was God” when horrible crime
happens. Horrible crimes happen when horrible people commit them. Horrible
people exist because they threw God away, or never had the chance to meet Him. This
has been true throughout history: once societies decided they were better off
keeping God away from the people, stopped using the instruction manual God
created for the world, and came up with their own gods and laws, evil was
unleashed. For us today our freedom truly can be defined as “nothing left to
lose.” We have to be monitored everywhere by cameras because we can no longer
be trusted to respect our fellow man. We have to be stopped from living our
faiths in society because we cannot be tolerated as marching to a different
drummer.
The evil one, my friends, laughs all the way to hell, taking as many
hapless souls with him as he can. Remember Jesus’ words: deliver us from evil.
We must believe that Jesus is present in the Eucharist and receive Him often.
We must believe that the Bible holds the truth about living and follow its
commands. We must study Jesus, and live the way He lived. And we must frequent
confession. Once we are too proud to admit that we have sinned, and too proud
to get down on our knees and ask forgiveness, do penance and begin again, we
will have a tough time avoiding the temptations of the evil one.
A child might
not believe you when you tell him that fire is hot, but once he sticks his
finger in a burning candle he knows the laws of physics and the truth of a wise
parent. My friends, the fire exists, and it will burn you.
Oh
my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell. Lead all souls
to heaven, especially those most in need of Thy mercy. Amen (prayer given to
the children at Fatima by the Blessed Virgin Mary, to be prayed after each
decade of the rosary)
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