The weapon of prayer
We don’t think of prayer as a weapon. At least I don’t, especially when I mitigate its power by saying, “All I can do is pray.” Yet, I know this life is a battle, so I have written about spiritual warfare countless times.
Why then don’t I use my primary weapon for combat?
Why then diminish prayer?
The answer’s simple and terrifyingly discouraging: I forget that without God I can do nothing.
Father Jacques Phillipe declares,
“Without Me you can do nothing….(John 15:5)
He didn’t say, you can’t do much without Me but you can do nothing.”
He’s crafty, our relentless enemy, slithering in when we least expect it to persuade us we can do this ourselves. The worst part about the pride is that I’m oblivious to it, unaware that I’m relying on myself, that most unreliable of creatures. And then, of course, the self-recrimination starts, sometimes to the point of disgust. Again, Father Philippe instructs:
To preserve our hearts in perfect tranquility, it is still necessary to ignore some interior feelings of remorse which seem to come from God, because they are reproaches that our conscience makes to us regarding true faults, but which come, in effect, from the evil spirit as can be judged by what ensues. If the twinges of conscience serve to make us more humble, if they render us more fervent in the practice of good works, if they do not diminish the trust that one must have in divine mercy, we must accept them with thanksgiving, as favors from heaven. But if they trouble us, if they dishearten us, if they render us lazy, timid, slow to perform our duties, we must believe that these are the suggestions of the enemy and do things in a normal way, not deigning to listen to them.
(The Spiritual Combat, chapter 25)
Can reading and watching the news be sinful?
Excuse the leap from satanic activity to the news, but this writing evokes thoughts about occasions of sin and how to avoid them, like gossip. Long before I converted to Catholic Christianity, I stopped watching the news. I lived alone, and the torrent of information pouring from the lips of these “Opinion-makers with perfect hair and teeth, which somehow augmented their credibility,” had the opposite effect; they turned me off. Much of what they opined about seemed calculated to frighten or disturb me: Did I need to know about the “Kickin Burglars?”, referring to men who would kick in locked doors to rape and rob?”
No.
Now, decades later, what we see as “news” boggles the mind. Undiluted detraction and calumny pour from the lips and fingers of secular and Christian opinion makers in torrents. But I hadn’t thought of this as sinful until I read the remarks of Fr. Raymond de Souza in his Lenten reflection, Spiritually Toxic News. Father de Souza writes:
The spiritual life of millions of souls has become toxic too. We can see the degradation of our public life. The interior life is harder to see, but a similar degradation is quite advanced and threatens the sanctity of souls seeking to live close to God. A few recognize this and seek forgiveness in Confession – and the grace of the sacrament to resist this particularly powerful vice. Good for them. For many more, the interior is life continuously corrupted without awareness or apparent remedy. Their minds, hearts, and souls are daily drenched in the toxins of “our poisoned shared culture.”…
[to young men], “I speak of the “3 Ps.”
I warn him against pornography, pious conflicts online, and politics. All of them are aware of the first danger, and the overwhelming majority were or are addicted to it. But some are surprised that immersing themselves in liturgical and doctrinal disputes online is harmful to their relationship with Jesus. As to politics, nearly all of them began their path toward deeper questions by following popular political voices, most of whom are combative and lacking in charity.
This news didn’t make CNN or any legacy media
The weaponry of Heaven intervened in embattled Nigeria, where over 60,000 Christians have been killed in the last twenty-five years. In an intriguing piece, Angels Fight Demons for us When We Pray, Jesse Romero writes,
Boko Haram, a terrorist organization, was about to execute seventy-two Nigerian Christians by firing squad—and angels intervened. The terrorists had their rifles cocked and were preparing to take aim at the persecuted Christians, but suddenly they threw their weapons down and started violently grabbing at their own heads, screaming and shouting that they were covered with snakes. Some of them ran away, but others dropped dead where they stood.
One of the dying terrorists dropped his gun, and a Christian captive reached down to grab it, hoping to shoot at the fleeing Boko Haram militants and help the Christians escape, but the youngest child put her hand on his arm to stop him. “You don’t need to do that,” she said. “Can you not see the men in white fighting for us?”
All seventy-two captives survived and escaped.
Solemnity of the Holy Trinity Sunday.
Jesus said to his disciples:
“I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.
But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,
he will guide you to all truth.
He will not speak on his own,
but he will speak what he hears,
and will declare to you the things that are coming.
He will glorify me,
because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
Everything that the Father has is mine;
for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine
and declare it to you.”
Let us recall and follow Pope Francis’ exhortation to live, pray, and when necessary, fight with combative hope:
This spiritual hope is much more than mere optimism. It is not full of fanfare, nor is it afraid of silence. Rather, it penetrates deep down within us, like sap in winter roots. Hope is certain, and it is the Father of Truth who gives it to us. Hope discerns between good and evil. It does not worship at the altar of success: falling into optimism, nor is it content with failure: wallowing in pessimism. Because hope discerns between good and evil, it is called to do combat. Yet it fights without anxiety or illusion, with the assurance of one who knows that he pursues a sure goal…
2 thoughts on “The Weapon of Prayer”
So many treasures contained in today’s writing. Thank you Lin, and God bless you for sharing your gifts.
Hey there Mary!! Hope you and your family are enjoying this magnificent feast day!!