Memorial of Saint Anthony, the Abbot
~~~ Ephesians 6: 10-18 ~~~ Psalm 16 ~~~ Matthew 19: 16-26 ~~~
(alternate readings for St. Anthony)
Paul is such a visual writer.
Today he gives us the imagery of a soldier;
dressed in armor he is ready for battle.
I decided to write about the alternate readings today
because of things I have recently encountered.
No one is immune from the evil one.
There is no vaccination; there is only strength from the Lord.
Finally, draw your strength from the Lord and from his mighty power.
against the tactics of the devil.
but with the principalities, with the powers,
with the world rulers of this present darkness,
with the evil spirits in the heavens.
that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything,
clothed with righteousness as a breastplate,
to quench all [the] flaming arrows of the evil one.
which is the word of God.
This all sounds pretty intimidating.
One would only put on such protective armor if you were in imminent danger.
The problem to me with the evil one
is that you may not be aware that he is lurking about your life.
He is slithering about just waiting for the opportune moment to attack
.
We must put on the armor of God
because nothing else is effective against the evil one.
It is only through our 'putting on' God that we receive
the grace to identify the evil one.
Sometimes even with this grace it is only after the attack
that we can see it was indeed the evil one at work.
Unfortunately the evil one knows our number.
He knows how to push our buttons.
Those buttons of guilt and pride and unworthiness...
he pulls down the levers of fear and doubt...
whispering in your ears that God does not love you enough.
We must be able to wield the sword of his words.
Pick your favorite scripture verses and memorize them
or write them down on slips of paper. Tuck them into your pockets.
Tape them on the bathroom mirror.
Scroll them across the computer screen.
Do whatever it takes to hold your faith as a shield to fend off
the evil one's attacks.
"With all prayer and supplication,
pray at every opportunity in the Spirit.
To that end, be watchful..."
You are not helpless.
You can fight back.
The evil one does not want to hear us praying to God.
The veil one does not want to hear us calling down the Holy Spirit
for assistance and intervention.
Pray because of your faith...because you believe.
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