Be wary of the devil

Dear friends,

The devil tries his hardest to wave temptations at us. He does this through other people, people who say, "Its ok to do that; they'll never know".

The devil is also smart, but his intelligence is limited; God's grace is much more powerful than is the devil smart. God's grace abounds, if only you look for it.

I write this because someone wrote a comment for me on an earlier post on the sacrificial notion of marriage. He included websites that may not have been pornographic (I am not sure, since I didn't investigate, but they were definitely questionable in nature). This is also why I moderate my comments.

I don't believe it is coincidence that he posted the comment on this post, considering I talked about the sacrificial notion of marriage.

It is interesting, how subtle attacks can turn someone away from Christ very quickly. It says in night prayer, "Your opponent the devil, is prowling like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, solid in your faith." He stalks like a lion, waiting for an unsuspecting victim. Notice that when a lion pounces on something, that something is always looking the other way. The victim doesn't recognize danger when it is near. We must recognize that danger, and know when it is present. Often before temptations, we fail to see the devil's tail in the mix, but only after does the devil present himself as who he truly is: sadistic and evil. If we give into temptation, it is only after we give in that we can recognize the devil. But this is a God given grace, to recognize when we have fallen, so that we can have the grace to turn towards the good God and ask for His mercy. By recognizing, we also hope to avoid falling into sin in the future. If it was the devil's wish, he would stay concealed, staying hidden, so that we may not recognize him, and come even closer to him next time. But we thank the good God for giving us the hindsight to know when we have done wrong.

At the same time, we shouldn't turn to the devil to see him; instead, keep your eyes fixed on Christ. If one's eyes are totally fixed on Christ, then temptations will be able to be viewed as coming from elsewhere, so we need not worry about temptation, since it isn't from God. If we truly follow God though, the temptations we experience will be just that: temptations, and they will not be acted upon. I mean, this is someone who truly follows God. We can achieve this: it is called sanctity. This is what we strive for.

May the love of the child Jesus warm your hearts, and may you always seek the face of Christ. God bless.