Sometimes, I wonder the kind of self that I possess. The self has to be who I am, but then it tends to be an obstacle to my progress in spirituality. Let us make an introspect to discover how the battle going on with us is with the self, the world and the devil.
The enemy called the self is one of
the three enemies amidst the devil and the world. It is the decisive chamber
for sins and righteousness. For every resolution I make, the self had the will
in making it, for everyone I break, the self influenced by the devil and the
world took the decision to break them. The will power here to even write down
these things, to make or break habit, create or destroy lies here. The power
therefore needs to be submitted to another will above the self, that is the
divine will which is never enforced on me. God ensures He discloses his will,
his laws at the tablet of my heart, makes His grace sufficient for me but then
the decision to follow or choose to decline it is within the self, yourself,
myself, ourselves, we, me, you, us. Within the self, we make decisions with our
free will, but when we are trapped in willful sin, we choose too separate our
will from God’s will.
St.
Paul will say that after wanting to go the right track, he sees himself falling
backward, doing things not planned. The self is weak because the will power is
weak. The power of God is at work even in our weakness. Let not the self be
overshadow it. Lets take in new self and forsake the old.
The
Catechism 1037 teaches, “God predestines no one for hell, for this, a willful
turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until
the end. The self is subject to fall, it is weak. The bible says that the key
for boost is to willfully pray always and taking on the new self of Christ (new
life). A powerful self is that which prays unceasingly, it lets and allows God
to take charge and control, the weak nature of man makes him prefer to choose
the counsel of the enemy and the language of the world instead of the word of
God.
The
Devil
The
1st letter of St. Peter 5:8-9a says, “stay sober and alert, your opponent the
devil is prowling like a lion looking for someone to devour, resist him, solid
in your faith. Also, Matt 4:10 Jesus rebukes Satan who came to tempt him,
“Begone Satan! For it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and Him
alone you shall serve (Deut. 6:13). St. James also asks us in James 4:7 to be
subject to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you, Verse 8 says “come
close to God and he will come close to you.
Following
the story of Job, we see that the devil was given power to put men to the test
and the self of Job was not weakened by the torment inflicted on him to fail
God or put him to shame. He was blessed for his perseverance which as we see
was not contributed by the riches he had but a gift of God which he had
developed by giving God the glory even in hard times, and trusting him that he
knows the reason for his turbulent situation. Have you accommodated the counsel
of others (put by the enemy) to fail God, have you due to the deception of vain
glory from the devil beclouded the will and weaken the self to fail God? Take
counsel from the power of the word which says we should beware, stay alert,
those things we see and hear, no matter how attractive they are, if they have
evil tenets, we have the power to say “begun Satan, get behind me, for your
ways are not God’s and you stand as a stumbling block to my progress. Begone,
for the word of God has said, thou shall not live on bread alone, but from the
word that come out of the mouth of God.” Stay alert, for the devil will not
rest until he sees it to your downfall, but then your consistency and steadfast
trust in God will prevail. He will flee from you. Don’t relax when you fall,
remember that even when the devil goes, he brings seven more powerful demons,
that means you need more prayer. When you resolve not to sin again, the devil
resolves to tempt you with stronger hand and you know, he is actually going to
make you fall if you rely on your strength alone, but by the grace and efforts
you put, your will is secured and set to act freely not to succumb to the
strategies and influence of the devil again this tough time, you receive the
pleasure of having made God proud, certainly like Jesus, angels will come and
attend to you, there will be rejoicing in heaven, same goes to when you give up
your old self of sin and put on the new
self of righteousness, with amour of faith, anchor of the hope in Christ and
the salvation and redemption through the mercy of our redeemer Jesus Christ who
foretold that in this world, we will have many trials but assures us that he
has overcome the world. This will lead us to the last enemy the world.
The
World
The
world will persecute you, but fear not, for I have overcome the world. When we
speak of the world, we speak not of it with respect to its original state for
God created the world and saw that it was good. As time went on, God repented
of having created the world and all on earth (Gen 6:7) He saw that the world
has been corrupted by sin. Consequently, he reduced the life span of man. He
sent flood to destroy the world and also felt the tower of babel. The flow and
order in the mind of God for creating the world has been altered. The devil
while tempting Jesus showed Him the glories of the kingdom and cities of this
world, and called it his, promising to will them over to him if he should bow
down and worship him. (Matt 4:8) Jesus came to redeem thee world and turn back
the hearts of the world to God. The world it is who will uphold abortion, gay
marriage, murder, sexual sins, corruption, bribery, cheating, infidelity,
immodest dressing, drunkenness, malice, slander, pride, sloth, fear, robbery,
fight, quarrel, greed, envy, detraction, incontinency, judgement, promiscuity,
etc. Jesus came and went and went against the flow of the world, people thought
he would be born in the household of Herod, he came through the holy and poor
family of Joseph and Mary; born in a stable, had no place during his ministry,
called sinners to his followers, sat and ate with sinners, blasted the
hypocrites, taught his beatitude which goes against the flow, bore the cross
that wasn’t his, gave out his last treasure on earth; his mother on the cross.
Dt. Bernard rightly says, ‘nothing is lacking when all is given. He did not
perform signs to show off power when asked to save himself on the cross, he
shoed that day that the greatest force is love and not power and authority. He
came to prepare us, to renew us, to consecrate us, to preserve us and to
consecrate us, to prepare us and to redeem us.
Foundation
once destroyed, what can the righteous do? (Psalm 11:3)
The
righteous have received the spirit of adoption, not that of timidity, they are
no longer the ones living, Christ is living in them, they are to fight the good
fight, run the race, bent on reaching the trophy. Being in the world but not of
the world. They know the difference between what the world says, how they live,
which they esteem, where their lead follow and what the word of God says. What
he did and asks us to do likewise. The just man thirst after righteousness,
seeks pardon when he sins and prays continually for the inflow and animation of
the spirit and wisdom of God to guide him amidst worldly allurement.
Church
Militants we are!
Our
combat is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, we
are on a warfare and the battle line has been drawn from creation (Gen 3:15) ‘I
will put enmity between her offspring and you!
Every
new day has its battle and struggle. Dawn comes with mercy and joy (Psalm
30:5), and of course second chance to pick up our riffle again in the different
struggles we are faced with. May be dealing with distractions during prayer or managing your emotions (worries,
anxiety, fear, mood swing,), or need to build self-confidence,
is it dealing with procrastination, crisis management, peer pressure, self-injustice, needs satisfaction, self-concept, self-image, self-worth,
need for positive mindset,
need for setting standard and
principles, dealing with pressure and depression,
is it overcoming addiction,
impunctuality, poor time management, hypocrisy,
avoiding
scandal and abuse,
it dealing with mental cobwebs, stereotype and schema,
it problem with silence and
meditation, or building a healthy sexuality and spirituality,
or dealing with presumption and scrupulous
conscience?
When
you are struggling with sin and these short comings, you are in battle, you
need to accept them and then be in a sense always on duty, never found without
your riffle. Here, we don’t have any other riffle than conscious effort humanly
speaking, seeking professional help, spiritual direction as if our victory
depends on these and then prayer spiritually speaking for we truly depend on
God in whom we live, move and have our beings. In this regard of battle, St.
Paul speaks of the amour of faith, the brace plate of hope, a double-edged
sword of the word of God. We also need unceasing prayer, a retreat with acts of
contrition, seeking peace through confession, silence and celibate solitude, meditation, and with these we engage in
battle. No wonder when Joshua was set to lead the people of Israel, the Lord
demanded him to study the book of the law and meditate upon it day and night. (Joshua 1:8) I say also that we should study
not just the word of God but also our rule and constitution.
When
you fall, stand up
This
may sound like a game in which you have bonus life, but need to fall in order
to tap from the inexhaustible fount of bonus live. This makes two impression
intentionalism and the other consequentialism. We play the game intending not
to fail but to win. Consequently we find ourselves falling. There is a sin of
presumption, sinning after all, I will go for confession, you therefore presume
God’s mercy and use it as a yard stick to remain in sin. While there are people
who due to their human frailties fall into sin, feel guilt about them because
it was never presumed but they find themselves giving in to sin, yet making
effort to pick up again, to begin a new life in the future, promising by the
help of God’s grace never to sin again. Holiness consist in struggling towards
perfection, making effort as militants. You are never alone, the triumphant
church which is in a state of perfection intercedes for you, the suffering
church which is undergoing purification intercedes for you, the Lord sits at
the right hand of the Father interceding for you, the Holy Spirit intercedes
for you for you with groaning beyond human comprehension. We are members of the
mystical body of Christ our head and bridegroom in communion with the saints we
make one holy, catholic and apostolic church. This strikes a meaning to me, you
are never alone, Christ is in you and with you.
God
chose us in Christ, to be holy and blameless in his sight, he rescued us from
the power of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of his beloved son,
through whom our sins our forgiven, so immeasurably generous is God’s favour to
us. (Ephesians 1:3-10)
A
militant is by protocol self-controlled and disciplined. They like athletes
deprive themselves so many things to
keep fit and disposed for battle, therefore be aware that at your weakest point
is when you should be strong, the enemy waits patiently for you at your weakest
points, to some it takes an effortless gesture for them to fall, to others it
takes plans, and trap. Therefore jumping over obstacles, saying no to
Portipher’s wife irrespective of the appeasing and charming sight of her looks
and nakedness, fight naked with the naked. St. Jose-Marie will say, don’t
pretend to be strong, take flight! This takes a lot of discipline and it starts
from little self-denials, fashioning that deprivation into a cross and take
Christ’s lead, following his footsteps. At the garden of gethsemane, he longed
to be freed from tasting the cup of suffering and death, but then he realized
his Father’s will and submitted to it. Don’t think that depriving yourself of
little things don’t count; from looking at that distraction during prayer,
those passing by, who is opening door, who just entered the choir, that
beautiful girl or lady, the free will to do this is at your disposal but then
remember the Father’s will to taste after righteousness, to be faithful and
trust worthy in little things. Let the devil give up trying for he knows you
will never succumb. See it a duty to fast and abstain from sins against purity,
pride, lust, deceit, slander, gossip, rash judgment, etc. consider all these as
rubbish for the sake of knowing Christ.
Avoid
Idleness and too much relaxation
The
successes we have accumulated is a trap to be relaxed, to loose sight of the
fact that a seven more powerful demon is launching attack and many take you
unaware like thieves they are who come only to steal, kill and destroy both at
the nights and days of our spiritual journey. Those empires who lost their
world powers did so because they were not on guard against their enemies, they
did not imagine that a sudden blow would be dealt them, some when their gates
were left aopened and unguarded,
partying, celebrating their peace, and relaxing their weapons of war and
suddenly they fall. Do not be off duty, take it as a responsibility to commit
yourself to God and return as soon as possible to take up the cross, for
calvary is near.
Take
stock and Give thanks
Gratitude
is an overflowing gesture of appreciation and acknowledgement of favours
received. The more grateful I am, the more beauty I see. Gratitude may be the
least of virtues, but ingratitude is the worst of vices, the greatest of which
is sin. As business men in religious life who have taken holiness as a life
form, there is need to be accountable, to this effect, you not only see reasons
to strategize but also to make intentional prayer. As the day draws to a close, make a spare
time for you and your self before God, recollect briefly calling to mind your
failings and strengths, strategize your focus on being better, working on
yourself and giving God as an oblation, your weak heart and poor soul and pray
for help, for from there flows actions and utterances.
Depend
Solely on God
This is one of the traits of trust
and humility. To discover that God is the vine and the rock behind our
structure, our foundation in whom we breathe, move and have our beings. The
psalmist will say in Psalm 73 what else have I in heaven but thee? Apart from
you I want nothing on earth. My body and my heart pines for you, God is my
portion forever.
Be
True to yourself
An
unexamined life is not worth living, a saying attributed to Socrates. It is so
easy to play a saint, to maintain the image outside. The true test of integrity
is maintaining the image when no one is watching. So I ask myself, am I being
authentic, or do I live a double life? Once I am true to myself and full of
humility and acceptance, it is then that change and re-conversion can take
effect.
