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It is the Holy Spirit Who carries the souls of faithful people, when they have died, across the Abyss which separates earth from Heaven. By our intercessions, in the power of Christ, we can help others to remain faithful until death and so to fly across the Abyss, far above Satan's kingdom, to fly swiftly into the glory of Heaven or to rest for a while, as if on a little ledge, hidden below the glory, which represents Purgatory - where souls are purified and made worthy of Heaven.
A soul which has been almost ruined by mortal sin is like a bombed-out church, its interior full of rubble and charred beams. The walls still stand, but there is room enough for the evil one to come in and make that place his own.
People who have chosen to commit mortal sin imagine that they are free; but they have been weakened by Satan. It is if he seizes and moulds them, making them rigid, helpless parts of a great fence around his kingdom of evil. To escape, they need the grace of God and the prayers of the faithful.
Many people who sincerely love Christ and do His Will become the targets of the evil one. If he cannot tempt them to sin, he mocks them for their kindness, or their purity, and makes them endure salacious spiritual assaults of various types; yet all the time, Christ is close to such souls, supporting them in their trials. It's as if each of these faithful persons stands amidst piles of stinking rubbish, but is being held in the arms of Christ.
In God's sight, it is a cause for sadness that some of the Clergy, who have been ordained to preach the truths handed down in the Church, now teach a religion which they have tailored to suit their own ideas and desires. Most of these do not realise that they are being used by the evil one to lead people astray. Priests endanger their own souls, too, when they are proud and disobedient.
While there is admirable catechesis given by certain institutes, groups and movements, there is a version of the Faith being handed on today, in many parishes, which has been distorted by people unknowingly influenced by Satan. It is in his interests to discourage use of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, cast doubt on her moral teachings, poke fun at the Tradition, and traditional devotions - including Jesus' Real Presence. People who accept this version are led dangerously close to the Abyss which separates earth from Heaven.
While there is admirable catechesis given by certain institutes, groups and movements, there is a version of the Faith being handed on today, in many parishes, which has been distorted by people unknowingly influenced by Satan. It is in his interests to discourage use of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, cast doubt on her moral teachings, poke fun at the Tradition, and traditional devotions - including Jesus' Real Presence. People who accept this version are led dangerously close to the Abyss which separates earth from Heaven.
There is a distorted or truncated version of the Catholic Faith which is widely taught today. It is the evil one who wants people to hear that they can disregard the sure teachings of the Church on sexual morality, neglect her devotions, down-play reverence towards the Holy Eucharist, ignore Christ's ever-Virgin Mother, and look upon the Pope as having no authority unless each of his acts delights all of the Bishops.
The Church agrees with the oft-spoken truth, that the family is the 'building-block' of society. God wants to lead people to holiness, in and through His Son, usually in ordinary ways, in families; but Satan is always at work to wreck God's plan by encouraging people to desert the family, or neglect them, or to be rebellious, or to have abortions.
Satan's great desire is to wreck God's plan for family life. Satan reaches out of the depths of Hell - out of the Abyss - to encourage family breakdown, to help spouses to desert one another, to cause children to be rebellious, and women to have abortions, and young adults to neglect their aging parents. He is also undermining the principles of people in Government, to induce them to pass anti-family laws.
God created, in the beginning, a beautiful world, as a beautiful setting for the people He would make. He wanted the families of the earth to flourish, to reproduce, and to find joy in earthly life, in His presence; but human beings rebelled; and Satan is still at work, today, working to draw people away from God.
As surely as terrorists destroy buildings and human lives, Satan destroys families by his malice and his evil influence. Satan acts against the love and joy in family life, working to remove harmony, peace, kindness, faithfulness, forgiveness, sobriety and prayer. Those who attack the family are doing Satan's work; yet God is stronger than an angel, no matter how wicked the angel; and we must count on God's help.
As surely as terrorists destroy buildings and human lives, Satan destroys families by his malice and his evil influence. Satan acts against the love and joy in family life, working to remove harmony, peace, kindness, faithfulness, forgiveness, sobriety and prayer. Those who attack the family are doing Satan's work; yet God is stronger than an angel, no matter how wicked the angel; and we must count on God's help.
Satan is at work, offering temptations and lies to the followers of Christ. Like the secret police of harshly-ruled countries, he persuades a person to agree to a minor act of betrayal, and then makes further demands until the person is trapped and must keep proving his loyalty to his new masters. Even some of the Clergy fall in with Satan's suggestions; by keeping silent on the subject of sin, they are half-way to contradicting Christ and His teachings.
Satan is not a figment of our imagination, but a malevolent creature who emerges from the Abyss to cause priests as well as lay persons to commit some small act of rebellion. Then he leads them on to greater betrayals of Christ and His Church, as when priests contradict the truth about sexual morality, or confirm people in their sins rather than inviting them to repent of sin.
No matter how Satan is portrayed in art, through the ages, nor how silly some of the depictions seem to be, the truth is that he is a very dangerous fallen angel, far more intelligent than most human beings, and determined, by any means, to draw us away from God. Yet God is stronger, and we must trust in Him, His Son, and His Holy Spirit.
It is only too easy for weak human beings to put themselves under Satan's influence, first, by some little sins which then lead to serious sins. He becomes their chief guide, and leader, instead of Christ. The only way of escape is through complete repentance of all sin, and then adherence to God and His laws. People in trouble deserve to hear this.
In giving us hundreds of beautiful, joyful, spiritual images, Christ wants us to know that He leads us by love, not by threats of punishment; yet for a full catechesis (as shown in the recent few dozen paintings of the Radiant Light series) there must also be serious mention of death, Hell and Satan, to show the Eternal consequences of unrepented grave sin and the loss of God, in ways people can understand.
The evil one is at work, to plant weeds on our path: to spoil our hopes and plans by his malicious acts and deceits, all in order to make us lose trust in God, or to grow fearful. But God is powerful, like a gardener who, with one movement of His foot can crush the poisonous weeds and then clear the pathway.
Satan cannot bear to see Christ's faithful people happy and hopeful. When he cannot cause faithful people to break God's laws he stirs up discontent, or bouts of jealousy or anger, resentment and injured pride, to destroy the peace which is Christ's gift to His friends.
Showing 61 - 80 of 108