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Christ looks on with joy as a man who was once involved in violent and criminal activities now travels widely, speaking to young people about 'life in Christ', and working to lead them onto the right path, and away from all that is evil.
Christ looks on with joy as a man who was once involved in violent and criminal activities now travels widely, speaking to young people about 'life in Christ', and working to lead them onto the right path, and away from all that is evil.
No-one should despair about the evils of our age. In every age - as in ancient Rome and Nazi Germany - there have been great temptations to do wrong. Yet there is good too in every age - including our own; when, for example, good things as well as evil are sent right round the world on the internet. People far away hear about Christ.
We are right to do penance for our sins, especially in the season of Lent. But if we fail in our efforts, we must not become despondent. Our Divine Saviour, Who can forgive the most evil acts of a repentant sinner can certainly forgive us, if by carelessness or greed we act to indulge ourselves in little ways.
If we pray in the name of Christ, with faith in Him and in the power of His Spirit, we can be sure of holding 'outside' our souls those thoughts, temptations, demons and fears which sometimes attack us. With Christ, we are safe from them, as if behind castle walls - no matter how terrible the 'noise' of the warfare being waged by our spiritual enemies.
If we pray in the name of Christ, with faith in Him and in the power of His Spirit, we can be sure of holding 'outside' our souls those thoughts, temptations, demons and fears which sometimes attack us. With Christ, we are safe from them, as if behind castle walls - no matter how terrible the 'noise' of the warfare being waged by our spiritual enemies.
If we pray in the name of Christ, with faith in Him and in the power of His Spirit, we can be sure of holding 'outside' our souls those thoughts, temptations, demons and fears which sometimes attack us. With Christ, we are safe from them, as if behind castle walls - no matter how terrible the 'noise' of the warfare being waged by our spiritual enemies.
Two people can look at the same scene, and one feels horror - knowing a murderer is prowling around, while the other sees only the breeze blowing in the curtains - as the sun shines down. So it was, on earth, for Christ in His life-time here. There was much beauty in the world, but He came across many damaged souls, and knew that Satan was always prowling around, doing evil.
Satan, reigning in the centre of Hell, looks upwards as if through a glass ceiling to where people who have given their lives to him on earth are busy corrupting children, or fortune-telling, or busy with superstition of different sorts. They have not yet realised what horrors await them if they serve the evil one until death.
Someone who has been powerful in earthly life, yet cruel to the people in his care, finds, after death - if he has not repented - that he is in the power of the evil one, in Hell, experiencing the powerlessness once felt by people in his charge.
By the powerful prayer we offer in the name of Jesus Christ, we can - by His grace - help to remove evil influences from the souls of people trapped in sin. Demons flee at the sound of Jesus's name, and peace is restored to the heart, soul and mind, with a renewal of innocence and trust.
When God allows us to endure suffering, we must remember that He can bring good out of every evil, including sickness. We please Him if we refrain from complaining when things are painful or inconvenient. By patience we respect the Father's Will and imitate Christ in His obedience.
Christ said to me: 'Beware the Serpent'. He was referring to the evil one who likes to disturb my evening prayers in one disguise or another but who is put to flight by Holy Water and by prayer to the Holy Trinity.
There are some acts which are intrinsically wrong. Even if people act from ignorance, and are less blameworthy in God's sight, He does not want anyone (especially priests) to encourage people in such acts, but to invite them to abandon such behaviour, to pursue holiness. It is never right to use contraceptives, to attempt a re-marriage which is adulterous, or to have a forbidden sexual relationship such as incest.
There are a thousand ways in which the enemies of Christ try to draw us away from prayer, or from His service. Horrible images can be driven away by the use of Holy water and prayer, and the sign of the cross.
When a 'child of God' offers in conversation not words of charity or compassion, but malicious gossip or salacious comments, that soul is like a holy shrine from which now emerges no spring, no living water of grace, but from which oozes drops of evil-smelling puss. Such a serious infection needs powerful help.
Some people discuss the Catholic Faith as if it were a light matter: a question of joining a happy group just for company and reassurance. They do not realise that the Faith is about truth and goodness. There is a battle raging in the world - though many people are still blind to it - it is a war between good and evil.
Many people today are oblivious to the spiritual warfare which is taking place today. Like two women in a café, chatting as horsemen charge past them, in battle array, many people are blind to the war between good and evil.
As God the Father looks down upon the whole world, He sees that only a few of His children today have guarded the Kingdom of their souls. Many have let in the smoke and stench of worldly influences, and even Satan himself, the enemy.
How many souls have guarded the walls of God's kingdom within their souls? How many have not only let in the smoke and stench of worldly attitudes but even the enemy himself, the evil one, who now sits enthroned in that soul, gleefully surveying each unholy life and its activities? Very many have done so.
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