+ With outright war in the Middle East seeming inevitable and domestic politics here in France and in many other Western countries descending ever more into fractious partisanship with the long-term risks that involves, and with the ongoing obfuscation of the Truth of Christ amidst the pursuit of processes wedded to ungodly ideologies that we are witnessing in the higher echelons of the Church, and the scandal and confusion that sews—as well as our own sins and the evil they bring about, let alone those of others—there is more than enough around us (or even at times, within us) that is destructive and malicious. We feel powerless—even in respect of ourselves at times. What can we do to survive, let alone to contribute to the fight for the defeat of the malevolence that seems increasingly to gain the upper hand in our times?
St Paul did not live at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The problems of his Churches were decidedly different to ours. But God the Holy Spirit knew what He was doing in inspiring Saint Paul to write to the Churches he had founded. And indeed, God the Holy Spirit knew that through the Sacred Liturgy of the Church we, some two millennia later, would hear His voice anew speaking to us in our plight, as we do in the Epistle of this Holy Mass. For whilst our problems are quite different to the Ephesians to whom St Paul wrote, the answer to them is the same. For this morning, Almighty God speaks to each of us, insisting: “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” In one sense these are not very comforting words. They do not assure us that everything will be nice and lovely and warm and sweet (as do so many contemporary homilists). No: they warn us that we have supernatural forces of evil warring against us, in league with worldly powers. To this we may even add the astonishing 1972 assertion of Saint Paul VI: “The smoke of Satan has made its way into the temple of God..." For there are great dangers present in the Church of our day, just as there are in the world. Yet, as disturbing and as perilous for the salvation of souls that these realities are, through the words of St Paul God the Holy Spirit speaks to us about them this morning not so as to drive us to despair, but in order to instruct us in how to confront them. “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armour of God,” we are told. “Take the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand,” He insists. “[gird] your loins with truth, and…put on the breastplate of righteousness,” He instructs us. Clothe “your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace…[take] the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,” He instructs us. It is somewhat unfashionable to say this, but we are at war—be that within ourselves in respect of our passions, vices and sins, be that in respect of the attacks of the world so subtly disguised in all of its works and all of its empty promises, or indeed be that in regards to the temptation of the Church to conform herself and her teachings to the world and leave behind the ‘hard sayings’ that are integral to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Fidelity to Jesus Christ and to the teaching of the One True Church He founded does not offer us an armchair ride to heaven. Christian life is very often not a nice scenic tour. Rather, it requires of us that determined gritty daily perseverance in battle against all that is (or who are) against us that is the stuff of true sanctity. The saints did not have an easy ride through this life—far from it! The great St Teresa of Avila whom we celebrate on Tuesday (whose relics we shall have the privilege of venerating) having fallen down into the mud during a rainstorm once rebuked Almighty God: “If this is how You treat Your friends, no wonder why You have so few of them!” In spite of all that befell them, the saints persevered unto the end and were victorious; they are saved (cf. Mt 24:13)—as shall we be if we too persevere through our present tribulations unto to the very end. But how, we ask rightly enough amidst the battle that so often we seem to be losing? “Put on the whole armour of God,” Almighty God responds! How? By prostrating ourselves at the foot of the cross and allowing the definitive Saviour of all mankind to raise us up by the grace and merits of His self-offering to the Father—by allowing Him to wash away our sins through Baptism (and through regular Confession whenever necessary); by strengthening us with the Holy Spirit in Confirmation; by nourishing us with His own Body and Blood in Holy Communion. Thus armed we can stand against the wiles of the world, the flesh and the devil! As we approach the altar to assist anew at the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, let us beg the armour that we so need. We cannot be victorious alone. But participation in the victory Christ has already won—a victory that this world neither knows nor understands—is ours for the asking! + Comments are closed.
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