It is he who is behind this hatred of the Truth, the Church, Tradition and Revelation.
He is the great blasphemer. He is the great deceiver.
How we withstand the onslaught of evil is the same way soldiers prepare for battle. Discipline and self-knowledge.
In today's psalm, we read this, a plea for purity of heart, steadfastness, which is courage, and the presence of God in our lives.
Read my perfection series, please. Read about purgation and reparation.
Last week, a friend of mine said she was afraid that many, many people will go to hell.
We have to face this fact and pray for those we love and even our enemies to repent.
Even those in the Church are in danger of apostasy.
Mirrors are being held up to us in these times so that we can see ourselves are we really are.
Mirrors in literature symbolize self-knowledge from reflection or deceit, depending on the usage. There is the famous mirror in Snow White, and in Shakespeare's Richard II, which I saw on stage years ago with Jeremy Irons playing the lead, there is reference to a mirror when Richard is no longer king. He has to adjust his view of himself.
Mirrors are in The Picture of Dorian Gray, one of the most frightening of tales, and in Through the Looking Glass,
God is allowing tribulation so that we have to look into the mirror of suffering and see who we really are.
There is a scene in the now old movie of Pride and Prejudice which haunts me, as it is an analogy to our lives of faith.
Elizabeth Bennet has just finished hearing Darcy's proposal and she is staring in the mirror for what seems hours. She is so absorbed in her thoughts, she does not notice Darcy coming in with the letter.
When she reads it, she begins to have to face the reality of her own prejudice, her own pride.
She has to face this new knowledge of herself and her previous uncritical view of her family.
She comes into truth, and when she does that, she is finally open to love. Truth first, then humility, then love....Jane Austen understood this in human relationships, and we have to understand this in our relationship with God.
This is an analogy for us as well. When we face the truth of ourselves, we are finally open to God's love for us.
God sometimes opens up our small worlds, just as Darcy came from a large, bigger world than Longbourn, a small world which Elizabeth has to leave in order to find herself, just as we must leave our petty kingdoms in order to find God and real love.
Now is the time for reflection and the choice to appropriate our adult faith. Now.
A pure heart create for me, O God,
put a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
nor deprive me of your holy spirit.