Word to the Wise
Thursday, October 29, 2020 - Thursday in the 30th Week in Ordinary Time
[Eph 6:10-20 and Luke 13:31-35]Draw your strength from the Lord and from his mighty power. Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the Devil. For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground. So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the Gospel of peace. In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all the flaming arrows of the Evil ONe. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. [Ephesians]
When I was an altar server back in the days before the Second Vatican Council, when the Mass was celebrated in Latin (in the Latin church), at the end of Mass there were some prayers said at the foot of the altar for the "conversion of Russia." One of those prayers has made a reappearance in some parishes around the country. It is the traditional prayer to St. Michael the Archangel, which invokes his assistance in the great battle against Satan, which in those days was "atheistic communism." The Letter to the Ephesians makes it clear that the struggle was going on long before communism and will continue even in our own days. St. Paul's imagery describes the typical Roman soldier!
Living, as I do, in a university environment and ministering to students, faculty and staff, it is easy to see the various "battles" that threaten righteousness and the Gospel of peace. The secular individualism of a consumer society is insidious and can continually erode faith so that politics and "the economy" take the place of faith and higher values. Add to those things such troubles as internet pornography and substance abuse (alcohol, especially) in the lives of students, and one can easily understand the martial imagery. As another example, one might consider how anyone could believe that a virus that is killing thousands of people is a "hoax" and basic efforts like wearing a mask and social distancing are unnecessary nuisances! But the spread of that virus is in large part due to that belief!!! Evil wears many disguises, but the results are always tragic.
If St. Paul's imagery seems a bit too martial to us, we can find other examples to help us understand the enormity of the challenges that face us daily and test our faith. Our best "weapon" is the Gospel of peace and the joy that can come from it if only we make the individual and collective effort to bear witness to it on a day to day basis. This is how Christianity has survived to fight another day every day. AMEN