SPIRITUAL WARFARE 5: It’s about spiritual growth
SPIRITUAL WARFARE 3: Know the battlefield!
Photo by Manuel Sandoval on Unsplash
The story of this battle has been told ever since Adam and Eve’s fall from grace. But creation’s first fall from grace was not with the human order; it was with the angelic order. Satan’s battle for the souls of all mankind began before mankind was created. Having been given by God the foreknowledge of His plan for man’s salvation through Jesus Christ, all angels had a choice: accept or reject God’s plan. This choice was to accept or reject God Himself. And they had a singular moment in which to choose. Those whose pride prevented them from accepting God’s will made the eternal decision to excommunicate themselves from Him. Lucifer, the enlightened one, lost the light of Glory as he and his followers were destined to roam the face of the earth until the end of time.
To lose the light of Glory, the light of God, leaves the creature in total darkness. It is the total absence of love, existing without even memory of it. That decisive moment in which the angels chose to reject God left them eternally consumed in their pride and anger. “Who is like God” St. Michael cried in response. Envy was the chosen disposition of the fallen angels for eternity.
From the time of Adam and Eve, Satan has used his powers to cast a shadow in our soul diminishing God’s light within us. In his jealousy of God, he believes he can overcome God by overcoming us. His sole purpose in this world is to break our relationship with God forever. He does this in any number of ways. He incites protests and riots, genocide and war, disrupting societies. Meanwhile he is busy ‘getting personal’ with God’s children luring them towards attractions that appear good. These can be spiritual and wellness practices, popular ideologies, the normalizing of harmful lifestyles, and the treatment of people as sexual objects. He has watched each of us since our conception and knows our weaknesses. He will use those extensively either to lure with a faux-good or tempt with false rationale to make a harmful choice. The partial good cannot be of God because God cannot be somewhat good. He is good itself, the fullness of good.
(Keep an eye open for our next post from Kick Butt! The Quick Guide to Spiritual Warfare: Frontline Defense Strategies for Everyday Life )
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About the Author
A cradle Catholic, Debra Black received the gift of completing the full 19th annotation of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1998 under individual direction of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She repeated the exercises in 2001 and remained an Associate to the Loreto Sisters through 2009. In 2015 she was missioned through the Lanteri Center for Ignatian Spirituality to provide spiritual direction and lead the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises. She also is a perpetual member of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars and a contributor to SpiritualDirection.com and CatholicMom.com. In addition to over 40 years of professional experience including 33 years of leadership in international higher education, her public service roles have spanned city commissioner, pregnancy clinic board of director, youth and college ministry, public citizen activism, and homeless street ministry. Debra is author of Belonging: An Invitation to Happiness for Millennial Catholics. For spiritual warfare: Kick Butt! The Quick Guide to Spiritual Warfare: Frontline Defense Strategies for Everyday Life; for spiritual growth: The Life Confession: A Discovery of God’s Mercy and Love, and for Advent preparation: Something is different…Advent meditations from the Gospel of Luke.
