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Theo Tigno•
1/5/2006 12:34 pm
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Thursday, January 5th 2005 |
1 Jn 3:11-21
Beloved: This is the message you have heard from the beginning: we should love one another, unlike Cain who belonged to the Evil One and slaughtered his brother. Why did he slaughter him? Because his own works were evil, and those of his brother righteous. Do not be amazed, then, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. Whoever does not love remains in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him. The way we came to know love was that he laid down his life for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If someone who has worldly means sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion, how can the love of God remain in him? Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.
Now this is how we shall know that we belong to the truth and reassure our hearts before him in whatever our hearts condemn, for God is greater than our hearts and knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence in God.
Dawg's thought:
Today's prayer intention is for the repose of the souls of the coal miners who lost their lives, and for comfort for their families.
Today's reading reminded me of an article I read last night from Fr. John Hardon on "Prayer and Chastity". Here is a brief quote from the article:
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There are especially two principles to remember in dealing with the devil. The devil is a consummate liar and for all his cunning and deceit, he is never allowed to tempt us beyond our strength.
Suppose we look at each of these two principles separately and see them in the context of prayer. The devil is a liar by his fallen demonic nature. He tries to deceive us by presenting what is really evil as though it were something good. He tries to hide his malicious designs behind a mask of piety.
On this level, to cope with the devil we need light that we do not naturally possess. We are not naturally smart enough to out-smart the evil one. We must therefore pray for light to recognize the devil.
But good people must also be humble people. Proud persons are no match for the devil. The best remedy for pride is the practice of humble prayer, although I would add, besides praying in general, pray in particular. Our prayer is already an act of humility which earns graces from God. What we should ask of Him is the light to know beforehand what persons, places, reading, entertainment, even what conversation can be used by the devil to lead us into sin.
Our second principle in dealing with the evil spirit is the fact that he is never allowed to tempt us beyond our strength. What exactly does this mean? It means that we always have enough grace to overcome the devil; if I stopped here I would not be telling you the truth. We touched on this before, but let me be even more clear. Is it true that we always have enough grace to overcome the devil, period? Absolutely not! We always have enough grace to overcome the demon of unchastity, provided we have prayed.
I cannot too strongly emphasize that when God permits the devil to tempt us, this does not mean that necessarily we already have enough light to recognize the demon or enough strength to resist him. We cannot bank on grace already had. We must, pray for additional light and more strength to identify and resist the evil one when he assaults us.
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You can read the rest of the article:
http://www.therealpresence.org/archives/Chastity/Chastity_006.htm
Take care and God Bless.
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