Raising Hell - Part Dos :)

Aaaaand we're back, playing the aforementioned "saints" card. 

Let’s start with a notorious demon-crusher, St. John Vianney.

“Whom does the devil pursue most? 

Perhaps you are thinking that it must be those who are tempted most…

the immodest and shameless people who wallow in moral filth…

No, my dear brethren, no, it is not these people…

So, you will ask me, who then are the people most tempted?

They are these, my friends; note them carefully.

The people most tempted are those who are ready,

with the grace of God, to sacrifice everything for the salvation of their poor souls,

who renounce all those things which most people eagerly seek.”

He goes on with another nice bit:

“The devil only tempts those souls that wish to abandon sin and those that are in a state of grace. The others belong to him; he has no need to tempt them…The greatest of all evils is not to be tempted, because there are then grounds for believing that the devil looks upon us as his property.”

Ouch.

A few more, because I am still very much in a redheaded mood and these two gentlemen are definitely my style:

“The strategy of our adversary can be compared to the tactics of a commander intent upon seizing and plundering a position he desires.  The leader of an army will encamp, explore the fortifications and defenses of the fortress, and attack at the weakest point…After you have made a decision that is pleasing to God, the devil may try to make you have second thoughts.  Intensify your prayer time, meditation, and good deeds.  
For if satan’s temptations merely cause you to increase your efforts to grow in holiness, 
he’ll have an incentive to leave you alone.”

-       St. Ignatius of Loyola

“In the face of such strong attacks by the enemies of the Church of God, are we to remain inactive?  Is that all we can do, complain and cry?  NO!  Every one of us has a holy obligation to build a trench and personally hurl back the assaults of the enemy.”

-       St. Maximilian Kolbe

Basically awesome, right?

Now, while we should understand what we’re dealing with, we should be cautious to avoid dwelling unnecessarily on it. Don’t give Hell too much credit, that’s what the saints are good for.

To check in with one of my fellow redheads, St. Faustina recounts in her diary, “At about 11:00 o’clock, satan shook my bed.  I awoke instantly, and I started to pray peacefully to my guardian angel.”

Peacefully...with Satan shaking her bed. Oh, girl.

From St. John Bosco, very amazin’ man: “When tempted, invoke your Angel. He is more eager to help you than you are to be helped! Ignore the devil and do not be afraid of him: He trembles and flees at the sight of your Guardian Angel.”

And of course we must include St. Teresa of Avila, because that woman is a hoot: “From long experience I have learned that there is nothing like holy water to put devils to flight and prevent them from coming back again. They also flee from the Cross, but return; so holy water must have great virtue.”

On a more serious note, friends, the second chapter of Sirach kicks off by reminding our often-impatient hearts, “When you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trials.”

But that chapter ends with words of hope, “For equal to His majesty is His mercy; and equal to His name are His works.”

If you need some encouragement, that whole chapter of Sirach is for you. It’s for me. And so are these words from Servant of God Solanus Casey:

“In my opinion, there is hardly anything else that the enemy of our soul dreads more than confidence, humble confidence in God.  Confidence in God is the very soul of prayer.”

Let's also keep in mind that today is a most glorious feast day, the Triumph of the Holy Cross. 

If you've got a Magnificat, you'll see a marvelous little quote in the italics right before Mass:

"We exalt Christ's Cross whenever we freely take it up, filled with the certainty that the ultimate meaning and fulfillment which we crave in life comes to us through this unending event. 'With the cross we are freed from the restraint of the enemy and we clutch on to the strength of salvation.'"

Ready to go raise a little hell yet?

Raising Hell - Part One

Recently I mentioned a need for security at a work event, and the person with whom I was speaking asked jokingly: “What kind of hell have you kids been raising over there?”

That got me thinking.

I was flipping through the book of Job the other day (long story) and my eye was caught by the very beginning, when the scene is being set, and Scripture has the devil telling God he’s been “roaming and patrolling the earth.” Then we get going with all that bad-news-for-Job stuff, and there’s a lot of downhill before God pulls everything way back up. The point is, during his “patrolling,” the devil noticed Job, and claims Job is only so good because God has him in some sort of devil-free bubble zone. Give me a shot at him, the devil brags, and we’ll see if Job likes You so much then.

A priest I know once referred to trust as “the seal of the children of God.” And trust, I hear, doesn’t really have a chance to happen until there’s an occasion for it to be tested. C.S. Lewis explains this by saying "[God] wants us to learn to walk, and so He must take away His hand." In other words: God gives Job a chance to grow in trust because He loves him. Everything else was stripped away so that Job could stand face to face with God and say, “I’m all that I have I left, and I’m still yours.” God allowed tragedy in Job’s life in order to allow Job the real freedom to choose God. To choose God for God Himself and not for His gifts, and regardless of what was happening around and to Job. 

But before that moment of understanding, as far as Job was concerned, all Hell had broken loose.

Now, I had some thoughts on this, and could definitely feel a blog post coming on, but decided to do a little research before I got too carried away.

Ya’ll, do not go reading saints if you’re mad at the devil and trying to calm down.

Because see, I am mad. I’ve been watching several of my friends deal with some tough issues: struggling with discouragement, facing personal disappointments, working through deep hurt, and searching for hope that seems tough to find. I’ve even been dealing with some of that myself.

And then it struck me: could it be, we’ve just been raising a little Hell?

Let me explain the thought process. I read part of Dante’s Inferno in college (back in the day), and one part in particular has really stuck in my head over the past several years. Dante describes broken, fallen bridges, ruins of the structures of Hell.

The explanation given for the ruins is the “Harrowing of Hell.” 

The Catechism explains this idea of Hell being harrowed by stating, “In His human soul united to His divine person, the dead Christ went down to the realm of the dead. He opened Heaven's gates for the just who had gone before Him.”

Google the definition of “harrow” and you’ll get a fascinating selection. Sort through the entries about various farming tools, and the relevant items seem to be “to inflict great distress or torment” and “to plunder and sack.”

Is anybody else grinning yet?

So, Christ’s Passion and Death caused great distress and torment in Hell. He sacked Limbo by freeing the souls of the just to see the face of God for eternity.

Christ’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection = bad news for Hell.

And, friends, if we’re called to follow Christ…

At this point I will play my "saints" card and allow them to explain better. 

To Be Continued...

Sirach Friends

“Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter; whoever finds one finds a treasure.

Faithful friends are beyond price, no amount can balance their worth.

Faithful friends are life-saving medicine; those who fear God will find them.”

-       Sirach 6:14-16

  

Beautiful women are one of God’s absolutely most amazing gifts to humankind.

If you know one, you know what I mean. If you know one, you understand that I’m not talking about only physical beauty, I’m talking about soul-beauty. Some saints have remarked that we should be like “panes of glass,” windows letting the light of Christ shine into a dark world as clearly as possible.

I actually have been blessed to know several of these women. This particular post is inspired by one of them, a truly lovely woman who “window-panes” really well.

I spent last weekend with her, and as I left I had an unfortunate sinking feeling accompanied by the thought: “Oh, crap, now I have to go back to working hard at being holy.”

She makes it SO easy to focus on God, to live in joy, to rest in trust…I felt like her love was holding me close to Christ every moment I spent with her.

But, as it turned out, her prayers and the gentle words of encouragement she shared with me remained, a warm layer of protection around my lately-fragile heart.

Imagine a rower who gets in the boat, understands what is necessary to move the boat, but refuses to exert the necessary effort to row or even to pick up the oars. Then the rower starts to get frustrated about not moving.

Deep down I knew I’d been clinging to distractions because they were less work than what I was actually supposed to be doing. Deep down I knew, to get anywhere, I had to quit wallowing and start rowing.

But all the pep talks I was trying to give myself weren’t working so well. Several times I explained to myself: “Listen, kid – you’re supposed to be working on T-R-U-S-T.”

The main effect of these little self-lectures was the inclination to throw a fit and scream: “Well, WHY? Didn’t we already work on that? What’s even the point? I realize I’m supposed to wait on God and all, but how long will be long enough? Why should I even bother to budge if I don’t even know where we’re going?”

I’m kind of hoping you can relate to this.

Otherwise that just makes me a spiritual brat, huh?

Anyway.

So, there I was, stuck on the shore, hesitating to answer St. Josemaria’s cry to “throw aside the pessimism that paralyzes you, launch out into the deep!”

Then, God in His goodness shipped me off to a weekend with this beautiful friend, and gave her words which poured themselves like a healing balm into the ache that had frozen me. She reminded me of how God uses His children to reveal Himself to the world. If the world acts in defiance of some particular trait of God, He will raise up saints who particularly model that trait as a witness to the world.

And what is the world more fixated on than the satisfaction of self? And in this fixation, what does our world forget more than the enduring faithfulness of God, His desire to provide all things in His perfect timing for His beloved children?

So, what if God wanted me to fall so deeply into a relationship of trust with Him, that I would start rowing diligently toward the One Whom Chesterton rightly calls “the blazing Sun of our mortal midnight” … without hesitating to ask how long it would take to reach Him?

What if, like Simon Peter, I wanted just to be with Him, and leapt forward without pausing to demand how such a thing might be possible?

What if I chose to focus on the fact that the wait was meant to perfect my desires, not to stifle them?

What if I fell at the feet of the Divine Lover and begged, “I believe, Lord. Help my unbelief.”

This is the answer, the truth that needs to sink into our hearts:

“Blessed are those who trust in the LORD;

the LORD will be their trust.

They are like a tree planted beside the waters

that stretches out its roots to the stream:

It does not fear heat when it comes,

its leaves stay green;

In the year of drought it shows no distress,

but still produces fruit.”

- Jeremiah 17:7-8