St. Mark, pray for us, help us to understand the Scriptures!
“Clothe yourselves with humility in your dealings with one another, for:
‘God opposes the proud but bestows favor on the humble.’
So humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. Cast all your worries upon Him because He cares for you.”
Do you worry? Are you full of pride? Me too. I’m a worry wart. I have a lot of anxiety over the silliest of things. I am very prideful. I want my way and my way is the right way. These things keep us from allowing God’s grace to transform us. A simple application to combat this is to pray when you are being selfish or worrying (over 60 verses in Scripture tell us to ‘Be not afraid’ and stop worrying). Second, do one act of humility each day. I always say the Our Father prayer and at the part ‘thy kingdom come thy will be done’ I say to God “I submit my will to you, give me the courage to follow it.” Submit to God, His will is the commandments and beatitudes. You will see the fruits of the Spirit when you are doing God’s will: peace, love, faithfulness, kindness, generosity, joy, etc. St. Paul says there is no law against these things.
This leads me to the second half of Peter’s letter today which is the hardest to fight, the Devil, the most cunning and deceitful of all. “Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent, the Devil, is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in faith, knowing your brothers and sisters throughout the world undergo the same sufferings. The God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory through Christ Jesus will himself restore, confirm, strengthen and establish you after you have suffered a little. To Him be dominion forever. Amen.”
The Devil is always looking for prey. We must be humble and stay in God’s grace. This will require suffering, but Peter reminds us our Chritian brothers and sisters are suffering with us. We must also be reminded that the worst life of suffering on earth looks like a little cold in heaven. For heaven is such a wonderful place. The Devil hates humility because it is the opposite of him. He wants to be God and he hates that he can’t be, thus he is living in hell. Stay humble, receive the Eucharist and go to confession often to stay in a state of grace, pray unceasingly, and fight like you are battling a fallen angel, because you are. Then, we will walk hand in hand together and God will “restore, confirm, and strengthen us” for the battle and prepare us for the greatest joy, a perfect life with Him in heaven. Amen.
Become a saint !
Christian YOLO
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