THIS refers to
the devil, actually the smartest of all
conspirators. A pure spirit, he has the great advantage
of knowing
things instantaneously and can have the power to organize
and
orchestrate things according to his evil purposes. He can
do this so
well that we may not even realize he is behind all the
mess. In fact,
he is most happy when we tend to ignore him.
Just the same,
he actually cannot move without at least
the knowledge or the tolerance of God. And so we should
not be too
alarmed. But we have to be prepared to deal with this
phenomenon.
If God allows
the devil to trick on us, it is because a
greater good can be derived from it. We need to be aware
of this truth
of our faith to avoid reacting improperly when victimized
by the
devil.
Besides, God
always gives the person targeted in the
devil’s games the appropriate grace to handle the trials.
As St. Paul
would put it, “God will not let you be tempted beyond
what you can
bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a
way out so that
you can endure it.” (1 Cor 10,13)
In this regard,
it is good to review the story of Job
(1,1-22) so that we would know the real reason why God
allows us to be
tempted and to suffer evil in spite of our effort to be
faithful to
God. It can only show that God has confidence in us, that
he does not
allow us to suffer more than what we can bear, that he
simply wants to
test us and to strengthen and mature us, etc.
It can also
happen that God allows us to be tempted by the
devil and thus experience some suffering, as a way to pay
and atone
for our sins. It can also be that God wants to point to
us the area in
our spiritual life where we are still weak and therefore
needs
developing.
Let’s remember
that nothing happens in our life without a
reason. God allows temptations and the consequences of
sin to come to
us for a good reason. We just have to react properly to
these
predicaments and avoid reacting in a purely human way
that would miss
the real significance of these temptations and the
sufferings they
bring.
In any event,
we should remember that temptations are no
obstacles in our relation with God. They can and should
serve as a
stimulus to get closer to God. It’s when we are tempted
that we need
God the most.
But we should
not forget the continuing evil designs of
the devil on us. The moment a bad thought enters our
mind, we should
reject it immediately, not giving it a second to
entertain it. The bad
thought should immediately make us run to God. This would
not be a
sign of cowardice, but rather of the most basic
expression of common
sense and prudence.
With the devil
we should not give even the smallest of
opening. We already have been amply warned that he can
easily outsmart
us because of his superior intelligence that
unfortunately is used for
evil instead of for good.
He usually
attacks on our weakest moments—when we are
tired, about to go to bed, or when we are burdened with
so many
concerns and are losing our grip on God. It is in these
moments when
we have to intensify our prayers and our awareness of the
communion of
saints which connect us with all the saints and angels in
heaven and
on earth. We are actually well protected, in spite of our
weaknesses.
In the end, we
should never be afraid. We should not allow
our ship of faith, hope and charity sink!
No comments:
Post a Comment