As I normally do, I arose early for some quiet time praying and reading this morning. I read the daily mass readings and meditated on those for some time. After that, I moved on to Morning Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours.
While meditating on what I had just read I looked out my window on the rolling hills of Southeastern Ohio. A soft light washed the hills as the sun had not yet come up over the Eastern horizon. Birds were singing and rabbits nibbled on grass in the cool of the morning. The shape of a large animal sitting in the yard caught my eye. At first I thought it was a whitetail deer sitting on its haunches looking up at me. I soon realized that the animal I was locking eyes with was an enormous lion.
My heart froze and I couldn't breath as the animal stared at me and I at it. My first thought was concern for my family. I jumped up and ran down the hall toward the bedroom where my sons sleep on their bunk beds. I again froze in the doorway. There in the middle of the bedroom was the lion with his back to me watching my sons sleep. I quietly backed away and ran downstairs to check on my wife. She was still sound asleep with our youngest boy snuggled up beside her and our daughter sound asleep in her crib. I screamed without even thinking when I saw the lion resting quietly on my side of the bed hungrily watching them all.
The nightmare ended but the reality set in.
"Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8
Peter's description of the devil should scare the hell out of anyone (pun intended). Satan is described as actively looking for victims. He doesn't want to scare them, gnaw on them, or make them turn toward God. He wants to devour them. He wants to devour and destroy my family and our souls. He doesn't sleep. He is no respecter of persons. He pulls no punches and he'll take no prisoners. He is purposefully seeking to destroy me and those I love.
This is not fanciful imagery. The evidence surrounds us. How did he get into my yard? I have neglected my prayer life and have neglected to call upon the saints and angels to protect us. How did he get into my sons' bedroom? He has led me to believe that I'm more useful making money than rearing my children. How did get into my bedroom? He has made me question the Church's (God's) teachings on marriage and sexuality. (see Genesis - Did God really say that?).
If you need incentive to get back to a prayer life, the sacraments, family time, or just putting God and family first, imagine that lion at the door or in the house. Actually, don't imagine it, see it, it's happening now.
As I've
mentioned elsewhere, Satan doesn't just one day magically appear in your living room. He uses a methodical process. In fact, if he has a weakness, that is it; he is methodical, his tactics do not change, they never have. With the help of grace, instruction from great saints, and frequent recourse to the Sacraments, we can learn to spot his tactics from afar and stop them early on. His tactics have been the same since the beginning, they make take on different shapes and forms but the tactics are always the same:
The Devil's War Book and Tactics:
- Disrupt Communication - In the beginning, before the fall, man walked and talked with God. Sin created a sort of static in the communication line. God hears all that we say but we cannot always hear him clearly. It takes work to really listen, ask Him to repeat, confirm. Personal sin further disrupts the communication, often causing us to stop reaching out to Him altogether! Here the mere disruption becomes a rupture as though we have switched off our walkie-talkie. Yet God continues to try to reach us at every moment. He never gives up! (Meditate on Matthew 6:6 for assistance against this tactic)
- Instill Doubt - Once communication is disrupted, Satan works to instill doubt about our nature, God's nature, His goodness, and His love for us. In the Garden he disrupted communication by getting Adam and Eve to engage in conversation with him when the appropriate response would have been "Get behind me Satan" (Matt 16:23). Once communication was disrupted, he instilled doubt. He made them, and continues this tactic with us, doubt God's love. He makes us believe that God is holding back from us, "Did God say, "You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?"" It was a subtle lie mixed with truth but it was enough to instill doubt. (Meditate on Psalm 37:4-7 for assistance against this tactic)
- Offer Distractions - "So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and this it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate..." This tactic takes our eyes off of the giver and places them solely on the gift. Satan shows us the good, delight, wisdom to be found in things thus distracting us from the One who gave us those things. This initial distraction can often result in total blindness, seeing only the thing desired, making it a type of god. Entertainment, money, food, sex, power, drugs, and things can all be good, delightful, and wisdom giving but ultimately they too often become distractions from the truly good, delightful, and wise: God. (Meditate on Romans 12:2 for assistance against this tactic)
- Distort Suffering - While suffering, when clearly seen, is another way for God to try and get our attention, a way for Him to re-establish communication, Satan often twists this outreach into a form of doubt. He whispers, "If God really loved you, He would be trying to help you, to reach out to you, to embrace you. But look, He is causing you to suffer instead. Obviously, a loving God would not do this to you." If we continue to believe this lie, this form of communication from the Lord can be used as a weapon against us and God. (Meditate on Matthew 27:42-43 for assistance against this tactic)
In my own life, I often find my confession times following this pattern: I neglected my prayer life, I doubted God's love for me, I distracted myself with the things of this world, these distractions caused me great suffering which I blamed on God... However, through His grace, my eyes were opened to these tactics and ultimately it was the extreme suffering that pushed me back into His arms through the Sacrament of Confession.
Finally, know this, yes St. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5:8 "Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." Yet in verse 9 and 10 we see that we are not alone, there is hope, and God will is on our side - Resist him, steadfast in faith, knowing that your fellow believers throughout the world undergo the same sufferings. The God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory through Christ will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you after you have suffered a little. This is great news indeed and a great assurance that, with God's help, we can tame this roaring lion!!
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