Salve, Regina, Mater Misericordiae.
Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for war.
In today's Gospel, our Lord prepares us for the battle of our lives.
He is opposed by Herod, who wants to kill him.
He's opposed by even his own people, who stoned the prophets.
And yet he will not back down from his objective,
which is to make it to Jerusalem,
and there to enter into direct conflict with Satan and his minions,
and overthrow the kingdom of darkness.
And along his way, he says,
I behold, I cast out demons and perform healings today and tomorrow,
and on the third day I accomplish my purpose.
So on his way to Jerusalem,
the demons run away in fear as he casts them out of those,
and he is
in the midst of the world,
and on the third day, rising from the dead into new life,
and bestowing that new life on all of us,
so that we might have the power to overcome in this war in which we find ourselves.
Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for battle,
Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for battle and my fingers for war.
St. Paul talks about this battle, this war for our salvation
in his letter to the Ephesians, which we read as the first reading today.
And he reminds us that our struggle is not with flesh and blood,
but with the principalities, the powers,
the world of the rulers of this present darkness,
with the evil spirits in the heavens.
Those are our true enemies, and this war is over our salvation,
our ultimate destiny to heaven is threatened,
and threatened ultimately by the eternal loss of our souls in hell.
And so our Lord and St. Paul are trying to prepare us
for the war in which we find ourselves.
That preparation is one.
Which is primarily defensive, because our enemies are not flesh and blood,
but are spiritual and are the rulers of this present darkness
and the evil spirits in the heavens.
So what he talks to us mostly about is a defensive war.
He talks about the armor of God and our loins being girded
and our having the breastplate of righteousness,
and the shield of faith to resist the evil one,
and the flying arrows, his flying arrows, the helmet of salvation.
Most of it is a defensive war, because it's a matter of remaining faithful to God,
obedient to him, and loving him with our whole heart.
And our enemies are smarter than us.
Satan and his angels are incomparably better than us.
Satan and his angels are incomparably better than us.
Satan and his angels are incomparably more intelligent than we are.
And they set snares up for us wherever we go.
If it's not the world or the direct assaults of the devil,
it's our own flesh.
We have rebellion within our own hearts because we are weak,
because of original sin.
And so while our Lord on his way to Jerusalem
was directly confronting the evil spirits and throwing them out,
that is not directly our role.
Even...
Priests who have the power to exercise
don't ordinarily exercise that power
unless they are mandated by a bishop to do so,
because direct conflict with Satan is a very dangerous thing.
In particular, where we are most weak,
we are counseled by the saints and by the holy doctors to fly,
namely in regard to temptations against our faith to believe
what it is that God has told us,
what God has taught us.
And in regard to holy purity,
in regard to our chastity,
we are counseled by all of the saints
to avoid completely the deliberate occasions of sin.
So if our faith is tempted
and we're reading a lot of books that are contrary to the faith
or reading books of people who don't believe,
if we're saturating ourselves with godless TV,
and we find ourselves weak in our beliefs,
then we need to fly those occasions.
We need to fly the occasions that lead us away from the truth,
from believing wholeheartedly and without reservation
what Christ and his church has revealed to us.
Likewise, with respect to chastity,
everyone knows that we are weak,
and saints tell us,
he who loves danger will perish in it.
And so to remain pure,
to be pure,
chaste and modest,
we must fly the occasions of sin.
And they, of course, are everywhere.
We can't always escape temptation,
but we can protect ourselves defensively
through prayer and penance,
through this deliberate effort to protect ourselves
from the occasions of sin through prayer,
penance,
and a sacramental prayer.
And so we need to do that.
We need to do that in our sacramental life.
There is the sword of the spirit.
That is our offensive weapon in this war.
And that means that we need to spread the faith,
that we need to proclaim the truth in the world in which we live.
The word of God has power.
But if you notice,
our Lord is primarily talking about,
first of all,
a defensive war.
Even in the gospel today,
he talks about gathering,
gathering Jerusalem under his wings as a hen would gather her chicks under her wings.
And it's a matter of defending ourselves against an enemy that is far stronger than we are.
And those are our real enemies,
the evil spirits,
the devil and his minions are our real enemies.
Even our enemies in this world,
even the enemies of the church,
those who are furthest away from the faith are those who want to destroy the church or destroy family life or or destroy our country,
are not in the end our ultimate enemies.
In fact,
God wants us to make them his friends.
He wants us to love those who persecute us,
to love those who do evil against us as he loved not only the good but the bad and bestowed his providence on both.
And died on the cross for both because in the end none of us are God's friends without his grace.
And he died for each and every one of us.
And so as we defend ourselves against Satan and his war for our souls and at the same time protect ourselves against temptations,
against against chastity and and against the faith and and you know,
put a put a shield,
put a shield and a barrier around us so that we are not drawn into the ways of the of the world.
We do have to remember that in Christ and as his followers,
we are called as we strive and and and and insist upon living a life of faith ourselves and protecting ourselves.
We must also work for the conversion and sanctification of souls and love even our enemies in this world and do good for the,
to those who persecute us.
And in that way we are living like Christ.
We are following his path to Jerusalem and we are living under his protection.
He who is our mercy and our fortress,
our stronghold and our deliverer,
our shield in whom we trust,
who subdues people under us.
Those who are our enemies in this world are not truly our enemies.
In the end,
but ones that Christ has poured out his blood in order to redeem.
But we do have enemies in this world.
We have Satan and his minions who desire our eternal perdition.
May we protect ourselves and wield the sword of the spirit for the conversion and sanctification of souls.
Oh,
I
know
the
old
old
old
Oh,
oh,
Thank you.