Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.   Therefore, put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand.   Stand therefore, having the utility belt of truth buckled around your waist, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,  and having fitted your feet with the preparation of the Good News of peace; above all, taking up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; with all prayer and requests, praying at all times in the Spirit, and being watchful to this end in all perseverance and requests for all the saints: on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in opening my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the Good News, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.Be strong in the lord and in the strength of his might. With these words the apostle St Paul, A good soldier of Christ who bore the hardship of the gospel (2 Tim 2:3) even to the point where he could call himself an ambassador in chains begins his exhortation to us whose duty it is to fight the good fight of faith in imitation of him (2 Tim 4:7). It is a fight we wage against those under the power of the evil one, the devil, who prowls about the world looking for souls to consume, as St Peter, in his first letter tells us (5:8). This warfare, St Paul tells us, is not against human forces, and therefore our battle cannot be waged, nor our enemies overcome with human weapons: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, writes St Paul in 2 Corinthians 10, they are mighty and from God and given for the destruction of fortifications-the very gates of hell. they are given for the destroying of every evil counsel, and to bring down all the demonic inspired lofty pretensions of men who exalt themselves against the knowledge of God (see 2 Cor 10:3-5; Matt 16:18).

Therefore, we must cloth ourselves in the whole armor of God so as to be able to withstand the deceits of the Devil. What is the whole armor of God? Do not think for a minute that it is merely the weapons St Paul list in the Ephesians text under consideration. No! It is so much more: For all of us who were baptized in Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ (Gal 3:27). Are you unaware that you who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? (Rom 6:3).  This is the whole armor of God, Jesus Christ, with whom we were “clothed” at baptism.   Are you unaware that as a result of this we must no longer let sin reign in our mortal bodies to obey its desires? We must no longer present the parts of our bodies as weapons of wickedness, rather we must present our bodies to God as raised from the dead to life, and the parts of our bodies to God as weapons of Righteousness (Rom 6:12-13).

Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers; against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Who among us could be fit for such a battle unless we had first been outfitted with Christ, the armor of God: in whom dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily. We were filled in him who is the head, the master, of every principality and power (Col 2:9-10); we were filled in him and clothed with him when we were buried with him in baptism, in which we were also raised with him by faith in the power of God who raised him up from the dead. Once dead in our sins and the uncircumcision (i.e. un-baptism) of our flesh, God has given us life in Christ, forgiving all our offenses. He blotted out the decree that was against us, and was opposed to us, he fastened it to the cross with Christ, while at the same time despoiling the principalities and powers, triumphing over them in himself.

Though the victory in this war is assured, already having been, in a certain sense, won by Christ, nonetheless, the battle still rages, for Satan is too proud to admit defeat. Therefore, take unto you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist the evil day and to stand in all things perfect. On what do we stand? First, we stand on Christ, and by our steadfastness of faith which is in Christ Jesus, we will not be deceived (Greek: paralogizomai) by loftiness of words. Therefore, as we have received (Greek: paralambano) Jesus Christ the Lord we should conduct our lives (walk) with him; rooted in and built upon him and confirmed in the faith just as we learned it (Col 2:4-7). And how did we learn the faith by which we are founded upon and stand upon Christ, and are rooted in him? How did we come to know the grace of God in truth, except by having heard and learned the word of truth, the Gospel, from the ministers of Christ who are such on our behalf (Col 1:4-7). Thus we stand upon Christ because we stand upon the Church, the pillar and bulwark of truth (! Tim 3:15), whose foundation is Christ.

This is the Christ who ascended on high and took the captivity captive by despoiling the principalities and powers as was noted above. This is the Christ who also ascended and gave gifts to men. He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers: for the perfecting of the saints, for the word of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, so that we might no longer be like children tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the wickedness of men, by cunning craftiness by which they lie and wait to deceive (Eph 4:7-14). This is the Christ who said he who hear you, hears me; he who rejects you, rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects the one who sent me (Lk 10:16). This is the Christ who “is the real self of the Church,” which is “his body, permeated through and through with his redemptive might” (Karl Adam, THE SPIRIT OF CATHOLICISM, ch 2)

How then, I ask you, can we have our feet shod with preparation for the Gospel of peace if we do not take account of the preaching of the Church?

Posted by Dim Bulb.  Check out my OTHER SITE.

Hear my prayer, for I long to speak to Thee without any deceit.

I will trust Thy judgment, for I know Thou wilt be kind to me for the sake of Thy Son in whom I trust.

Thou hast chosen my heart as thy dwelling place. Oh! make it more worthy of Thee. How kind Thou hast been to me! Thou hast visited me with trials, especially the trials of religious life. In Thy strength I will strive to be without sin before Thee.

Thou hast called me to seperate myself from the ways of men, and for the sake of Thy words calling me I have taken up the small hardships of the religious life.

Let me grow in perfection in Thine own time. Help me to keep the way Thou hast marked out for me.

I have besought Thee to hear me, and Thou hast graciously listened to me. Bend down Thine ear to me still, O my God!

Thy mercies to me are all the more wonderful, because I am so lowly in Thy serivce. My only hope is my firm trust in Thee.

Keep me as the apple of Thine eye quite close to Thee, O Lord, that I never resist thy will.

Guard me from all danger as if under the shadow of Thy wings. Protect me from all evils which bring nothing but sorrow. My soul is surrounded by many enemies.

I can hope for no kindness from the world. I shall only be injured by the proud words I may hear against Thee.

The world has no care for me. The desires of the world are earthly. I beg of Thee to keep my eyes fixed on Thee.

The world is ever on the watch to ruin my religious life, both openly and in secret.

Arise, O Lord! Prevent any harm coming to me, and do Thou show Thy power over the world and the evil one.

Take away from them all the power they have for evil. They are indeed Thine enemies.

Keep the few who truely serve thee safe from all who follow worldly ways, and who spend their days in feasting.

They consider only what they can gain to leave their children.

I long to be in Thy sight, closthed in the justice of my Lord’s life. I ask not for my full joy till I shall see Thy glory face to face.

From AN EASY WAY TO USE THE PSALMS by Oswald Smith, O.S.B. The text is in the public domain.

On the Spirituality Page, keeping with the passion theme, I’ve posted links to THE GOSPEL OF LENT AND THE PASSION OF CHRIST, a series of meditations on the gospel texts used in the pre -Vatican II lectionary.  Another work is entitled  WE PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED, meditations for boys.  Bing an Aquinas dilettante, I’ve also linked to a work called LENT WITH ST THOMAS AQUINAS, compiled by Father Philip Hughes.  Finally, I’ve linked to a work called CROWN OF GLORY by Alban Goodier, S.J., whose cause for beatification is currently underway.

We intended to develope this great, amazinly comprehensive and unifying theme by following the stages of its revelation and realization, the stages in fact of the economy of salvation; this of course by a means of a study of Scripture which, inspired as it is and guaranteed by God, provides the evidence of the economy of grace he has freely willed.  The economy developes along a line which embraces the whole of history and the world itself.  It had a beginning and it will have an end,  it began as a seed and it will reach a fullness of growth, and the whole process is dominated by the Person of Jesus Christ.  Hence the story of God’s relation with his creation and especially with man is none other than the story of his ever more generous, ever deeper presence among his creatures.

The story therefore is, up to a point, coextesive with that of humanity itself, we may even say with tht of the world.  So Holy Scripture not only speaks to us of God’s presence in all things, it also shows us God bestowing his presence on the first fathers of the race in a manner that we may almost call familiar.  However, it is not this particular chapter in the history of the divine Presence that we propose to write, but rather those that begin with the positive, collective economy of salvation when Abraham was called, (Genesis 12:1).  The early Fathers of the Church liked to note that God himself wished to establish the order of the worship through which men were to honor him.  God himself took the initiative in indicating to the Patriarchs and the leaders of the the people he had chosen to be his servants and witnesses, by what name and in what manner he wished to be adored, where in under what conditions he would come to dwell in the midst of his people.  Israel, realizing that the history of the world was to be essentially a history of God’s presence, and conscious  of the decisove character of his inspirations, saw in the place where God had manifested himself the decisive points in the existence and expansion of the whole of creation.  This was the case with the stone of Bethel and the Temple of Jerusalem.  It is this positve story of God’s own gracious initiative in establishing his presence among and with men, which it is our task to study.

It is devided into a number of characteristic stages forming a series in a continuous process of development.  With these we shall deal in a corresponding number of chapters.  Like every process of development this one has moments of anticipation and fresh starts.  David, for instance, anticipates the stage of the p[rophets, and Nathan’s prophecy, which was addressed to him, can only be understood in its prophetic sense when seen as anticipating furhter stages right up to that of the New Testament.  But, at the same time, David initiated the building of the Temple and so prepared the basis of the ritual worship against whose dangers the prophets were to react but which nevertheless prevailed for several centuries beyond the prophetic stage.

The reality of his Presence in the messianic era, that is the stage opened by the incarnation of the Son of God in whom and by whom all the promises are fulfilled, is found in the Church.  Hence we shall describe the Church in accordance with the texts of the New Testament which present her to us as the spiritual temple of God.  Not that the reader should expect to find in these pages a study of the nature of the Church, still less a complete treatise.  Nor will he find a complete Christology in the section where we treat of Christ who precedes the Church as the messianic temple.  To deal with these subjects would involve many other matters which the reader will find dealt with elsewhere-the hierarchical structure of the Church, her sacramental life, ect.  Abstraction, said the scholastics, is not a form of lying.  It is permissable not to say all that can be said on a topic, but to deal with it from one particular standpoint.

Like all God’s purposes, which this story of God’s dwelling with men expresses in one of their deepest and widest aspects, the story itself moves towards a definite end characterized by the highest possible degree of inward religion.  Its stages are those of increasing inwardness.  They move from things to persons, from fleeting moments of God’s presence to a presence that is lasting, from a simple presence of his action to a vital gift, inward communication and the joy and peace of communion.  Their final word is “God all in all” (1 Cor 15:18), “Its temple is the Lord God Almighty” (Apoc 21:22).  Truly this is a divine story filling the religous soul with love and strength!-From the introduction of THE MYSTERY OF THE TEMPLE, by Yves M.J. Congar.  To access the book online click on Bible Commentaries in the pages box on the left side of this page.

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