I have spent much time reading and researching the Spiritual Combat which has taken place in my Christian life as a result of addictions. It has taken much prayer, Daily Mass along with many confessions to be guided by the promptings Holy Spirit to present to you the weapons to defeat the Concupiscence which resides in our very members and the designs of the wicked and evil one, Satan. All my sacrifices and long nights are for you my beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus who read this and I give all glory to God for giving me the strength to persevere in His truth.

 

We were all destined to the Spiritual Warfare the moment our first parents fell into Satan's trap and disobeyed God’s commandment. They were told they could become like God by eating from the tree of knowledge and Eve knowing that “God said, 'You shall not eat it or even touch it, lest you die.'" (Genesis 3:3) still listened to Satan as he said “You certainly will not die!” We all know the rest; Eve saw the fruit was good and pleasing to the eyes and desirable for gaining wisdom and so she ate and so did Adam, then death entered humanity.

 

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us more in depth on this subject in the following paragraphs:

 

(CCC) 377 The "mastery" over the world that God offered man from the beginning was realized above all within man himself: mastery of self. The first man was unimpaired and ordered in his whole being because he was free from the triple concupiscence that subjugates him to the pleasures of the senses, covetousness for earthly goods, and self-assertion, contrary to the dictates of reason.

 

Man's first sin

 

(CCC) 397 Man, tempted by the devil, let his trust in his Creator die in his heart and, abusing his freedom, disobeyed God's command. This is what man's first sin consisted of. All subsequent sin would be disobedience toward God and lack of trust in his goodness.

 

(CCC) 400 The harmony in which they had found themselves, thanks to original justice, is now destroyed: the control of the soul's spiritual faculties over the body is shattered; the union of man and woman becomes subject to tensions, their relations henceforth marked by lust and domination. Harmony with creation is broken: visible creation has become alien and hostile to man. Because of man, creation is now subject "to its bondage to decay". Finally, the consequence explicitly foretold for this disobedience will come true: man will "return to the ground", for out of it he was taken. Death makes its entrance into human history.

 

(CCC) 405 Although it is proper to each individual, original sin does not have the character of a personal fault in any of Adam's descendants. It is a deprivation of original holiness and justice, but human nature has not been totally corrupted: it is wounded in the natural powers proper to it, subject to ignorance, suffering and the dominion of death, and inclined to sin - an inclination to evil that is called concupiscence". Baptism, by imparting the life of Christ's grace, erases original sin and turns a man back towards God, but the consequences for nature, weakened and inclined to evil, persist in man and summon him to spiritual battle.

 

So we arrive at the very cause and root of every evil desire we may face or how we may be influenced or tempted by Satan.  What does the Catechism say about ignoring the fact we are wounded by nature?

 

A hard battle. . .

 

(CCC) 407 The doctrine of original sin, closely connected with that of redemption by Christ, provides lucid discernment of man's situation and activity in the world. By our first parents' sin, the devil has acquired a certain domination over man, even though man remains free. Original sin entails "captivity under the power of him who thenceforth had the power of death, that is, the devil". Ignorance of the fact that man has a wounded nature inclined to evil gives rise to serious errors in the areas of education, politics, social action and morals.

 

We must all recognize our weaknesses and our wounded human nature. My good friend (and once therapist) Dan Grimm told me “God shows us His plan by letting us see our weaknesses. By entering into Humility we find the key to our ministry where we grow in patience and love.”

 

What is Humility? Saint Thomas of Aquinas writes in his Summa Theologica “Humility applies most of all man’s subjection to God.”

 

Humility is our own awareness of our nothingness; that we can do nothing without God’s grace and any good we do comes from Him. The goal of theology is in all the wonder and reverence before the God that infinitely surpasses our ability to understand. The way that we discover this God that is infinitely beyond my capacity to understand, is through realizing that anything we know that is true is known by the light of the Divine mind; this means God’s mind shines into my own and we can think; but we can never exhaust that light it is always above my mind. It always succeeds my ability to understand. It requires of us Humility.

 

As Saint Augustine did; we need to return in humility to the gate of Scripture. In order to enter the gate of scripture for Divine Wisdom we must bow our heads and until we bow our heads we will not enter in and see its sublime heights. So we must bow our heads and enter the scripture and we will discover that Christ indeed is the Wisdom of God and Christ Jesus is the voice of God that breaks the silence of the weakness of the intellect. When the intellect reaches its limit we are still not satisfied; we still have not found our final home.

 

Our intellect and our own human reason will always fall short. If we are full of pride we are going to say where we fell short is the end of whatever journey we are on. If we are humble we are silenced; caused by weakness of our minds where I am waiting for God to speak and reach me up to where we cannot arise by the powers of our own nature. (The three paragraphs above are from Mark Mcneil's talk on St. Augustine - Model of Conversion)

 

Now we know the first steps in the Spiritual Combat; SELF DENIAL and HUMILITY.

 

What can keep us from practicing this greatest human virtue?

 

Ignorance of the fact that all good things we do are the result of God’s grace and mercy, and the evil things we do are the signs of what we really are means we are strapped down by the Capital Sin; PRIDE.

 

The Church teaches us about this Capital Sin in the following paragraphs in the Catechism:

 

1866 Vices can be classified according to the virtues they oppose, or also be linked to the capital sins which Christian experience has distinguished, following St. John Cassian and St. Gregory the Great. They are called "capital" because they engender other sins, other vices. They are pride, avarice, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth or acedia.

 

2514 St. John distinguishes three kinds of covetousness or concupiscence: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life. In the Catholic catechetical tradition, the ninth commandment forbids carnal concupiscence; the tenth forbids coveting another's goods.

 

2540 Envy represents a form of sadness and therefore a refusal of charity; the baptized person should struggle against it by exercising good will. Envy often comes from pride; the baptized person should train himself to live in humility: Would you like to see God glorified by you? Then rejoice in your brother's progress and you will immediately give glory to God. Because his servant could conquer envy by rejoicing in the merits of others, God will be praised.

 

Meaning of PRIDE according to Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary:

 

An inordinate esteem of oneself. It is inordinate because it is contrary to the truth. It is essentially an act or disposition of the will desiring to be considered better than a person really is. Pride may be expressed in different ways: by taking personal credit for gifts or possessions, as if they had not been received from God; by glorying in achievements, as if they were not primarily the result of divine goodness and grace; by minimizing one's defects or claiming qualities that are not actually possessed; by holding oneself superior to others or disdaining them because they lack what the proud person has; by magnifying the defects of others or dwelling on them. When pride is carried to the extent that a person is unwilling to acknowledge dependence on God and refuses to submit his or her will to God or lawful authority, it is a grave sin. The gravity arises from the fact that a person shows contempt for God or of those who take his place. Otherwise, pride is said to be imperfect and venially wrong. While not all sins are pride, it can lead to all sorts of sins, notably presumption, ambition, vainglory, boasting, hypocrisy, strife, and disobedience. Pride strives for perverse excellence. It despises others and, depending on its perversity, even looks down upon God. The remedies for pride are a sincere knowledge of oneself, the acceptance of daily humiliations, avoidance of even the least self-complacency, humble acknowledgement of ones' faults, and prayerful communion with God.

 

Who can help us from Satan and free us from the “Concupiscence” or bondage of self?

 

The one and only LORD of LORDS, KING of KINGS, the ALPHA and the OMEGA; Jesus Christ, the only begotten son of almighty GOD.

 

I would like to walk you through a few passages in scripture to better understand  what Jesus went through as a form of teaching us.

 

In John 8:44 Jesus tells the Pharisees “You belong to your father the devil and you willingly carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks in character, because he is a liar and the father of lies.”

 

Here is what Jesus said to those who did not believe in Him. Jesus is telling us the same thing today. Satan is alive and well and is our enemy. The devil knows our weaknesses and exploits them at every given chance and opportunity. He wants our souls and wants to kill us spiritual. Satan is acute and deadly and uses the seven capital sins against us as he knows where we are weak. He uses everything in this world to distract us and cripple us by chaining us down with temptation and once we have sinned against God; he has us bound to him.

 

What example of temptation can we contemplate on in regards to Jesus? Saint Augustine tells us this in relationship to Jesus being tempted by Satan in the desert:

 

“He transformed us into Himself when He willed to be tempted by Satan. For in Christ you were tempted. He took flesh from you for Himself, and from Him to you there came Salvation. From you He took death upon Himself, and from Him to you there came victory….He could not have kept the tempter from Him; but had He not been tempted, He would not have given you who face temptation the power to overcome.” (On Ps. 60, Patrologia Latina 36, col. 724.)

 

In the Gospel of Mark includes all the essentials of Jesus being tempted in Chapter 1:12-13 At once the Spirit drove him out into the desert, and he remained in the desert for forty days, tempted by Satan. He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him.

 

In Mathew 4:1-11; Jesus replies to Satan’s temptations on three accounts the following:

 

Vs. 3-4 Satan said “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.” Jesus replied “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God”

 

vs. 6-7 Satan said "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: 'He will command his angels concerning you and 'with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.” Jesus replied “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test”

 

vs. 9-10 Satan said "All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me." Jesus then said “The Lord, your God, shall you worship and Him alone shall you serve.” 

 

Vs. 11 Then the devil left him and, behold, the angels came and ministered to him.

 

The same Spirit who descended on Jesus in his baptism now drives him into the desert for forty days. The result is radical confrontation and temptation by Satan who attempts to frustrate the work of God. The presence of wild beasts may indicate the horror and danger of the desert regarded as the abode of demons or may reflect the paradise motif of harmony among all creatures; Isaiah 11:6-9. The presence of ministering angels to sustain Jesus recalls the angel who guided the Israelites in the desert in the first Exodus (Exodus 14:19; 23:20) and the angel who supplied nourishment to Elijah in the wilderness (1 Kings 19:5-7). The combined forces of good and evil were present to Jesus in the desert. His sustained obedience brings forth the new Israel of God there where Israel's rebellion had brought death and alienation.  New American Bible

 

We must acknowledge here that Satan will never cease to tempt us and his demons never rest. They are seeking for souls to devour and destroy. The Culture of Death we live in is the very proof of Satan’s awareness of our weakened nature and this “Concupiscence which resides within us.

 

The good news here is that Satan utterly failed to tempt Jesus and it is only through Jesus in the Sacraments with the aid of the Archangels and the Blessed Mother that we can defeat the designs of the serpent. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. (John 14:6)

 

As long as we are ignorant to the fact that we are weakened by Nature, we will suffer and fail in the Spiritual Combat. This is why Christ came; to free us from bondage from ourselves and the evil one.

 

Let us now look at the power of Prayer; our first weapon.

 

When we think of prayer; we think of the Lord’s Prayer; the Our Father. The Our Father is really seven petitions. The Catechism teaches us this on the Lord’s Prayer:

 

"THE SUMMARY OF THE WHOLE GOSPEL"

2761 The Lord's Prayer "is truly the summary of the whole gospel."⁷ "Since the Lord . . . after handing over the practice of prayer, said elsewhere, 'Ask and you will receive,' and since everyone has petitions which are peculiar to his circumstances, the regular and appropriate prayer [the Lord's Prayer] is said first, as the foundation of further desires."⁸

I. At the Center of the Scriptures

2762 After showing how the psalms are the principal food of Christian prayer and flow together in the petitions of the Our Father, St. Augustine concludes:

Run through all the words of the holy prayers [in Scripture], and I do not think that you will find anything in them that is not contained and included in the Lord's Prayer.9

 

2768 According to the apostolic tradition, the Lord's Prayer is essentially rooted in liturgical prayer:

[The Lord] teaches us to make prayer in common for all our brethren. For he did not say "my Father" who art in heaven, but "our" Father, offering petitions for the common body.19 Saint John Chrysostom

 

The two petitions I would like to focus on in this article is “deliver from Evil”

VI. "And Lead Us not into Temptation"

2846 This petition goes to the root of the preceding one, for our sins result from our consenting to temptation; we therefore ask our Father not to "lead" us into temptation. It is difficult to translate the Greek verb used by a single English word: the Greek means both "do not allow us to enter into temptation" and "do not let us yield to temptation."¹⁵⁰ "God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one";¹⁵¹ on the contrary, he wants to set us free from evil. We ask him not to allow us to take the way that leads to sin. We are engaged in the battle "between flesh and spirit"; this petition implores the Spirit of discernment and strength.

2849 Such a battle and such a victory become possible only through prayer. It is by his prayer that Jesus vanquishes the tempter, both at the outset of his public mission and in the ultimate struggle of his agony.¹⁵⁹ In this petition to our heavenly Father, Christ unites us to his battle and his agony. He urges us to vigilance of the heart in communion with his own. Vigilance is "custody of the heart," and Jesus prayed for us to the Father: "Keep them in your name."¹⁶⁰ The Holy Spirit constantly seeks to awaken us to keep watch.¹⁶¹ Finally, this petition takes on all its dramatic meaning in relation to the last temptation of our earthly battle; it asks for final perseverance. "Lo, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is he who is awake."¹⁶²

 

When we read this we discover the meaning of the agony. Jesus knew his mission would be the shedding of his precious blood for our sins. His sweat became blood during his agony as he was dreading what was ahead for him. His soul was sorrowful until his death knowing it would be for our sins for all the days until his second coming. As we contemplate this passage in Mathew 14:36 “Abba Father, all things are possible to you. Take this cup away from me, but not what I will but what you will.” Let us be grateful for his agony as Jesus gives us the example of all our agonies in which we will face when we must carry our cross and follow the will of God. The key here is to prostrate before our Lord on the Cross or before the Blessed Sacrament for His will and not ours. Jesus also tells His disciples “Watch and pray you may not undergo the same test. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” Jesus is telling us to PRAY.

 

And so we find that Satan's attempt to tempt Jesus in the Desert failed and the Agony in the Garden displays that we must suffer unto ourselves and sacrifice the flesh, our own assertions, and worldly desires for the Will of the Father.

VII "BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL"

2850 The last petition to our Father is also included in Jesus' prayer: "I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one."¹⁶³ It touches each of us personally, but it is always "we" who pray, in communion with the whole Church, for the deliverance of the whole human family. the Lord's Prayer continually opens us to the range of God's economy of salvation. Our interdependence in the drama of sin and death is turned into solidarity in the Body of Christ, the "communion of saints."¹⁶⁴

2851 In this petition, evil is not an abstraction, but refers to a person, Satan, the Evil One, the angel who opposes God. the devil (dia-bolos) is the one who "throws himself across" God's plan and his work of salvation accomplished in Christ.

2852 "A murderer from the beginning, . . . a liar and the father of lies," Satan is "the deceiver of the whole world."¹⁶⁵ Through him sin and death entered the world and by his definitive defeat all creation will be "freed from the corruption of sin and death."¹⁶⁶ Now "we know that anyone born of God does not sin, but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.

We know that we are of God, and the whole world is in the power of the evil one."¹⁶⁷

The Lord who has taken away your sin and pardoned your faults also protects you and keeps you from the wiles of your adversary the devil, so that the enemy, who is accustomed to leading into sin, may not surprise you. One who entrusts himself to God does not dread the devil. "If God is for us, who is against us?"¹⁶⁸

2853 Victory over the "prince of this world"¹⁶⁹ was won once for all at the Hour when Jesus freely gave himself up to death to give us his life. This is the judgment of this world, and the prince of this world is "cast out."¹⁷⁰ "He pursued the woman"¹⁷¹ but had no hold on her: the new Eve, "full of grace" of the Holy Spirit, is preserved from sin and the corruption of death (the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of the Most Holy Mother of God, Mary, ever virgin). "Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring."¹⁷² Therefore the Spirit and the Church pray: "Come, Lord Jesus,"¹⁷³ since his coming will deliver us from the Evil One.

2854 When we ask to be delivered from the Evil One, we pray as well to be freed from all evils, present, past, and future, of which he is the author or instigator. In this final petition, the Church brings before the Father all the distress of the world. Along with deliverance from the evils that overwhelm humanity, she implores the precious gift of peace and the grace of perseverance in expectation of Christ's return By praying in this way, she anticipates in humility of faith the gathering together of everyone and everything in him who has "the keys of Death and Hades," who "is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."¹⁷⁴

Deliver us, Lord, we beseech you, from every evil and grant us peace in our day, so that aided by your mercy we might be ever free from sin and protected from all anxiety, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.¹⁷⁵

WHAT IS PRAYER?

For me, prayer is a surge of the heart;
it is a simple look turned toward heaven,
it is a cry of recognition and of love,
embracing both trial and joy.¹  St. Therese of Lisieux

 

Let us now look at the difficulties with prayer. The Catechism teaches it better that I could ever explain it:

 

THE BATTLE OF PRAYER

2725 Prayer is both a gift of grace and a determined response on our part. It always presupposes effort. the great figures of prayer of the Old Covenant before Christ, as well as the Mother of God, the saints, and he himself, all teach us this: prayer is a battle. Against whom? Against ourselves and against the wiles of the tempter who does all he can to turn man away from prayer, away from union with God. We pray as we live, because we live as we pray. If we do not want to act habitually according to the Spirit of Christ, neither can we pray habitually in his name. the "spiritual battle" of the Christian's new life is inseparable from the battle of prayer.

I. Objections to Prayer

2726 In the battle of prayer, we must face in ourselves and around us erroneous notions of prayer. Some people view prayer as a simple psychological activity, others as an effort of concentration to reach a mental void. Still others reduce prayer to ritual words and postures. Many Christians unconsciously regard prayer as an occupation that is incompatible with all the other things they have to do: they "don't have the time." Those who seek God by prayer are quickly discouraged because they do not know that prayer comes also from the Holy Spirit and not from themselves alone.

2727 We must also face the fact that certain attitudes deriving from the mentality of "this present world" can penetrate our lives if we are not vigilant. For example, some would have it that only that is true which can be verified by reason and science; yet prayer is a mystery that overflows both our conscious and unconscious lives. Others overly prize production and profit; thus prayer, being unproductive, is useless. Still others exalt sensuality and comfort as the criteria of the true, the good, and the beautiful; whereas prayer, the "love of beauty" (philokalia), is caught up in the glory of the living and true God. Finally, some see prayer as a flight from the world in reaction against activism; but in fact, Christian prayer is neither an escape from reality nor a divorce from life.

II. Humble Vigilance of Heart

Facing difficulties in prayer

2729 The habitual difficulty in prayer is distraction. It can affect words and their meaning in vocal prayer; it can concern, more profoundly, him to whom we are praying, in vocal prayer (liturgical or personal), meditation, and contemplative prayer. To set about hunting down distractions would be to fall into their trap, when all that is necessary is to turn back to our heart: for a distraction reveals to us what we are attached to, and this humble awareness before the Lord should awaken our preferential love for him and lead us resolutely to offer him our heart to be purified. Therein lies the battle, the choice of which master to serve.¹⁶

Padre Pio’s greatest weapon of prayer was his Holy Rosary. He carried it with him at all times as his motto was “Pray, Hope, and Don’t Worry”

 

According to Saint Louis de Montfort, meditation on the mysteries of the Rosary brings about marvelous results:

IT GRADUALLY GIVES US A PERFECT KNOWLEGE OF CHRIST

IT GIVES VICTORY OVER OUR ENEMIES

IT MAKES IT EASIER FOR US TO PRACTICE VIRTUE

IT SETS US ON FIRE WITH THE LOVE OF JESUS

IT ENRICHES US WITH THE GRACES AND MERITS

 

Once when Saint Dominic preached the Rosary in Carcassone, devils who possessed a certain man, yelled out: “By preaching the Rosary, St. Dominic put fear and horror into the very depths of hell and that he was the man they hated most throughout the whole world, because of the souls which he snatched from them through devotion to the Rosary.

 

The Rosary is recited every night in our home as a family. The Blessed Virgin Mary intercedes for us as we pray the prayers of the Rosary. It is the graces from meditating on the mysteries, which are the life, death, and resurrection of Christ that our Blessed Mother is able to intercede for us by crushing the enemies head. The Blessed Virgin Mary aids me in vigilance to control “the tinder to sin” or “Concupiscence.”

 

Why is the Virgin Mary our protectress? Because in Genesis 3:15 God said to the serpent “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel." This is exactly why Our Blessed Mother is the New Eve.

After every Rosary at night and at the Start of my day and after my daily Mass I pray to Saint Michael, the Archangel because it is in Revelation 12 Saint Michael gives Satan and his demons the ultimate beat down:

 

Revelation 12:7-9 / Then war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels battled against the dragon. The dragon and its angels fought back, but they did not prevail and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The huge dragon, the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, who deceived the whole world, was thrown down to earth, and its angels were thrown down with it.

 

Saint Maximilian Kolbe also intercedes for us who suffer from addictions. The following miracle illustrates the power of the Saints: There was a community of nuns and sisters who had a loved who was dying of Parkinson’s disease at the same extremity of Pope John Paul II. Once they heard that Pope John Paul the Great had passed on, they immediately prayed to Pope John Paul the Great and asked for a miracle that their sister would be healed. Miraculously, she was cured. This; my brothers and sisters in Christ is the power of the Saints.

 

What are our other weapons?

 

OUR SPIRITUAL CONTINUITY FLOWS FROM THE SACRAMENTS.

Let us go to the treasure of our Catholic Faith; the Catechism:

 

THE SACRAMENTS OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION

1212 The sacraments of Christian initiation - Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist - lay the foundations of every Christian life. "The sharing in the divine nature given to men through the grace of Christ bears a certain likeness to the origin, development, and nourishing of natural life. the faithful are born anew by Baptism, strengthened by the sacrament of Confirmation, and receive in the Eucharist the food of eternal life. By means of these sacraments of Christian initiation, they thus receive in increasing measure the treasures of the divine life and advance toward the perfection of charity."³

THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM

1213 Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit (vitae spiritualis ianua),⁴ and the door which gives access to the other sacraments. Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission: "Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word."⁵

1215 This sacrament is also called "the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit," for it signifies and actually brings about the birth of water and the Spirit without which no one "can enter the kingdom of God."⁷

1216 "This bath is called enlightenment, because those who receive this [catechetical] instruction are enlightened in their understanding . . . ."⁸ Having received in Baptism the Word, "the true light that enlightens every man," the person baptized has been "enlightened," he becomes a "son of light," indeed, he becomes "light" himself:⁹

Baptism is God's most beautiful and magnificent gift....We call it gift, grace, anointing, enlightenment, garment of immortality, bath of rebirth, seal, and most precious gift. It is called gift because it is conferred on those who bring nothing of their own; grace since it is given even to the guilty; Baptism because sin is buried in the water; anointing for it is priestly and royal as are those who are anointed; enlightenment because it radiates light; clothing since it veils our shame; bath because it washes; and seal as it is our guard and the sign of God's Lordship.¹⁰ St. Gregory of Nazianzus

THE SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION

1285 Baptism, the Eucharist, and the sacrament of Confirmation together constitute the "sacraments of Christian initiation," whose unity must be safeguarded. It must be explained to the faithful that the reception of the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace.⁸⁸ For "by the sacrament of Confirmation, [the baptized] are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. Hence they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed."⁸⁹

 

1289 Very early, the better to signify the gift of the Holy Spirit, an anointing with perfumed oil (chrism) was added to the laying on of hands. This anointing highlights the name "Christian," which means "anointed" and derives from that of Christ himself whom God "anointed with the Holy Spirit."⁹⁹ This rite of anointing has continued ever since, in both East and West. For this reason the Eastern Churches call this sacrament Chrismation, anointing with chrism, or myron which means "chrism." In the West, Confirmation suggests both the ratification of Baptism, thus completing Christian initiation, and the strengthening of baptismal grace - both fruits of the Holy Spirit.

 

1295 By this anointing the confirmand receives the "mark," the seal of the Holy Spirit. A seal is a symbol of a person, a sign of personal authority, or ownership of an oblect.¹⁰⁵ Hence soldiers were marked with their leader's seal and slaves with their master's. A seal authenticates a juridical act or document and occasionally makes it secret.¹⁰⁶

1296 Christ himself declared that he was marked with his Father's seal.¹⁰⁷ Christians are also marked with a seal: "It is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has commissioned us; he has put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee."¹⁰⁸ This seal of the Holy Spirit marks our total belonging to Christ, our enrollment in his service for ever, as well as the promise of divine protection in the great eschatological trial.¹⁰⁹

1303 From this fact, Confirmation brings an increase and deepening of baptismal grace:

- it roots us more deeply in the divine filiation which makes us cry, "Abba! Father!";¹¹⁵
- it unites us more firmly to Christ;
- it increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us;
- it renders our bond with the Church more perfect;¹¹⁶
- it gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross:¹¹⁷

Recall then that you have received the spiritual seal, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgment and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence, the spirit of holy fear in God's presence. Guard what you have received. God the Father has marked you with his sign; Christ the Lord has confirmed you and has placed his pledge, the Spirit, in your hearts.¹¹⁸ SL Ambrose

THE SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST

1322 The holy Eucharist completes Christian initiation. Those who have been raised to the dignity of the royal priesthood by Baptism and configured more deeply to Christ by Confirmation participate with the whole community in the Lord's own sacrifice by means of the Eucharist.

1323 "At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet 'in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.'"¹³³

I. The Eucharist - Source and Summit of Ecclesial Life

1324 The Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life."¹³⁴ "The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch."¹³⁵

1325 "The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. It is the culmination both of God's action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the Father in the Holy Spirit."¹³⁶

1406 Jesus said: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; . . . he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and . . . abides in me, and I in him" (? Jn 6:51, ? 54, ? 56)

 

My mentor and good friend, Jesse Romero sent me this on the Holy Eucharist:

 

Excerpted from the Book entitled: Theological Dimensions of the Liturgy by Cyprian Vagaggini, O.S.B. Vol.1, The Liturgical Press, Collegeville Minnesota 1959

 

Page 219 cites St John Chrysostom: "God has given me also another weapon of protection. Of what kind? He has prepared a table for me, He has shown me a food with which will fill me, that after I have been refreshed here I may overcome the enemy with more strength. When the enemy sees you go out from the Lord's banquet, he flees you as if you were a lion breathing fire from your mouth. Faster than the wind he leaves you and does not dare approach. When those cruel enemies see your tongue red and blood, believe me, he does not resist. When he sees your mouth glowing red, he turns back, terrified."

 

St Cyril of Alexandria says "Consider again how useful it is to touch His holy flesh. It puts to flight many ailments and a throng of demons, it subverts the power of the devil and in a moment heals a great multitude...May He (Jesus) touch us also, therefore, or better, may we touch HIM in the mystical thanksgiving (eulogia), that HE may free us from infirmity of soul, from the devil's attacks and tyranny."

 

Knowing the power of this Sacrament is why I attend Daily Mass. Thanks be to God for Holy Mother the Church.

 

THE SACRAMENTS OF HEALING

1420 Through the sacraments of Christian initiation, man receives the new life of Christ. Now we carry this life "in earthen vessels," and it remains "hidden with Christ in God."¹ We are still in our "earthly tent," subject to suffering, illness, and death.² This new life as a child of God can be weakened and even lost by sin.

1421 The Lord Jesus Christ, physician of our souls and bodies, who forgave the sins of the paralytic and restored him to bodily health,³ has willed that his Church continue, in the power of the Holy Spirit, his work of healing and salvation, even among her own members. This is the purpose of the two sacraments of healing: the sacrament of Penance and the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick.

THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE AND RECONCILIATION

1422 "Those who approach the sacrament of Penance obtain pardon from God's mercy for the offense committed against him, and are, at the same time, reconciled with the Church which they have wounded by their sins and which by charity, by example, and by prayer labors for their conversion."⁴

I. What is This Sacrament Called?

1423 It is called the sacrament of conversion because it makes sacramentally present Jesus' call to conversion, the first step in returning to the Father⁵ from whom one has strayed by sin. It is called the sacrament of Penance, since it consecrates the Christian sinner's personal and ecclesial steps of conversion, penance, and satisfaction.

1424 It is called the sacrament of confession, since the disclosure or confession of sins to a priest is an essential element of this sacrament. In a profound sense it is also a "confession" - acknowledgment and praise - of the holiness of God and of his mercy toward sinful man.

It is called the sacrament of forgiveness, since by the priest's sacramental absolution God grants the penitent "pardon and peace."⁶

It is called the sacrament of Reconciliation, because it imparts to the sinner the live of God who reconciles: "Be reconciled to God."⁷ He who lives by God's merciful love is ready to respond to the Lord's call: "Go; first be reconciled to your brother."⁸

II. Why a Sacrament of Reconciliation after Baptism?

1425 "YOU were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God."⁹ One must appreciate the magnitude of the gift God has given us in the sacraments of Christian initiation in order to grasp the degree to which sin is excluded for him who has "put on Christ."¹⁰ But the apostle John also says: "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."¹¹ and the Lord himself taught us to pray: "Forgive us our trespasses,"¹² linking our forgiveness of one another's offenses to the forgiveness of our sins that God will grant us.

1426 Conversion to Christ, the new birth of Baptism, the gift of the Holy Spirit and the Body and Blood of Christ received as food have made us "holy and without blemish," just as the Church herself, the Bride of Christ, is "holy and without blemish."¹³ Nevertheless the new life received in Christian initiation has not abolished the frailty and weakness of human nature, nor the inclination to sin that tradition calls concupiscence, which remains in the baptized such that with the help of the grace of Christ they may prove themselves in the struggle of Christian life.¹⁴ This is the struggle of conversion directed toward holiness and eternal life to which the Lord never ceases to call us.¹⁵

1439 The process of conversion and repentance was described by Jesus in the parable of the prodigal son, the center of which is the merciful father:³⁷ The fascination of illusory freedom, the abandonment of the father's house; the extreme misery in which the son finds himself after squandering his fortune; his deep humiliation at finding himself obliged to feed swine, and still worse, at wanting to feed on the husks the pigs ate; his reflection on all he has lost; his repentance and decision to declare himself guilty before his father; the journey back; the father's generous welcome; the father's joy - all these are characteristic of the process of conversion. the beautiful robe, the ring, and the festive banquet are symbols of that new life - pure worthy, and joyful - of anyone who returns to God and to the bosom of his family, which is the Church. Only the heart of Christ Who knows the depths of his Father's love could reveal to us the abyss of his mercy in so simple and beautiful a way.

Only God forgives sin

1441 Only God forgives sins.³⁹ Since he is the Son of God, Jesus says of himself, "The Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins" and exercises this divine power: "Your sins are forgiven."⁴⁰ Further, by virtue of his divine authority he gives this power to men to exercise in his name.⁴¹

1442 Christ has willed that in her prayer and life and action his whole Church should be the sign and instrument of the forgiveness and reconciliation that he acquired for us at the price of his blood. But he entrusted the exercise of the power of absolution to the apostolic ministry which he charged with the "ministry of reconciliation."⁴² The apostle is sent out "on behalf of Christ" with "God making his appeal" through him and pleading: "Be reconciled to God."⁴³

1495 Only priests who have received the faculty of absolving from the authority of the Church can forgive sins in the name of Christ.

1496 The spiritual effects of the sacrament of Penance are:
- reconciliation with God by which the penitent recovers grace;
- reconciliation with the Church;
- remission of the eternal punishment incurred by mortal sins;
- remission, at least in part, of temporal punishments resulting from sin;
- peace and serenity of conscience, and spiritual consolation;
- an increase of spiritual strength for the Christian battle.

1497 Individual and integral confession of grave sins followed by absolution remains the only ordinary means of reconciliation with God and with the Church.

 

Jesse Romero gave me the best illustration of what it means to have a priest absolve our sins:

It is Jesus who is absolving our sins as if we were at the foot of the Cross at Calvary and holding His bloody feet as our arms are wrapped around Him and the Cross. It is His blood that drips from His body and His Divine Mercy (the water and blood from His side) that cleanses our souls.

 

I pray this gives you fortitude to frequent the Sacrament of Reconciliation and Penance at often as it takes to purify your souls. I pray that all of you, who read this, do just that.

My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ; this is what our Church teaches. I realize that God sealed me with His anointing of ownership the day I was Confirmed. I was a wounded soldier in this Spiritual Battle and He never let me fall completely into the hands of the Devil so that I may share His love with you now by giving all those who suffer the hope and the strength they need to survive in the Spiritual life.

TO BE CATHOLIC MEANS TO BE A SOLDIER FOR CHRIST THROUGH WORKS OF CHARITY AS WE ARE THE CHURCH MILITANT .

I will close this Chapter with quotes from two Saints:

Saint Augustine said “God willed you without you and will not save you without you”

 

Saint Catherine of Sienna said “God brought you into this world without your cooperation and will not save you without your cooperation”

 

To grow in the Virtue of Humility is a life long task, and the return for our obedience to the Father is to live with Him in His Glory in the Kingdom of Heaven.