Great Battles, Great Grace

As of recent, my cross has been much heavier than before.

It has weighed on my merely human shoulders and weakened my confident smile.

I have been feeling powerless and frail.

What an opportunity this has been for the evil one to creep his way into my struggles.

After all, it is in our weakest moments that he hisses at us loudest.

“It is the way of the enemy to weaken and lose heart”, St. Ignatius of Loyola explains in his Discernment of Spirits, “his temptations taking flight when the person who is exercising himself in spiritual things opposes a bold front against the temptations of the enemy.''

These bolder-than-usual strikes by the enemy are because it is in these moments of my strengthening that he feels most threatened.

After all, God will not allow us to experience anything that will not help us in our earthly sanctification.

Rather, it is in these moments of great trial that He is molding us into even greater saints.

God finds us strong enough and worthy enough to be sanctified here on earth for the glory of His eternal kingdom...

How liberating that should be for us all!

It is in these moments that the enemy trembles hardest because he sees the wonder moving within our souls. Therefore, it is also in these moments that the enemy will attack us most ferociously.

However, take courage in knowing that the enemy fears you and your faithfulness!

I am confident in knowing that, amidst all of my tribulations and the stumbles that may come with them, God is making a saint out of me and the enemy despises every second of it.

As Blessed Fulton Sheen so beautifully stated, “Satan always tempts the pure - the others are already his.”

How awesome it is that I am not his and never will be his, for I am only God’s now and forever!