Apologetics 101: Spiritual Warfare

· Spiritual warfare is a reality in the life of every human being, especially every Catholic.

· Pope Francis says the Christian life “is a military life” and it takes ‘strength and courage to withstand the Devil’s temptation and to proclaim the truth.’ He goes on to say this is a ‘beautiful battle, a continuous battle, not a simple confrontation with the Prince of Darkness.’

o http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/cotidie/2014/documents/papa-francesco-cotidie_20141030_a-beautiful-struggle.html

· We must acknowledge the reality that the devil is real and he hates us. His goal is to get us to sin and separate us from God. Spiritual warfare is simply living in this reality.

· We are not afraid of the devil but we must resist him and acknowledge that without Jesus’ mercy we are helpless against him.

· Our Young Adult group recently read “Spiritual Warfare & Discernment of Spirits” by Dan Burke as their book study and discussion. They highly recommend it.

· Spiritual Warfare begins in our minds, with our thoughts. We can reject thoughts that are not from God through the power of the name of Jesus. One simple, but powerful, prayer that we can use to fight is called the Jesus Prayer: “Jesus, son of the living God, have mercy on me a sinner.”

o “For, although we are in the flesh, we do not battle according to the flesh, for the weapons of our battle are not of flesh but are enormously powerful, capable of destroying fortresses. We destroy arguments and every pretension raising itself against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive in obedience to Christ” ~ 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

o Begin becoming aware of your thoughts. Then start rejecting those that cause fear and anxiety. Replace them with the truth that comes from God.

· The scriptures say that our armor in this battle is made up of truth, prayer, faith, and the word of God.

· “Be sober and vigilant. Your opponent the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for [someone] to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8

· CCC 2729: ” Therein lies the battle, the choice of which master to serve.”

Take a Deep Breath

Okay folks, we've almost made it. Can you feel it? We're less than a week away from being done with political ads, Facebook asking if we're registered to vote, and walking on eggshells wondering what the next four years will look like. We're so close! In case you've been living under a rock, this Tuesday is Election Day, and whoa boy, can it not come soon enough.

While this campaign has not been quite as contentious as 2016 (probably has something to do with the pandemic keeping people a bit farther apart), it's had its fair share of name-calling, arguments, and ridiculous "If you support the person that's not the person I support, unfriend me" social media posts. We are a divided nation, and it sometimes feels impossible to talk politics without an argument ensuing.

I want to offer a few Gospel-rooted tips for staying sane and loving your friends and family you disagree with as we approach Election Day. There's going to be a lot of grumpy people when the results come out, and there's a 50% chance you'll be one of them! But no matter who wins, life will go on. So how do we move forward?

First and most simply, prepare for the possibility that your candidate will lose. No matter what the polls say, what you see in your local community, or how strongly you feel your choice is right, we can't predict the future. We don't know who will win! In fact, we may not even know on Election Night due to the increased number of mail-in votes this year.

So, prepare for both possibilities. Come to terms with the fact that your candidate may lose before the results come out so that you're not processing everything all at once. This is a great trick for dealing with any potential disappointment (something we've all learned a lot about this year), but it's especially effective when applied to something with so much emotional weight.

That's the easy part. Now, let's move into the more difficult aspect: loving your neighbors who vote against your choice. Our society is SO obsessed with drawing battle lines and putting people in boxes based on their political choices. It's truly sickening. Let's turn to the Gospels to see why this tendency is a bunch of baloney.

There is no more perfect Gospel passage for this topic than that of this past Sunday. This is, of course, where Jesus tells us that the second greatest Commandment of them all (behind loving the Lord our God with our whole heart, our whole mind, and our whole soul) is to "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Let's examine that Commandment a bit closer. Does it say, "love your neighbor as yourself so long as they vote for the same person as I do?" Nope. Does it say, "love your neighbor as yourself until they say something I disagree with?" Negative, Ghost Rider. How about "love your neighbor as yourself when you're not having a bad day?" Take a wild guess.

Jesus doesn't give us much wiggle room here. This passage is not difficult to translate, nor is it open to interpretation. "Love your neighbor as yourself," period. Full stop. We have forsaken this Commandment in our country today. It pains me to say this, but it's true. We paraphrase the words of Christ Himself when we agree to love our neighbor as ourselves until _________.

I saw a Facebook post a week or two ago that should be a gut punch to all American Catholics. It said the following: "Kamala is beloved. Donald is fearfully and wonderfully made. Mike is cherished. Joe is important enough that I died for him." Full. Stop. If we have an issue with anything in there, than we have not heard Christ's Commandment.

Here's the thing: it doesn't stop with the candidates. This post applies to each and every person in our lives. ESPECIALLY the ones we disagree with. The fact is, God loves us no matter who we vote for. While I agree that political debate and discourse are the lifeblood of a democratic republic, things have gotten far out of hand.

If this makes you uncomfortable, that's probably a good thing. It's uncomfortable for me to write. But it's the Truth. We can't call ourselves servants of the Living God on Sunday and call our neighbors "snowflakes," "fascists," and "sheeple" on Monday. That's not how this works. We MUST treat our neighbors with dignity and respect no matter who they vote for.

This has been a long, difficult year for us all. No matter who wins on Tuesday, we can (hopefully) all agree that it'll be wonderful to be done with this election. Hopefully, we can come together in the aftermath and work as a whole to make our country a better place for all.

Pray for our country. Pray for your neighbors. Above all else, pray for peace. Remember that life will go on after the election. Prepare for the possibility that your candidate may not win, and be prepared to love your neighbors whom you disagree with (no matter who is elected President). That is the American way. And, more importantly, that is the way of Christ Jesus.

I wish you all a safe, patriotic, and fulfilling Election Day. And I look forward to joining you in one massive sigh of relief when we're finally done with this period of ads, campaigning, and debates. God bless you all.

Regis

Ask Father: Does God speak to us through dreams?

Dear Father: My mom passed away in April. Recently, I had a dream with my aunt in it. She passed away last year. In the dream, she told me my mom was happy and they were all together. What does the Church teach about our loved ones visiting us in our dreams?

Dear friend in Christ,

First, our condolences on the losses you have experienced recently.

God often uses dreams to communicate with human beings. In the Bible, there are many instances of important messages being revealed through dreams. I don’t see a reason why your dream couldn’t also be from God. Ask God about it. See what He says.

God speaking to us in dreams would fall under what the Church calls private revelation. Private revelation is what God communicates to an individual. Private revelation is not necessary for salvation and does not have to be believed by other Catholics.

Public revelation (the teachings of Jesus as interpreted by the Church), on the other hand, is what God has communicated to the entire human race. Public revelation is all that is necessary for salvation and must be believed by Catholics.

Public revelation ended with the death of the last Apostle. Private revelation continues to this day. Some examples of private revelation are Marian apparitions, dreams and the mystical writings of the saints. A Catholic does not have to believe these things, but may do so if it benefits them and they are approved by the Church.

What we want to avoid is imputing excessive meaning onto our dreams or appealing to the occult to interpret them or assuming God is not speaking to us if we don’t get certain dreams. We have everything we need in the Gospels and the teachings of the Church. We would never want to put more value on our dreams (private revelation) than the sacraments, Mass, scriptures, etc. (public revelation).

In short, if your dream brings you closer to Jesus and does not contradict the teachings of the Church, than there is no reason why you cannot accept it as a gift from God.