Judges, Chapter 6,
Verse 23
The LORD
answered him: You are safe. Do not fear.
You shall not die.
Unlike Gideon, whom this
verse is about, most of us do not have an angel appear from heaven to tell us
that we will not die and to not be afraid.
Yet, we have something greater than an angel here; we have the Lord Jesus
Christ telling us-Do not fear.
We are blessed because
we are the receivers of the apex of God’s graces through Jesus Christ, His
mother and the action of Divine Mercy. If you are afraid to start again or are discouraged by failure it is because
you do not understand you can do nothing without Christ. Therefore if you have
sinned go to confession and receive His Body and Blood: being renewed. I
remember in 2006 when I and my wife Mary were blessed with being able to make a
trip to Israel. I was reflecting upon the graces I had received. I was thanking
the Lord for I had touched the spot on the earth where He was born, and I had
touched the spot where He had died, and I had touched the spot where He had
ascended into heaven. I was prideful and thought how lucky am I. Then my Lord
reminded me that a greater grace still awaits me and everyone in the Holy
Eucharist. Be honest, humble yourself and make a sincere effort. Leave all else
in His hands-saying: Jesus I Trust in You!
Pride wants immediate
success. Be brave as Gideon and renew your intentions, make a resolution daily
to do the will of God and seek to please Him.
Aids in
Battle[1] Know that God has punked the Devil
Hell and the Devil have been pillaged, stripped
of their ancient armor, robbed of their special power. And just as the giant
Goliath had his head cut off with his own sword, so also has the Devil, the
father of death, been put to rout through the death of Christ. He finds that
the very same weapon he used to wield as the ready tool of his deceit has now
become the mighty instrument of his own destruction. We might put it this way:
The Devil went fishing and cast his line and hook to catch yet another man in
death. But the Man he caught this time was Christ, whose divine nature was
hidden within His human nature. For this reason, the martyrs leap upon the head
of that dragon the Devil, and look with disdain on every kind of torment. ST.
GREGORY THAUMATURGUS
Daily Devotions/Prayers
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