"We are put into this life as into a battlefield, and we should fight valiantly, neither avoiding blows nor turning back, but keeping our eyes on our leader, Christ crucified who persevered faithfully and never failed to obey His Father's will and work towards our salvation unto the end. He returns to the eternal Father with the victory he has gained of having drawn the human race out of darkness and restored it to the light of grace. This caused his death: he inflicted death upon himself to bring us back to life; by his death he destroyed our death. The blood and determination of this captain should inspire courage in us for every battle: by enduring all things for love of him we, too, shall return victorious to the city of eternal life." ~St. Catherine of Siena, Letter 159
Ave Maria! I very much like the above quote from the writings of St. Catherine of Siena. She tells it like it is. As St. Paul wrote so long ago, "For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12). The battlefield is quite real, and I cannot escape it. None of us can. And the battlefield is not just "out there", either. It's also within my own heart. In fact, it's particularly there that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14) and that I must fight most valiantly lest I be sadly misled by his devious ways.
Scary stuff! But I have some secret weapons to employ, and I know that they will not fail me because God Himself, who loves me so greatly, has given them to me. Again to quote St. Paul, I pick where I left off above: "Therefore take 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 girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; above all taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Ephesians 6:13-17).
St. Catherine of Siena, pray for us to do as you did, "keeping our eyes on our leader, Christ crucified who persevered faithfully and never failed to obey His Father's will and work towards our salvation unto the end".
With God we shall do valiantly. ~Psalm 60:12
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