Sunday Meditation: “Do All that your Duty Requires and Hold Your Ground”

The older I get, the more I realize that life is a relentless battle. The fact that we are soldiers in the Church Militant impresses itself with every daily challenge. Some days involve little skirmishes; others involve major battles. How do we respond and engage the enemy? How do we measure our victories and our defeats?

I’m reading Spiritual Combat by Dom Lorenzo Scupoli first published in 1589 with the purpose of leading souls to spiritual perfection. I’m still early in the book, reading about the first two weapons for the Catholic warrior. The first is distrust of self; the second is placing our confidence in God. They make perfect sense to me, especially in this age where “feelings” trump everything. I once watched a video of a silly young tattooed girl claiming nothing was real except feelings. How horrible if that were true. What protection is there for the person wallowing in the “slough of despond” or drowning in despair? Or what prevents disaster for the person flying high and embracing relationships that “feel” like love when they are actually seduction?

Feelings are fleeting and changeable. As C.S. Lewis said, they can be caused by eating a bad piece of beef. 

No, it isn’t feelings that define reality. In fact, they often obscure reality. The ultimate reality, of course, is God. No one is more real than the creator of all things in whom we live, and move, and have our being. All reality gets its meaning from Him, especially we humans since we are made in his image and likeness. Moving closer to Him, desiring to know Him, love Him, and serve Him puts us smack in the middle of all that is most real and most meaningful.

The second weapon in the warrior’s arsenal, confidence in God, makes absolute sense to me as well. To spend time with God in mental prayer, brings us into direct contact with all that is most real, especially when we “commune” with Him after receiving the Eucharist. May we all embrace the realities of our ordinary days: the reality of a baby’s smile, the reality of frying eggs for breakfast, the reality of driving the children to school, doing the laundry, going to work. Let us offer all our ordinary realities to the greater glory of God which makes them shine. 

My Jesus, I love you and offer all for You!