Corpus Christi Blog

When most non-Catholic Christians go to church on Sundays, they undoubtedly participate in many good and wonderful things. They offer prayers of thanksgiving and praise to God. They listen to the Word of God spoken through scripture and they come to an understanding of what His Word means for them practically in their lives. Often, they praise God in song, lifting their hearts and voices to the heavens, proclaiming His glory. All these things, in and of themselves, are good, but all of them independently lack the supernatural realities that can only be found in the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. If you aren’t aware of it yet, my hope is that by the end of this article you will come to realize that when you attend any and every Mass, you are in the middle of the most amazing experience in the world.

Most Catholics, especially converts to the Catholic Faith, have heard this assertion at some point: Catholics worship and pray to Mary and the saints. Of course, we know this statement is not true because we know we only worship the one Triune God and that our salvation comes only from Jesus, on whom all of our liturgical activity is centered. That said, it is certainly true that we give special honor to Mary and the saints.

I have previously written about topics such as angels and spiritual warfare, both of which can be found on my website. However, I have not yet specifically addressed the demonic world and its influence over us as we navigate our path to holiness and hopefully to heaven. To prepare for this article, I used a book entitled: The Devil’s Role in the Spiritual Life: St. John of the Cross’ Teaching on Satan’s Involvement at Every Stage of Spiritual Growth, by Cliff Ermatinger. Rather than summarize the book’s extensive analysis, I will instead extract a few key points about how Satan and his demons target us.

We hear it all the time in many situations: Seek God’s will. Thy will be done. Place God’s will over your own. Be obedient to God’s will in your life. Ask God to reveal His will for your life. The list goes on.

We know that we always ought to do God’s will in every situation, with the trust that His way is always the best way, bringing about the greatest good. We also know that when we don’t seek to do His will, we often find ourselves caught up in sin or on unfulfilling paths. Sometimes God’s will for you in a particular setting or in making a decision is very clear to you, leaving little doubt. Other times, God’s will for you is not so clear and you’re not quite sure what you ought to do.