True Soldiers of Jesus Christ
Spiritual warfare in modern times CHRISTENDOM - The
body of faithful which comprises the Catholic Church is divided into three
parts: the Church Triumphant (souls in heaven), the Church Suffering (souls
in purgatory) and the Church Militant (faithful on earth).1 The
Church Militant has been defined as:
"the Christian
church on earth, which is supposed to be engaged in a constant warfare
against its enemies…"
2 (emphasis mine here and throughout)
It is useful to
consider the military metaphors contained in such a definition. As
Catholics, our lives should not be seen as "business as usual" but warfare —
"constant warfare". We are not regular citizens or noncombatants, but
soldiers in the war against Satan; a war which has both spiritual and
physical dimensions.
Enemies of a Christian soldier Just as "soldier" and
"warfare" take on different meanings in the context of the Church Militant,
so does the term "enemy". The only enemy of Christians is and has always
been Satan, but because of his powers, he must be fought both internally and
externally (or spiritually and naturally). He is our spiritual enemy when we
tempts each of us internally and our natural enemy when he works through
other men to subvert the will of God. Since, he is capable of deceiving and
tempting every person on earth, he can make accomplices or slaves of men
without their explicit knowledge. Such men can be referred to as our "human
enemies".
This is an important
distinction to make because if Satan rather than an individual human is the
true enemy, how we face battle and evaluate victory are very different.
Unlike worldly soldiers, we are commanded by our Lord to love our
enemies.
"But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you." (Matt. 5:44)
Therefore, we must
always seek that which is best for our human enemies — not their worldly
comforts or success, but their eternal salvation. This is not to say the
only end to our efforts is conversion since a "victory" occurs every time
the desires of Satan is thwarted. And since his desires are always opposed
to God's will, a victory is also each instance in which His divine will is
done. Both Christ and His Mother have repeatedly told their children that
all sins (even by non-Catholics) offend their respective Sacred and
Immaculate Hearts. Christ's soldiers must fight to prevent any and every
such offense, even if the offenders are not converted. Conversion however
remains the surest and most effective way to ensure such offensives will not
be committed again.
The human enemies of
the Church can usually be divided into two groups — public and private
enemies. Public enemies openly declare war on and attempt to carry out the
destruction of the Faith or the faithful. Historically, such human enemies
have included Jews, Muslims, Protestants, Freemasons and Communists.
Private enemies are
those who either do not admit to (secret enemies) or do not realize (deluded
enemies) their destructive intentions. These are the most difficult enemies
to recognize, let alone fight. They are usually outwardly benign or
"well-intentioned" people and are comprised mostly of schismatics, heretics,
liberals, modernists and humanists. Their ranks include men and women, young
and old, clergy and laity who cloak themselves in acts of human charity and
prideful piety which only serve to confuse and seduce others. They are
enemies of the Church because they spread defiance of God's laws and
undermine his Church through heresy, disobedience or indifference.
They are the atheists
who consider Christ to be no more than an example of tolerance, cooperation
and kindness.
They are the
humanists who see no need for "religion" unless it can be useful in
preventing poverty and war.
They are the
naturalists who perform the corporal works of mercy while rejecting the
spiritual and see no use for monastic life unless it accomplishes some
humanitarian goal.
They are the heretics
who claim to follow God's commandments but reject the revealed Truth
entrusted to His Church.
They are the
modernists who seek to "evolve" or "renew" the beliefs and practices of the
Church in order to "better accommodate" the changing times.
They are the
abortionists who lovingly care for newborn infants days after they would
have them brutally murdered.
They are the
schismatics who claim for themselves apostolic succession but openly defy
the successor of the Prince of the Apostles.
They are the pagans
that sleep and work, laugh and cry, live and die according to the dictates
of their conscience which is constantly adjusted by their environment.
These are the human
enemies Satan puts in our path and how we choose to respond to them is what
defines the true soldiers in the Church Militant.
The Church Militant and the modern world
This is not a "constant
warfare", it is a surrender! Soldiers don't sit hiding in the bushes,
waiting for someone to accidentally discover them before coming out to
fight. They know exactly where the battle is with Satan because they know
right from wrong. Many today unfortunately keep silent, putting too much
value in human respect?
They are more worried about being seen as different or "intolerant" or
childish in the eyes of sinners than virtuous in the eyes of God. However
subtle this brand of "persecution" may be, the struggle between God's will
and man's has always existed. It is why Christ told us in the Sermon on the
Mount:
"Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for my sake. Be glad and rejoice for your reward is very great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you. ... You are the light of the world. A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may shine to all that are in the house. So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." (Matt. 5:10-12,14-16)
And repeated by St. John
Vianney:
"If you want to belong
entirely to God you must be prepared to be despised and rejected by the
world. Blessed is he, my friends, who belongs to these, and who follows
in the footsteps of the Lord with courage and carries his cross with
patience. It is only by doing so that we may obtain the happiness of
reaching heaven."
3
Catholic soldiers cannot
remain silent in the face of evil and they cannot run from it in hope for
better days. We must fight for the Faith at all times, especially
when we are facing persecution. Our human enemies need to know that we hold
and defend the Truth, even if they hate us for it. The history of
Christendom is filled with saints and martyrs who chose torture and death
rather than denying Christ or His Church. They could have saved their lives
by going along with the popular errors of the day — be it paganism,
Freemasonry, Communism or Islam, but they refused and were eternally
rewarded. As beautifully expressed in the words of Blessed Sister Marie-Anne
Vaillot, a martyr of the French Revolution who refused to take a masonic
oath:
"Citizen, not only do we
not want to swear to this oath, but we do not even want to appear to have
sworn to it. Do not think us so cowardly and attached to the miserable
life that you believe us capable of staining our soul and sacrificing it for
an oath which we have always detested and still detest. God will not ask us
to render an account of the services we could have rendered our neighbor
only by swearing an oath that He detests and condemns. If taking that oath
is the only way that we can save our lives, we declare that we prefer to
die rather than do anything opposed to the love that we have sworn for God."
4
These days, in most
Western countries such courage and dedication is almost non-existent, even
though the consequences are much less severe. Many Catholics will deny
Christ rather than risk feeling "awkward" or "uncomfortable" in the presence
of pagans. They care more about what the faithless think of them than what
God does. How many Catholics today would be willingly burned at the stake
rather than deny their Faith? What's the use of forcing a denial that is
gladly and repeatedly welcomed almost every day?
The dangers of supernatural warfare Getting caught up in
battles against heretics and abortionists, it's easy and dangerous to lose
sight of the supernatural aspect of the conflict. Satan and the powers of
darkness are fighting to ruin every mortal soul, especially those
devoted to Christ. This battle isn't just between the Catholics and
non-Catholics, but between good and evil, Christ and Satan.
As such, the ways we can
fall are varied. Not only can we be defeated through our own tendencies
toward doubt or indifference, but also by giving into the zeal of the
battle. Too often, humble soldiers fighting for the will of God give way to
the vices of pride and anger. We must not lose sight of the true enemy
(Satan) and the true goal (the triumph of God's will). In fighting one
error, we must not fall victim to another.
Since this is a
supernatural battle, we must use the supernatural weapons heaven has given
to us. The Mother of God has given us the Most Holy Rosary and the Brown
Scapular to assist in our mission. We also have the teaching of the Church
Fathers and Catechism of Trent which prepare us to recognize error when it
is encountered. We have the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass which is hated by
Satan above all, so much so that modern times have seen it subjected to his
destructive power. We have been given the other sacraments which give us
access to the most precious gift of grace, especially the sacrament of
Penance.
Above all else, those
fighting for the Christ's Church must never neglect regular prayer and
sacrifice. To do so is to fall in to the very errors of the naturalists
against which we fight. We cannot inadvertently become allies in the
propagation of supernatural indifference. For it is only through the mercy
of God and in a State of Grace that we will prevail.
Ancient advice for modern times
For a reminder on how
Catholics are called to live their lives and relate to the world, we will
always be able to turn to the timeless words of St. Justin Martyr:
"Christians do not
differ from other men as to habitat, language or custom. They live among
Greeks and barbarians, wherever destiny has put them. They follow local
custom in garb and diet and other matters. But their way of life is
nonetheless strange and unbelievable to many. They live in their native
land, but as sojourners; as citizens they share everything with their
fellowmen, yet they are treated as alien; any alien country is homeland to
them, and every homeland an alien country. They marry as men do and beget
children, but they do not practice abortion. They share tables but not beds.
They live in the
flesh but not according to the flesh. They dwell on earth but regard heaven
as their city. They follow established law but in their way of life, go
beyond what the law requires. They love all and everybody persecutes them.
No one knows them, while all condemn them; they are put to death and still
are very much alive.
To put it all
briefly: What the soul is to the body, Christians are to the world. The soul
is present in all the body's members; so are Christians in the world's
cities. The soul dwells in the body but does not originate from it;
Christians live in the world but do not have their origin there. The
invisible soul abides in the visible body; Christians are seen as living in
the world, but their piety is invisible. On the other hand, the body, though
it suffers nothing from the soul, hates it and makes war upon it because it
cannot enjoy its pleasures in peace; the world suffers nothing from
Christians but hates them because they reject its pleasures.
The soul loves the flesh and members which hate it; so do Christians love those who hate them. The soul is enclosed in the body but it contains the body; Christians must remain in the world as in a prison, but they contain the world. The immortal soul dwells in a mortal home; Christians are pilgrims in a corruptible world while they look forward to heavenly immortality. God has set them in the world as His sentinels and they may not leave their posts." 5
Peter Miller (Seattle,
WA)
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