Prayer is needed!  It always has been, but we have let it slip for too long.

   Prayer itself is a spiritual battle.  “Oh come on, a spiritual battle?”  Yes.  If we realize that there is a God and there is a Devil, then there is a battle.  Obviously, not a physical one, though it can spill into the physical, especially in us who are spiritual and physical beings at the same time.  So with there being a spiritual battle between God and the Devil and us being spiritual beings, we are in the battle.  Not fighting is to accept defeat.  We must pick a side and fight.

   In prayer, we are able to align ourselves with the side of God.  Not only that, but we open ourselves to God’s battle plan.  His plan for our life is a battle plan to get us through the spiritual battle to Heaven.  He loves us and wants to help us make it Home with Him forever.  Yet, prayer is still a battle in itself.  If you were going to your superior for a battle plan, wouldn’t the enemy want to thwart that?  And so, prayer is a battleground for us.

   The Devil and the demons want to take you out.  Not just because they hate God, but because they hate.  God’s love for us puts a target on our back.  Us being able to love God in return enlarges that target.  Recent riots have called for destroying statues of ‘white Jesus’ and ‘his European mother’.  Catholic Churches have been the target of some requests for rioting.  Why?  I am not sure about these peoples individual motivations, but we have a target on our back and the Devil is taking aim.

  Will you join the spiritual battle?  It is already spilling into a physical battle as well.  The quicker we squelch the spiritual battle, the less the physical battle will be.  Let’s not wait until the physical battle is knocking on our door.

   Joseph, you endured keeping the child Jesus and His Mother safe both in the physical and spiritual battle intent on taking them out.  Keep us safe in the battles we endure, especially those keeping us from joining the spiritual battle.  Amen.