"Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God........."

“Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God………and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you, Hallelu, Hallleuia."   The words of a very spiritual and heartwarming song that should make us feel moved to worship and praise the Lord.  But, as we listen to these words are we so moved as to reject the promptings of Satan as he tries to interject condemnation into our thoughts?  

Those thoughts usually entail accusations of past occurrences that we should have buried many years ago after confessing and walking away with the Sacrament of Absolution upon us.  We know of course that once we are forgiven any sins, God remembers them no more.  One person recently told me that while walking and conversing with the Lord, God reminded this person of past faults that were committed and needed to be sorry for them.  

My immediate comment was “God will never bring up past sins, since He doesn’t remember them once forgiven.”  However, Satan will most certainly use the opportunity to remind us of the past and cause us to believe that God is doing this, as if to say God always remembers your sins and will occasionally confront us with them.  I wrote an article titled “when?  “Are we Forgiven” and was emphatic to mention the reason for the Paschal Mystery and we are always the recipients of God’s Mercy, always.  A further comment was, “Of course we all believe that God always forgives, but at times there may be doubts from some that aren’t quite certain.  One reason may be that the past always has a way of protruding into our memory and causes us to relive the past sins, pain, or misunderstanding.”

Let us be aware that Satan knows our weaknesses and what it takes to rustle our feathers, so to speak, by throwing these innuendos back into our face, as if God is doing this just as a reminder.  Not so!  The closer we grow to God and our journey towards holiness, the more Satan will try everything to upset our progress.  If we weren’t growing closer to the Lord Satan would leave us be.  

Besides being a prolific liar and deceiver, Satan uses doubt constantly to upset our trek with the Lord.  He wants nothing more than to upset our walk with Christ and will do everything in his power to make us think it is God, not him, who is plaguing us with questions to our faith.  

Never doubt that Satan and his methods of clouding our thinking are not real.  They are and so is he.  Paul reminds us with, “For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world leaders of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens.  Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and having done everything, to hold your ground.  So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace.”    (Eph. 6: 12-15).

We must be aware that the battle Paul spoke of is no different than the individual onslaught each believer will be confronted with on a regular basis.  Stand firm and pray relentlessly, Seeking the Kingdom of God, asking St. Michael for the strength to encounter all that may come upon you, and   seeking the Mother of God to intercede to her Son Jesus in your time of doubt. Do not reject praying the rosary especially in times of darkness.   She is an advocate for peace and God’s blessings are upon her for you and me. 

Ralph B. Hathaway November 2018