Hardball Break: "The Biggest Lie on Earth" - Commentary

  

I think the lie that irks me the most is: "The devil made me do it." My response: "Fool!"

Sorry for the abruptness, but the devil is not allowed, by God, to make anyone do anything. I've referred to God's gift of Free Will as both a blessing and a curse. This is before I knew of St. Augustine's quote, above.

Every book I've read, regarding spiritual warfare, and I've read many, will aver that God does allow the devil to tempt, but cannot will anyone to sin. We do that by all by our precious selves. Flip someone off in traffic? That wasn't the demon but yourself. Sure, the demonic whispered in your ear, but the action was yours and you're alone.

The evil one whispered in my ear a lot while maturing, and I blamed the low life devil. I was kidding myself, actually destroying myself. (I actually used to say a daily prayer, "Please God, don't let me destroy myself." It worked, as I no longer say that prayer... perhaps those days I get depressed.) 

The devil and his crew are the biggest liars that ever existed, and still exist. They hate each of our guts and their goal is to bring each one of us to hell so they can torment and punish us every single day. And that doesn't even make them happy because they are incapable of being happy. They don't have God and know they never will. 

I'm not immune to temptation, no one is. Today, when I feel any sin being suggested, I pray the Jesus prayer (Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner."), the Holy Rosary and definitely an Act of Contrition. At least twice a day, I examine my conscience... midday and nightly prayers.

If you are a devout Catholic, unlike many, you know that God loves us so much He gave us the gift of free will. We are not His robots or minions. Remember, He doesn't need us but wanted us to share in His undying Love with. 

In his book, Meditations On Death - Preparing for Eternity, Thomas Kempis wrote: "My friend, it is most useful for you to call to mind frequently and assiduously the reality of your own death. And though death itself is a certainty, its time and manner of arrival are profoundly uncertain. Very often death comes to a person when he still expects to have much longer to live and looks forward to an abundance of time in which to repent for his sins, to amend his vices, and to improve his life and conduct. My advice, therefore, is to live as if you could die at any moment and to live each day as if it could be your last."

And then he adds, in the following chapter, something frightening: "To imagine what the infernal realm of hell is really like is something which entirely exceeds the capacity of the human mind. For whatever horrors, pains, and torments we can conceive of or imagine, the reality is incomparably worse.  Summon up before the eye of your mind, therefore, a horrible and swirling chaos, or a lightless and sinister subterranean cavern, fuming with every kind of unspeakable foulness and swarming with hideous phantasms, or a burning and bottomless pit, completely suffused with scorching, acrid, and inextinguishable fires."

If you are uncertain or question, read St. Faustina's diary, specifically paragraph 741, regarding her vision of the 7 levels of hell. 

In Luke 8:31, "And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss." 

For those who don't believe in hell pray for them. God does not damn us to hell. His Love won't allow it. We make that decision by our free wills.

I will not allow myself to go into that rabbit hole. I accept responsibility for every single sin I commit. The good news is, Jesus, His Blessed Mother, the Saints and Angels are there to help us. They are here to save us from damnation. Better yet, they are here to aid in our salvation. 

Until next time, May God give you peace.

@KempisStudent