Dr. Helen Titilola OLOJEDE

Following from where we stopped last week on fending off the devil:

Include other devotions such as the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, the Chaplet of St. Michael, prayers to Saints who did battle with Satan (such as St. John Vianney, St. Catherine of Sienna, Padre Pio, St. Gemma Galgani, Blessed Bartolo Longo, Servant of God Fr. Candido Amantini). Pray. It is a gift of grace that demands diligence and presupposes a commitment that can, at times, be wearisome. Prayer connects us to God and the devil will do all he can to turn us away from prayer and union with God. Do not let prayer become mechanical. If need be, utilize spiritual warfare prayers. Use sacramentals such as holy water, exorcised salt, blessed objects, sacred images, the St. Benedict Medal.

 

Fourth, resist. Fight back. Fear God, not the devil (Mathew 10: 28). When confronted firmly and decisively, the enemy is weak and helpless. The devil is essentially a coward. He will only attack when met with weakness; when resisted, he flees. The enemy always attacks us at what he perceives to be our weakest point. Use that against him. If the devil has helped you to identify an area of weakness in your spiritual life, then you know where you need to put in some extra work to shore up your defences. The enemy does not possess any particular strength. If we are willing to resist him, we will see that the enemy’s power was never more than a façade, and it will crumble before us.

 

Fifth, have a renewed faith in Jesus Christ. We are not freed or saved by a formula, or by a doctrine, but by a Person, and that Person’s name is Jesus Christ. Jesus promised to be with us always and it is essential that He be at the center of our lives.

 

Sixth, be a person of integrity. Victory over Satan and the pain and misery he inflicts on people depends on how much our souls remain pure from every worldly vice. Temptation is real. As Jesus reminds us in John 17:15 16, we must, ‘[be] in the world, but not of the world.” St. Paul put it this way in Ephesians 6 11: “Put on the armour of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil.”

 

Seventh, be a person of humility. Be willing to fast, suffer and make acts of penance along with sacrifice. All of these things can be summed up by being men and women of God.