Army of Heaven
Prayer Group
Resource Site
July 22 is the feast day of this group's first
patroness
St. Mary Magdalene. Fr Mark, a
Franciscan Friar of the Eternal Word, offered teaching on three things the
life
of St Mary Magdalene give us, in our journey toward purity and renewal of
mind
and heart. Do not lose
heart Perseverance A high degree
of
union with God through a rich prayer life The first reading of the feast day was
from The Song of
Songs, a dialogue between the soul and God.
We must look for God, who as we know sometimes seems missing,
especially
when the memory or the chaos of lust is edging toward our doorstep.
To pine for God like a dry land thirsting
for water, is to love God with passion.
Our God cannot fail to respond to fervor, and desperation.
Mary Magdalene was passionate enough to be at the
tomb at
sunrise on Easter morning, and after finding the tomb empty, weeping with
urgency, set about in search of her Savior. Her search is in such fever that she does not recognize the
gardener who finds her. How
often do we miss God's helping hand, in
our hour of need? The family cat meowing
frantically as we settle down into the Internet sin chair, or the phone
call
out of the blue, all at the same time? Mary Magdalene is the first soul
to see the Risen
Christ. This is a symbol of the fact
that God has truly come to save the sickest of the sick.
To those who can be truly humble, grateful and
obedient, He will show favor. God
is gracious and generous and full of love to all those who call upon Him. Our problem is making the wrong
prayer. Addicts can make prayers of global
convenience. "Lord take away this affliction forever" or "Lord, just make
this
all go away." But God wants to empower
us, giving us the strength to overcome our adversary.
He doesn't take away our thorn, He puts a
sword in our hand so that we can use it valiantly. The
sword is a spiritual warfare prayer,
which calls upon the blood of Jesus, the pure holiness of Christ to send
the
enemy away trembling and spoiled. We do
not save ourselves with our own strength, we are saved by Christ's
strength,
whom we invoke with faith with sincere and imploring solicitation. This is why the Cross is "lifted high", why the power of
the Cross is revered and extolled. We think of St Paul in his many
effusions
in Scripture. The Cross is everything,
it is what conquers evil, temptation, sin.
The sword is given to us, the sword is the
prayer before lust is ramping up, not after it is already over our head. Timing of prayer is everything, the essence
of delivery. With confidence we wield
it, with grace God comes and protects.
We do not win the battle, God does; which is why he keeps telling
us to
just be still and only cast our need before Him. Finally, following Christ
relentlessly is difficult. A rich prayer
life is difficult. Both build over time. One cannot see the secure castle one is
building
with faith. The fruit of a tree is seen
only very late, toward the end of the season.
Perseverance in faith, despite all outward
appearance and constant prayer shall bring us to the day we will see the
fruit
of safety, to take custody of lust totally, by the grace of Jesus, Who
alone can
make it thus. Thank
you
Father Thank you Jesus
Thank you Holy Spirit. Grant us the
grace to be ever fixed upon you, Blessed Triune
God.
The words from Fr. Mark accompanying these three goals
are that they are each difficult.