Do not look in the rear view mirror for the Devil 

Keeping our eyes on Jesus

The apostle Peter walked upon 'the waves'

with the sea beneath his feet

so long as his eyes were fixed upon the Face of Jesus

No sooner did he lower his eyes

to consider the dark deep beneath his feet,

than he began to sink beneath the waves

These words resonate with the plight of the obsessive compulsive. The fearful sinner, afflicted in mind by images, phantasms, temptations, unwanted impure recollections and urges, turns inwardly, searching anxiously for assurance that the demon at the door is gone. Cruelly the worried one finds instead the source of anguish leaping into flame, by the very fearful policing attention he or she has fixed upon it! This compulsion to turn inwardly searching for the absence of evil, is itself a blind reflex.

Prayer

Father in heaven hear our prayer, You for whom nothing is impossible, You who wait for our supplications even though You already know what we need. Please grace us with freedom from this fearful searching for assurance, free us from the reflex that returns us to what we should not return to. Be merciful to sinners, give us minds capable of being fixed only upon You, and give us to hate the unholy reflex of our addicted eye. Thank you Father for receiving this request, we make it with thanksgiving for all gifts and blessings, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.