Your insights and application of this article are incredible!

My dear friend Teresa Tomeo always talks about how important it is for us to “connect the dots” and you’ve done this in an amazing and profound way.

My gratitude!
Cheryl

Great article! It is for the very reasons you cite that we are provided with a complete suit of spiritual armor…which we must put on. The Armor of God isn’t just a metaphor – it is protection and weaponry given to us because we will encounter spiritual warfare. Each implement of the armor is the equivalent of specific Christ-like character traits that we must work to develop in our lives in order to successfully overcome the spiritual weapons used against us by satan and his minions.

Recently, while feeling out-of-focus and lacking in direction, I asked a friend to help me examine my armor to see where the most apparent chinks are, because the chinks provide places for satan to make inroads through which he can most easily succeed in his attacks. After evaluating what was going on with me, we decided my most vulnerable points were in my head and foot gear…and my shield had begun to slip as a result.

The Helmet of Salvation is designed to protect our control center – it is through our Salvation (Jesus Christ) that our world view is to be formed; our helmet filters what we take into our innermost being through our eye-gates and ear-gates; it provides a quite place where we can close out the clutter throws at us so we can more clearly hear the Still Small Voice of the Holy Spirit; and it guards our mouth so that the words we speak are also filtered through our Salvation.

The foot gear – the Preparation to spread the Gospel of Peace, (who is Jesus Christ) gives us a sure foundation, traction where the rubber of our interior life meets the asphalt of our exterior world. This is the piece of armor that gives us our grip on life and propels us forward to meet the onslaught of satan and his minons.

Being distracted (unfocused) and without direction (wandering) takes us to a place where our trust wavers and our Shield of Faith (of which Jesus Christ is the Author and Finisher) begins to weaken – it is not our Catholic faith that weakens…but our personal faith within our relationship with our Savior. We focus on the battle instead of on Our Lord and the problems mount higher, blocking our vision of Him.

Your analogy of the occasions that we fall to our knees is very appropriate – because it is only from our knees that we can again rise to meet our enemy head on; being on our knees in prayer represents our act of contrition; our recognition that the battle is not ours – it is Our Lords. It is only in His Strength (Sacred Scripture calls it the “power of His Might) that we can ever win the skirmishes of life. When one who is in full armor gets knocked down, the only way to get back up onto their feet is to rise to their knees first. For me…that points up my need for regularly receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation as a means of repairing my armor, and staying fit for battle.

As my friend reminded me: it doesn’t matter how many times we get knocked down – the key to winning is in getting back up, again, and again, and again, and yet again.

Thank you for bring this subject back to the forefront of my consciousness!

Victoria Walters

Great insight. Thank you. I am reminded of the words of our Savior, “Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you (falsely) because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:10-12)

If we are not personally persecuted or insulted because of our witness of Christ and pursuit of righteousness, we must not be trying hard enough!

Deacon Mike