JM Smith left a comment here in response to my thoughts on the spiritual versus the physical battle. He graciously apologised for not directly linking to my previous article, and I wish to state on record that I hold Mr Smith in very high regards as a writer and commenter; no doubt the very best that there is over at The Orthosphere.
I think I take spiritual warfare seriously, but I also think too much “spiritual warfare” is just pretending one is winning when all the evidence says one is losing. It is as if the disciples pretended Christ had risen without having seen the resurrected Christ.
I completely agree. Christ helps those who help themselves. My articles were not advocating to neglect battle in the physical world while doing one’s best to be a spiritual warrior. The two are intertwined. No, my point was the fact that the regime is directly targeting proponents of the TLM because the TLM is the only valid spiritual weapon that we have.
Mr Smith provides an anecdote:
There are in my parish many parents who are understandably grieved about the apostasy of their children. The parish set up “Monica’s Army,” a prayer group named for the mother of St. Augustine. They pray and pray and do nothing practical, and the apostasies and grieving continue unabated. Prayer and mass are important, and should not be neglected, but I think they too easily become excuses to neglect practical reforms. For instance Monica’s Army should leave off praying for a bit and look hard at religious education in the parish.
The anecdote is without context. Do these children have mobile phones; do they have unrestricted access to the internet; are they home schooled or do they attend public indoctrination centers masquerading as schools; do the parents stick the teenage girls on the pill because, “they’re just going to do it anyway, no way we can stop them”; in short, how far into the clutches of the modern world are the children and their parents enthralled?
The point is that Mr Smith is indeed correct. Spiritual and physical warfare are bound up with one another. You cannot practise one without the other and expect godly results. We need to live our lives by the ten commandments; to make sure that we lead our families and communities in the same manner; to make the decisions that are hard in the short term but fruitful over a longer period; to be uncompromising in the evil face of modernity. Does this mean that we will have physical bliss in this world?
Well, all but one of the disciples was martyred for their faith and actions. And they were the chosen ones, the special ones. But what we suffer now can never compare to the glories that await us.
The FBI by their actions have given credibility to the TLM. I thank them for it. It’s good to have such clear signs that we are on the right path. But the battle goes on. Resisting the Covid poison vaccines was a physical battle; we passed it. Seeing through the mindless propaganda on the Ukraine is a physical battle; all good there. And so it goes on and on, the war is never ending. They will never be satisfied, they will never give up, but nor shall we. And I am certain that the constant inroads that I make in my own spiritual fight greatly assist me in fighting and winning such physical battles as the Covid vaccine, as just one example.
I stand for the one true church and I try to do my best to live my life by the ten commandments and the doctrines of the pre-1958 Catholic church. I am not in opposition to the regime; rather, I am scornful of it. I pity them, but I pity most of all those who cannot find the strength to resist them.
To my mind a spiritual war is a war between spirits and a carnal war is a war between beasts. We are incarnate spirits and our “spiritual war” must therefore be incarnate. Not carnal but incarnate.
No, a spiritual war is made manifest by our actions in this world. “Let us love in thought, in word, and in action.” “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.
What we do here counts, for eternity.
Update: This post at Padre Peregrino is highly relevant to the topic at hand.
Originally published at Pushing Rubber Downhill. You can purchase Adam’s books here.