I'm not big on promoting private revelation, but I came upon something rather important today.
Going from light to darkness ...
Mary
Come, I want to take you into the darkness of hell. Only then can you understand the events that are taking place and the hideousness of sin. There will be stages of this darkness and at the very end, we will come to the center, face to face with Satan and his legions.
The road from light into darkness begins slowly. It is like a twilight. The person still believes, still practices their faith, but in certain areas of life they begin to leave God’s law behind. Attractions grow that were never tolerated before. Religious practices become secondary and routine. The flower is cut off from its deep roots of faith and no longer draws nourishment from the soil.
The person can no longer fight the culture and soon becomes one with it. The joys found in religious practices fade and the heart is consumed with worldly goals. The soul becomes powerless in the face of temptations and more and more succumbs to a lifestyle that it would previously have rejected.
The soul has not yet fallen into darkness but it skirts the edges, stumbles often, rises slowly and is greatly weakened while Satan waits for his moment, ready to claim a soul that had lived in the light.
Comment: O reader, if these words describe you, know that Our Lady loves you and is offering you the help you need to return quickly to the light. - Source
That is perhaps the very best description I have ever read as to how the soul is lead astray and can fall away completely... and so quickly.
Art: Wings of Desire (1987) Dir. Wim Wenders
Great film. Need to go see if that's on Netflix. I'm teaching sixth grade PSR this year. I asked them what they thought the devil looked like. Of course they described him as ugly, with horns and a tail, etc. I'm trying to get them to understand how beautiful and tempting evil can be. Thank you for reminding me about his slow and patient ways. Need to caution them about the slippery slope, too.
ReplyDeleteAny time we put our own thoughts and desires before God, we are putting ourselves in a dangerous spot. That is why I love the saint of this day - St. Therese of Lisieux - who teaches us to make ourselves nothing and instead make God everything. Whenever we starting thinking highly of ourselves in any way, including thinking that we are "right", we have given the devil a foothold. That is why the Pharisees could look so good on the outside, but inside were "rotting bones."
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