A State of Alertness; Sentinels on Guard

April 18, 2023

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Hi!  How is each and every one?  Let us continue rejoicing and spreading this joy all around us by professing the Resurrection of Our Lord in our lives.  Life overcame death.  God always wins battles.  Let us be filled with hope while at the same time be on guard always.  And how do we go about this?  Read through the following words of Pope Francis on what we can do to guard our heart from the evil spirit.

Holy Father urges to guard one’s heart like a sentinel (from Aleteia)

To prevent evil from entering into our hearts, there is an ancient, but very good, practice: the examination of conscience. That was Pope Francis’ message during the morning homily Friday at Santa Marta (Vatican, Radio, October 10, 2014).

The Gospel of the day reminds us that the devil always comes back to us; he never stops tempting man. “The devil has patience,” Pope Francis said. “He never leaves that which he wants for himself,” that is, our souls:

“After the temptations, in the desert, when Jesus was tempted by the devil, in Luke’s version it says that the devil left Him for a time, but during the life of Jesus he returned again and again: when they put Him to the test, when they tried to trap Him, in the Passion, finally on the Cross. ‘But if you are the Son of God… but you come, you come from us, so we cannot believe.’ And we all know that these words touch the heart: ‘But can you do it? Let me see! No, you can’t.’ That’s how the devil even to the end [dealt] with Jesus… and likewise with us.”

We need to guard our hearts, where the Holy Spirit dwells, the Pope said, “so that other spirits do not enter. To guard the heart, as a house is guarded, with a key.”

And then to watch the heart, like a sentinel: “How often,” he asked, “do wicked thoughts, wicked intentions, jealousy, envy enter in? So many things that enter in. But who has opened that door? Where do they enter from? If I do not realize [how much] enters into my heart, my heart becomes a piazza, where everything comes and goes. A heart without intimacy, a heart where the Lord cannot speak and cannot even be heard.”

“And Jesus says something else here — doesn’t He? — that sounds a little strange: ‘He who does not gather with me scatters.’ He uses the word ‘to gather.’ To have a gathering heart, a heart in which we know what happens, and here and there you can perform a practice as old as the Church, but good: the examination of conscience. Who of us, at night, at the end of the day, remains by himself, by herself, and asks the question: what happened today in my heart? What happened? What things have passed through my heart? If we don’t do this, we have truly failed to know how to watch and guard [our hearts] well.”

The examination of conscience “is a grace, because to guard our heart is to guard the Holy Spirit, Who is within us”:

“We know — Jesus says clearly — that the devil always returns. Even at the end of life, He, Jesus, gives us an example of this. And to guard, to watch, so that the demons don’t enter in, we must be able to gather ourselves, that is, to stand in silence before ourselves and before God, and at the end of the day ask ourselves: ‘What happened today in my heart? Did anyone I don’t know enter? Is the key in its place?’ And this will help us to defend ourselves from so much wickedness, even from that which we could do if these demons, who are very clever and at the end would cheat all of us, even if they enter.” 

Two other ways suggested by Saint Francis de Sales (From Joseph Tissot, How to profit from your faults pp. 94-96).

A  State of Alertness

Summary of previous excerpts:  Our failings obtain for us a more exact knowledge of our weaknesses.  In giving us a greater right in some way to obtaining God’s mercy, these failings should naturally incline us to be more on our guard, and to return with a more trustful humility to God, without whom we can do nothing, and with whom we can achieve everything.  It is well known that, in spiritual combat, distrust of oneself and confidence in God are sure signs of victory. 

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In God’s design, moreover, our faults are called upon to render to our perseverance services that are important from several points of view.  First of all, it is clear that they must make us more vigilant.  This is one of the meanings that the interpreters give to the sacred text:  Infirmitas gravis sobriam facit animam–a serious illness makes the soul temperate (Sir 31:2).

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“Without doubt,” says St. John Chrysostom, “it should suffice us to see that men superior to us in holiness were not spared from making mistakes; this encourages us to be more circumspect and to practice greater prudence” (Homily 7, On Penance). “Our personal mistakes are our most successful teachers.  Our nature is such that it needs to stumble against rocks in order to verify this painful reality” (Homily 4, On Penance).

The Holy Spirit, as well as experience, demonstrates this truth.  He that is inexperienced knows few things (Sir 34:10).  A Father of the Church, commenting on this text, says:  “A serene happiness is dangerous.  The fear of falling into a trap again makes a person more careful—just as a navigator who has known danger is more on his guard, and the memory of a single shipwreck, caused by his imprudence, makes him ever wary of in hospitable ports” (Victor, Episc. Cart.).

Aleteia: St. Paul’s shipwreck and ours

This alertness is the first lesson that we should draw from our mistakes.  We should recognize and fight against their causes and avoid the lack of foresight and superficiality.  Above all, we should flee willful occasions:  the demon of demons, as they have been called, that devours so many souls.  Sailors have their charts whereon they carefully mark the reefs they have seen.  In the light of our experience with previous faults, let us also chart out our own map for spiritual navigation.  These maps will describe the causes of our previous desertions, our inclinations and vain illusions, the precautions not taken, and the times when we have been led astray.  Wiser, as a result of our sad experiences, we will henceforth avoid the rocks revealed to us by our shipwrecks.

Sentinels on guard

Aleteia:  my guardian angel

St. Francis de Sales does not fail to offer us advice:  “In your letters I have seen your little failings and imperfections, at which neither you nor I should be surprised.  These are small warnings for us to keep low and humble in our own eyes, and like sentinels to remain on guard over ourselves” (Letter, 22 March 1614).

“Spiritual fevers, like bodily ones, are generally followed by several types of irritation.  They are useful for the one who is cured, for several reasons; the principal one is that they consume the residual ill-humor caused by the sickness.  This process happens in such a way that not a trace remains.  They also refresh our memory of some former illness and make us afraid of falling again.  Often we are prone to falling by too much license and liberty, and we would be overtaken again were we not restrained by earlier experiences and be on our guard until we were assured of good health” (Letter to a young lady 811).

“In order not to become worse, we must never forget what we were in the past” (Talk 17, On Aversions).

So there you and I have it all.  For you and me to guard our heart from our weaknesses, failures, evil tendencies, what you and I need to do are the following: to examine our heart at the end of each day, to be in a state of alertness and be like a sentinel on guard. These are all possible if our intention is to love God more and to become the person He wants you and me to be.  Hence living in His presence throughout the day wherever we find ourselves, with whoever we are, in whatever we are doing, will assure us of His guidance and protection even against ourselves.

We know that God will always be faithful and true to His words.  But He expects that you and I will also be faithful and true to our 100% participation in the mission of our own Redemption and the redemption of all the others in the world.

See you in the next post, “May tomorrow be a perfect day; may you find love and laughter along the way; may God keep you in his tender care; ‘til He brings us together again.”

Affectionately,

Guadalupinky