Monthly Spiritual Message, July 2006
By Friar David M. Huebner O.F.M. Conv.
Scripture, St Francis and the Saints have consistently described the Christian life in terms of a spiritual battle or spiritual warfare. We don’t seem to hear much about spiritual warfare these days, perhaps some out of a misguided sense of “the God of love” don’t preach or teach it anymore, but it is necessary for our ongoing formation and heaven directed development. In fact Francis’ Admonitions, his Testament and all his Rules implicitly preach the need to fight the spiritual war that leads to heaven.
So how to make it a little more relevant for today? I think the answer is ‘negativity.’ So many people that I encounter nowadays are so very, very negative. They whinge, whine and gripe about so many people and things that when I point out to them how negative they are, most barely recognize the fact. They usually go straight into denial “I’m not negative!” and follow it up with “I’m a positive person!”
They have lost touch with themselves. Many people like this are religious. Therefore the image of spiritual battle can help us identify ways in which our environment, culture, those around us and even Satan cause us to be unempowering, dark, negative, in short a dysfunctional influence to those around us, who are in need of hope, enlightenment and conversion.
The Mind as Battleground.
The mind is possibly the most precious of God’s gifts to us. With it we are capable of reasoning, imagining, expressing and receiving love and affection, making decisions, remembering, and many other things. The mind is also the residence of our conscience and will. God acts on our minds through grace in order to transform us into loving, self-giving people. Satan and many other factors also seek to influence our mind, and through our mind the conscience and will, in order to make us self-serving. I have never encountered a negative person that was not self-serving. Therefore we need to be in touch with the thought stream that constantly flows through our mind.
Lies, Lies, Lies, Our Mind Can Be Full of Them.
Once we begin to entertain a lie, whatever its source, this lie takes on a life within us and from that moment influences our actions. Soon more lies begin to appear which reinforce the original lie. After a while our judgment is confused and unreliable. We may even assume that our sinful behavior is justifiable, thereby we think we are in the right, while all the time being horribly wrong. I have people coming to me for confession all the time, whining and whinging about other people and what these people do that causes them to sin. Such people have lost touch with themselves and God. They are in need of conversion. Do we recognize the signs in ourselves? What kind of false beliefs and lies underlie blaming others for your failures? I’ll let you answer that.
As a result of things like this, sin, shame, guilt, dissatisfaction and other negativities enter our minds, hearts and lives; we can feel over burdened, weak, and estranged and distant from God.
The Perils of a Mind Filled With Self-Seeking.
Once our judgment is confused and unreliable we can cross the line and justify even those things that are clearly against God’s design. Justifying homosexual relationships or abortion being two examples relevant to our age. Once confused we find it difficult to discern right from wrong.
My name’s sake King David is a very good example of a cycle of lies leading to a greater sin. In 2 Samuel 11.2-4 we hear how David slept with Bathsheba. This grave sin of adultery generated more lies and more grave sin. It was only after being confronted by God’s prophet Nathan that David’s eyes were opened as to how far removed from God he really was.
This story about David is meant to show us how we can be deceived by lies and also how negative behavior is one way we can recognize that lies and false beliefs can be all too active within us. If David had been alert for the things of God he properly would not have slipped.
Winning the Battle for the Mind.
Get in touch with the voices whispering in your mind. These might be words of low self-esteem or high self-esteem. We may be weighed down with guilt, or our conscience may have become dull. Perhaps we lash out at people, or keep our emotions all bottled up inside. This list is by no means exhaustive but serves to point out that hell does have a strategy to get you inside. The strategy is to prevent us from using your minds for God’s glory.
So Lets Use Our Mind for God’s Glory.
Maybe we can all pray for a prophet like Nathan to point out to us the error of our ways. More likely there have been many prophets speaking to us and we choose to ignore them. Such a person may be a fellow Franciscan, a parishioner, a priest, a spouse, etc. But when we let lies and false beliefs reside in our mind we will find ourselves hurting each other and we will find ourselves separated from God.
We need to build a Godly database in our heads to counteract the magnets of hell driven negativity trying to gain a foothold in our mind. On a practical level St Paul (2 Cor 10.5) tells us to take our thought process captive in order to obey Christ. In other words we need to ground our thinking in the truth. This is why reflection on Holy Scriptures or spiritual reading is so very important. When love for God’s truth is active in us, we learn to apply a godly discipline in the way we approach the various aspects of our lives, the things we have to do, and the people that we encounter.
We learn to take our thoughts captive when they tend toward greed, lust, selfishness, back biting, whining, whinging, grumbling, blaming, justifying and other works of the flesh. Our Rule for our walk in life, the Admonitions, and other Franciscan writings are geared up to do this for us. But only if we make use of them. Only if we read them prayerfully. And only if we put the teachings into practice.
God Is with Us.
Sons and daughters of God, brothers and sisters in Christ, our beloved Trinity wants to help us win the battle. In every situation using prayer, entreaty, with supplication and thanksgiving we can call on God to help. Then God’s own peace, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus (Phil 4.6-7).
God has given us the Holy Spirit. He has given us the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of his only Son in the Eucharist. We have also received the patrimony of our Rule from Francis. With these tremendous provisions let us overcome the lies, false beliefs and negativity that plague us. Ridding our minds of these things is not an easy task, yet our victory over these things will be immensely pleasing to God.
Some Scripture Resources That Can Help Re-program Negative Thinking.
As a brief final word before supplying you with the scripture resources, the ‘negativity’ I’m talking about is not the normal everyday thing that can affect all of us, but this too is self-serving. I’m talking about the kind of negativity that can describe our personality when others talk about us: “so & so never has anything good to say,” or “here comes the whinger.”
God Loves Me: Romans 8.38-39; 1 John 4.10. God Has a Perfect Plan for Me: Jeremiah 29.11; Psalm 139.3, 16. Christ in the Sacrament of Reconciliation Forgives All Sin: Mark 10.45; 1 John 2.1-2. I Am a New Creation in Christ: Romans 6.4; 2 Corinthians 5.17. Jesus Has Defeated Satan and Death: John 12.31-32; Colossians 1.13-14. The Holy Spirit Lives In Me: Luke 11.13; Romans 8.15-16. I Can Overcome Evil With Good: Matthew 5.14-16; Ephesians 5.8-11.
Wishing you peace and all that is good.
Friar David M. Huebner OFM Conv
National Assistant SFO – Oceania.
