Monday, March 14, 2011

The Devil Loses

"Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry." -Matthew 4:1-2

Taken from my "Little Black Book" (six minute reflections for Lent):

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In contrast to many imaginative writings, Catholic Church doctrine actually has very little to say about the devil. The Catechism of the Catholic Church simply quotes the teaching of the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215:

The Church teaches that Satan was at first a good angel,made by God: 'The devil and the other demons were indeed created naturally good by God, but they became evil by their own doing'"

This brief statement affirms two things:

1) Satan was created by God. He is not an evil force equal to God, but one of God's
creatures.

2) Satan was created good. By his own free choice he turned to evil. He was not created
evil by God.

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What I liked about this little tidbit in this morning's reflection, was the reminder that God wins in the end!! Don't we all need to remind ourselves that once in a while?

God wins.

I tell the kiddos it's like a game between God and the devil, but we know God wins. The devil, because of his pride, doesn't know, or doesn't want to know or listen to the fact that he loses.
Every time we sin, we give points to the devil and every time we grow in virtue, or do good in any way, we give points to God.

Go God!!

Which side do you want to be on?
We all want to be on the winning side, right?
God wins in the end.
Which makes the game so worth it.

3 comments:

  1. I remind the kids there are two paths in life. One leading to heaven and one to hell. Only two. CHOOSE.

    I forgot to tell you I made a pasta dish for my guests on Friday. Cheese filled ravioli. Salad, bread. No desert. Figure we are all fasting anyways.

    Happy Monday to you!

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  2. It is an awesome feeling to be on the winning team.

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  3. Hi Jamie, I had one of those conversations with my son this evening. We were both tired from a busy weekend and the time change made it worse. It was time to go to church for Eucharistic Adoration and the rosary prayer, well... he said he was too tired to go. And I said, then Satan wins this round. He got up quickly and we went, tired and all.

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