The Battlefield

Look up. Look down. Look to your left, and then to your right. You have just surveyed the battlefield. Every breath your draw is drawn on the battlefield. We are born into it, and into a state of constant warfare. We only leave it when we die.

To be sure, there are times of greater and lesser danger, but we are always in peril. We are susceptible to being wounded, or killed. We can never become complacent during times of relevant quiet; our enemy is out there, somewhere, waiting...aiming.

It's a rather grim picture, isn't it? Indeed...and it's our life.

Let's flesh out the scenario:

Battles are fought by armies. That's us - Brothers-in-Arms...Ecclesia Militans - vs. the World. Christ is our Commander-in-Chief, and Satan leads the World.

The battlefield is daily life. On this field, i.e., each day in our lives, we are assaulted by the enemy, and we need to battle back. Some days it's a minor skirmish...some day it's the equivalent of D-Day.

We are assaulted by the equivalent of artillery fire, landmines, grenades, rifle fire, etc. Don't look for a bullet hole in your wall or shrapnel in the front door. Our enemy's weapons are somewhat more subtle. They are temptations. The temptation to help yourself to a few dollars from the petty cash box, the tempation to think lustfully after a half-dressed woman walks past you in the street, the temptation to go to the mall instead of Mass on Sunday, the temptation to join in the gossip at the office watercooler, the temptation to use that condom with your wife, the temptation to cheat on your wife, the temptation to view pornography on the Internet, the temptation to masturbate because you're "riled-up" because of that Internet porn, the tempation to surf the web instead of giving that report at work your total attention, the temptation to buy that latte instead of giving the $4 in your pocket to the homeless man...and the list goes on and on, ad infinitum.

We are, as humans beings, prone to damage from the enemy's weapons. This weakness - this chink in our armor - is called concupiscence. Concupiscence is the proclivity to satisfy the "lower appetites" despite those appetites being contrary to reason. Couple concupiscence with free will and we have a recipe for grave damage.

We are injured when the enemy's weapons are successful, i.e., the shots find their mark. Those shots find their mark when we give into a temptation and sin. For example, a scantily clad woman walking down the street - a temptation - is the equivalent of a rifle round coming straight for us. If we think lustful thoughts - a sin ("But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." (Matthew 5:28) - then that round has hit us. Each and every time we sin, the enemy's weapons have hit - and injured -us!

Sometimes we are only grazed. Sometimes we are genuinely injured, and at other times gravely wounded. Sometimes we are just plain killed...not physically mind you - but spiritually. That is what mortal sin is - we are dead spiritually, and cut off from God's grace. If we were to die in a state of mortal sin, it is probable that we would go to Hell.

Scary stuff! To know that every day of our lives we live under constant assault - assaulted by the valueless, corrupt hyper-liberal media, by those around us who acknowledge no god other than money, or ambition or their own vanities, by those who place little or no value on human life, etc.

But take heart. Remember: "stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace: In all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit (which is the word of God)" (Ephesians 6:14-17).

Christ is leading us...you and me and all the faithful. May we march forward, our faith lighting the way, singing joyously: "Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war! With the cross of Jesus, going on before!"

In the next post, we learn how we can strengthen our armor...and HOW WE CAN FIGHT BACK.

The Whore, Satan, You, and Me

This is the first part of what will be a larger discussion of the rationale behind Brothers in Arms Ministries (BIAM). It is said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step; therefore, let us take the first step on our journey...one that will introduce us to four important characters in this earthly life our ours. We must know these four before we can talk of the aims behind BIAM.

Our journey might be a little sinuous, but it perchance must be so, since we will, in the main, be traversing a battlefield. Onward!

We'll first speak of the Whore.

The Whore is Revelation's "Whore of Babylon", and this Whore is the World itself - this sex-without-consequence, kill-the-elderly-and-infirm, dispose-of-the-unborn, it's-all-about-me, if-it-feels-good-do-it, let-them-eat-cake, step-over-the-homeless-guy-in-the-gutter, live-for-the-now, everything-is-relative, he-who-dies-with-the-most-wins World. To be clear, I am referencing this modern society of ours...NOT the physical globe of the Earth...which was created by God, and is good.

Enemies of the Catholic faith have sometimes asserted that the Whore is in fact the Catholic Church, arguing that the seven hills on which the Whore sits refer to Rome, and therefore the Vatican. This is rubbish. Consider that the world HAS SEVEN CONTINENTS...could the seven hills represent the seven continents of this world? Modern society - the Whore - is atop it. The nations are drunk with her wine, i.e., lawlessness, sin, debauchery. (Revelation 18:3). Food for thought...

And now the Whore's prince: Satan. Satan is...well, Satan. The Devil. As Jesus tell us in John 8:44, Satan is a murderer and the father of lies. He is God's enemy - and therefore, our enemy. Satan is also the Revelation's Anti-Christ...the antithesis of Christ. Christ sowed peace; the Anti-Christ (Satan) sows hatred. Christ came to save us; the Anti-Christ (Satan) seeks to doom us. Christ is the spouse of the Church; the Anti-Christ (Satan) is the spouse of this world. As the Church leads us to the loving embrace of Christ, the World leads us to the rapacious jaws of Satan. And so few will there be that end up in Christ's embrace! We are told in Matthew 7:13-14 that we are to "enter ye in at the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leadeth to life: and few there are that find it!" How can we tell the narrow gate from the wide gate? Rather simply - the majority...the world...will be on the road leading to the wide gate, i.e., Hell...so it's a good bet that what is commonplace, customary and a matter of course will doom you.

That brings us to you and me...and therefore "we." We are Brothers-in-Arms. That does - and should - evoke the image of a company of soldiers...soldiers fighting a war. This is precisely what we are doing! We will in our next installment talk of the land mines, grenades, artillery fire, sniper fire, etc., that daily assaults us.

We are foot-soldiers of the Ecclesia Militans - The Church Militant. The Church Militant is the Church sojourning here on earth and battling the Devil for souls. Let us not underestimate our foe - he is powerful, crafty, cunning, malicious, and malignant. But Christ, our General, has provided arms for those who will take them up. St. Paul tells us that we have at our disposal "the whole armor of God" (Ephesians 6:11), and to "stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace: In all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit (which is the word of God)" (Ephesians 6:14-17).

There you have it - you now know the Whore, Satan...and us. My next post will talk about the battlefield and the seemingly endless array of powerful weaponry that we are confronted with...and how from minute-to-minute, our life is in the gravest jeopardy.