Pray and Fight

(c)MaryTV 2014

J.M.J.  

April 20, 2015

Dear Family of Mary!

"Dear children! Also today the Most High permits me to be with you and to lead you on the way of conversion. Many hearts have shut themselves to grace and have become deaf to my call. You, little children, pray and fight against temptation and all the evil plans which the devil offers you through modernism. Be strong in prayer and with the cross in your hands pray that evil may not use you and may not conquer in you. I am with you and pray for you. Thank you for having responded to my call." (March 25, 2015)

I believe that Our Lady is quite serious in this message, that she is warning us that one of our hardest battles in these days will be temptation from the enemy. He will attack us with lies, evil insinuations, distrust of God and our friends and family, fear of the future and exaggerated fear for ourselves. He wants to sidetrack us from our life of prayer and service. He wants us to be paralyzed by fear. He wants to conquer in us and draw us into despair.

We must be doing something right for the enemy to pay any attention to us! We are on the right path with Our Lady.

This weekend I experienced a battle during the night. I was not feeling well, and sleep was difficult. But it was the terrible influx of fearful and disparaging thoughts that made me toss and turn. I remembered this message, and immediately got my rosary out, and began to pray. I prayed and prayed, trying to ignore the thoughts that were bombarding me. It was the rosary that kept me at peace, and finally the temptations ceased.

The next morning, in prayer, I asked St. Faustina to speak to me through her Diary and opened to this remarkable passage:

January 17, 1938. Today, since early in the morning, my soul has been in darkness. I cannot ascend to Jesus, and I feel as though I have been forsaken by Him. I will not turn to creatures for light, because I know that they will not enlighten me if Jesus wills to keep me in darkness. I submit myself to His holy will and suffer. Still, the struggle is becoming more and more desperate. During Vespers, I wanted to unite myself with the sisters through prayer. 

When I went, in my thoughts, to the chapel, my spirit was plunged into even greater darkness. Total discouragement came over me. Then I heard Satan's voice: "See how contradictory everything is that Jesus gives to you: He tells you to found a convent, and then He gives you sickness; He tells you to set about establishing this Feast of Mercy while the whole world does not at all want such a feast. Why do you pray for this feast? It is so inopportune." My soul remained silent and, by an act of will, continued to pray without entering into conversation with the Spirit of Darkness. Nevertheless, such an extraordinary disgust with life came over me that I had to make a great act of the will to consent to go on living....  

And again I heard the tempter's words: "Ask for death for yourself, tomorrow after Holy Communion. God will hear you, for He has heard you so many times before and has given you that which you asked of Him." I remained silent and, by an act of will, I began to pray, or rather, submitted myself to God, asking Him interiorly not to abandon me at this moment. It was already eleven o'clock at night, and there was silence all around. The sisters were all asleep in their cells, and my soul alone was struggling with great exertion.

The tempter went on: "Why should you bother about other souls? You ought to be praying only for yourself. As for sinners, they will be converted without your prayers. I see that you are suffering very much at this moment. I'm going to give you a piece of advice on which your happiness will depend: Never speak about God's mercy and, in particular, do not encourage sinners to trust in God's mercy, because they deserve a just punishment. Another very important thing: Do not tell your confessors, and especially this extraordinary confessor and the priest in Vilnius, about what goes on in your soul. I know them; I know who they are, and so I want to put you on your guard against them. You see, to live as good nun, it is sufficient to live like all the others. Why expose yourself to so many difficulties?"

I remained silent, and by an act of will I dwelt in God, although a moan escaped from my heart. Finally, the tempter went away and I, exhausted, fell asleep immediately. In the morning, right after receiving Holy Communion, I went immediately to my cell and falling on my knees I renewed my act of submission in all things to the will of God. "Jesus, I ask You, give me the strength for battle. Let it be done to me according to Your most holy will. My soul is enamored of Your most holy will."

At that moment, I saw Jesus, who said, I am pleased with what you are doing. And you can continue to be at peace if you always do the best you can in respect to this work of mercy. Be absolutely as frank as possible with your confessor.

Satan gained nothing by tempting you, because you did not enter into conversation with him. Continue to act in this way. You gave Me great glory today by fighting so faithfully. Let it be confirmed and engraved on your heart that I am always with you, even if you don't feel My presence at the time of battle. (1496 - 1498 Diary)

Notice how the enemy uses some familiar tactics to draw us out of God's will. He makes it sound like he is on our side, that God is unfair, the God will change His mind and we will have wasted our time. He turns our gaze in on ourselves, on our needs and fears, rather than on God. He would have us close in on ourselves. He tries to tell us not to trust our confessor, and not to share what we are experiencing with those who love us, so that we end up isolated and alone. All these tactics have one aim, to make us stop trusting in God and the Church. It is easy to see the lies after the fact, but when we are suffering or alone it can be difficult.

It was a comfort to know that St. Faustina experienced this kind of attack, and that she won against it by prayer and silent trust in God. This is our strength! I believe that one of our great works for God is to stand firm, and pray in the midst of temptation. We can save many others who do not know how to fight through our steadfastness and faith. We can help Our Lady to defeat her enemy. For it is she that he hates the most.

I knew that Our Lady was with me, as I prayed that night. I didn't feel her presence, but I believed that she was with me because she has told me so in her messages many times. "I am with you and pray for you." I have also heard from some of you that you have been experiencing this kind of battle. Eunice told me that she plays a recording of the rosary all night long as she sleeps, so that whenever she wakes, the Hail Mary is sounding in her ears. Denis does the same thing with his iPhone. He plays our daily rosary as he goes to sleep and it helps in the fight.

We must be really gaining ground for the Kingdom of Heaven! Be encouraged and keep up the fight!! We are winning!

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!

Cathy Nolan

©Mary TV 2015