Day 10 – The Battle between Good and Evil
Cantonese
Mandarin
English
Our lives are a tug of war between the good and the evil, between choosing God or Satan. Satan, the master of deception, prides itself by pulling us as far away from God as possible, thus also winning as many souls over to hell as possible. As a creature itself, Satan knows that God has the final triumph. Jesus has already won the battle by dying on the Cross and rising from the dead.
The edge Satan has over God lies solely in the free will God has given mankind. The strategies Satan employs are to accuse, cast doubts, distort, deceive, and divide. Its goal is to break the Father's Heart by luring His child one by one away from Him.
Yet, on the surface and in front of us, Satan disguises itself as an angel of light.
Just as it did for Adam and Eve, the greatest deception Satan planted in our hearts is to doubt the goodness of God — that God wills the best for each one of us. Consequently, we begin to count on ourselves. And we turn to rely on the material goods and every gift from God for self-serving purposes instead of using them to serve others, as originally intended by God. All those goods and gifts then become our possessions, which in turn possess us. We cling to all these gifts from God for fear of losing power, wealth, popularity, relationships, personal achievements, and independence. Satan tricks us in using God's gifts we hold dear to corrupt our minds and hearts, pulling us towards itself, away from God. This is how cunning Satan is!
That is exactly what happened with the younger son in the parable as he demanded from his father his share of the father's property he believed he was entitled to. And the result was, after he had got what he wanted, he ran as far away from his father as possible to a distant country.
Tragically, many of us, God's children, have wandered too far away. And we may have even mistakenly found ourselves home in a distant country and settled there for good, away from God.
This distant country is a place where distractions and other voices are loudest, and God's voice is faintest.
It is a place where we can hardly taste the Transfiguration of the Lord experiences in our lives (Mark 9:2-10). But these are the experiences that the Father desires to let us know our true identity as His Beloved child, and that we really have nothing to fear!
Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; then from the cloud came a voice, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”
REFLECTION
Have you experienced such spiritual dryness that you cannot hear God's voice in your life?
Would you also believe in Satan's deception that God does not have your best interest in mind? Would you also leave God?
TODAY'S PRAYER
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
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摯愛的天父：求祢幫助我對祢忠信，並幫助我保持清醒！讓我永遠不要因為我的自私和不服從而加深祢的痛苦。
感謝天父肯定的回應後使我更深信和知道並且現在承認，我是祢的摯愛的孩子，而這個身份永遠不會改變，這是我此生最大的福氣。
John Wu
John Wu on 2 月 27, 2021 at 2:14 上午
Last week I spoke to one of the parishioners about when Temptations in thoughts come, one of the ways is to ignore it, rather than fight against it, but we also need to analyze why the temptation is occurring. We spoke about the sanctity of the moment, hence we focus on what we should be doing at that time and ignore the distractions of the temptation. It occurs to me afterwards that when we say the Ave Maria, we asked our Blessed mother to pray for us now and at the hour of our death. I have been saying the Hail Mary for almost 70 years, but I guess I am saying it rather than praying it. The single word NOW, is asking our blessed mother to help us Now. Help us to make this moment Holy. Make the 35000 decisions Holy. Small decisions, are important. Saying the Hail Mary is not the same as praying the Hail Mary. I wonder if I am saying the Ave Maria rather than praying to Our blessed Mother of God.
A few years ago, a young adult talked to me about her father dying, I told her that I have visited her father and he is ready to die, but I also told her that she does not need to worry. I asked her how many times her father had prayed the Hail Mary? I then told her, if a son asked his mother to accompany him during his death, would his mother say,”No”? Your father in his praying to the Mother of Christ, has been asking our Blessed Mother Mary to pray for him at the hour of his death, do you think the Mother of God and our mother would not accompany him at his death? She email me later and said, “Dad, is indeed ready to die”. However, I now pray the Hail Mary very differently.
Fearing to lose what I have makes me hesitate to step out of my comfort zone. But living an easy life does not always give me peace and over time I have become more and more self~centered and less empathetic. Spiritual barrenness is no stranger to me and sometimes I feel so helpless to get myself out of this trauma. I pray to God to give me faith, to believe that He will always give us the best, if only we can listen to Him.
Lord I want to be faithful to you. At moment of time I fall into sins always draw me back to you. I want to be obedient. You have suffered so much for me to carried the cross all the to be crucified.
Take away my pride, judgemental way and anything in me from allowing your love flow in my heart and to give love to others.
Jesus I trust in you
我們的生活是一場善與惡之間的拉鋸戰，是選擇上主還是撒旦之間的拉鋸戰。撒旦是個精通騙術的大師，牠以令我們盡量遠離上主，以及令最多人陷入地獄這目標而引以為傲。
非常同意。我希望大家都要警覺，在四旬期遠離魔鬼的奴役，選擇與主靜默獨處。停下，聆聽主，思考主的旨意。
我發現，天父恩賜的資源變成了我的私有財產後，我忙於保存這些財產，卻疏遠了天父。
回過頭來看看我的來時路，才發覺我已經離開天主的路好遠好遠了。啊！怎麼會這樣？我已不知不覺的走向黑暗。
「我們的生活是一場善與惡之間的拉鋸戰，是選擇上主還是撒旦之間的拉鋸戰。」我卻在每天的每一件小事上選擇了撒旦，只因為覺得是小事沒什麼關係吧！所以就不知不覺的中了魔鬼的圈套，越走越遠。
感謝天主讓我及時醒悟，祈求耶穌牽我的手，帶領我回歸，祈求聖神給我力量！讓我每一次的選擇都一定要選天主，即使是最小的事情也只要天主！
天主，求您捉緊我、帶領我！不要讓我陷於誘惑，救我免於兇惡?
天主，我誠心感謝、讚美您，我敬畏您???
As a prodigal son, I did not leave home, I drop my father off at a old folks home, I drove Him out of His home. After all, when I was baptized and confirmed, did I not become a temple of the Holy Spirit? If so, then every time I sinned, I drove God out of his temple.
最近一次到神父那裡辦「修和聖事」，為的是認為自己所做的，總是覺得不好，不夠完美！因此而經常責怪自己，感到不安！
神父聽完了筆者的告罪之後，直言反問一句：甚麼是最好？為何覺得不夠好？他續說：只有天主眼中認為的才是好的。原來當人刻意追求認為美好的，這可能是魔鬼的誘惑而已，因為當人越想追求完美，就是把自己當作了天主，正如蛇對厄娃所說的這番話 (創3:4-5)，使她跌進魔鬼的圈套裏。
的確，我們有時真的想與天主同等，甚或自己作主，藉以超越天主。無他的，這就是「七罪宗」之首－－驕傲所致。
主耶穌，請教我們學習祢的謙卑，去除那份自以為是的陋習，給我們常懷天主子女的心，去回應天主的邀請。
我信天主能戰勝魔鬼.只要我信靠天主，魔鬼便不能誘惑我了.惑谢谢?天主。
我恆常祈禱，每天參加彌撒感恩聖祭，為的是與天主建立良好的關係，撒旦才不會乘虛而入。主求你賜我永遠與你相偕。
Jesus, I am like Peter saying, “Whom should I go, You are the Son of God”. Jesus, I will never leave You as You are the Son of God. Amen.
The 10 days’ journey home is truly inspiring. The expression and tone of the Cantonese speaker are really touching. Thank you and good job!
慈愛的天父，我為曾經遠離了祢感到懊悔，現在，是明白了從前軟弱的根源，我會更加省察自己，不會再犯同樣的錯誤，求祢寬恕垂允，亞孟。