“Never has the world been so corrupt as it is now,
for never has it been so cunning, so wise in its own ways, and so crafty. It
cleverly makes use of truth to foster untruth, virtue to justify vice, and the
very maxims of Jesus Christ to endorse its own, so that even those who are
wisest in the sight of God are often deceived.”
Ouch.
This
was written in the 1700s.
Even
more ouch.
It
is such a challenge to live in a place
that
we are not of.
We
feel as though we are never truly home.
And
on top of that we have to deal with
all
the evil that the world throws at us
in
pretty little packages.
The
world is cunning, wise, and crafty.
It
is not going to label something as evil.
No,
it will label evil as good.
It
will use truth to tell lies,
use
virtue to hide vice,
and
worst of all,
use
Christ to sell Satan.
We
have all been deceived by the world.
Usually,
it doesn’t start out very serious.
I’ve
had it happen to me,
it’s
embarrassing but usually,
I
forget about it within a few days.
But
these times of being deceived by the world add up.
Soon,
it is no longer little things,
it’s
big things,
thing
that put your soul in danger.
Instead
of the world being cunning,
you
find yourself being cunning.
You
notice that you are covering lies with truth,
vice
with virtue,
and
things of Satan with Christ.
The
world gets the best of us at some time or another.
It
is ready to attack at a weak point in our lives
and
we give in.
We
are too weak to fight on our own.
The
world is a conniving place.
It
is not something we can stand up to.
It
is for this reason that we must discern.
Do not worry about anything, instead pray about
everything.
Philippians 4:6-7
Even
this verse can be overwhelming.
Pray
about everything?
How
am I supposed to get everything done?
I
don’t think this verse implies that we sit in church all day long.
I
think it means before we make a decision,
or
when we are having a hard time,
or
when facing a temptation,
we
offer a quick,
‘Lord,
help guide me here.’
Even
a simple prayer is better than all the worrying
and
the focus on the world.
If
I took all the time I spend worrying
and
put it towards prayer,
I
would be a different person.
I
would not be deceived by this cunning world.
My
eyes would be fixed on Christ.
Sure,
we are all going to fail.
We
are all going to be deceived by the world.
But
keeping our eyes on Him,
our
hearts focused on His will,
and
His name ever on our lips
will
lead us closer to Him
and
further from the deceit of the world.
This Lenten blog series is based upon St. Louis de
Montfort's writings. Unless otherwise noted, all the phrases in quotation marks
are taken from the book Jesus Living
in Mary.
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