Today’s Gradual began with Psalm 90:11 –
“God hath given his angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways.”
And today’s Gospel, Matthew4:1-11, ends –
“Then Jesus saith to him: Begone, Satan: for it is written, The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil left him; and behold angels came and ministered to him.”
In just two short blurbs we are given a command, an assurance of help, and an example.
We are commanded to adore God alone, and to have no other master. This is a daily decision, or more frequent even than that. If only we stopped before each action and asked ourselves, “does this serve God or does this serve the world?” Imagine how much closer to salvation our souls would be.
We are assured of the help of the Angels. They cannot make our decisions for us. They cannot tell us directly what to do. But our guardian angels protect us from so many demons and evils and spiritual battles, we cannot even fathom it. If only we could see it as Saint Don Bosco did, the warfare around even the youngest child. But we are never left unprotected, and when we seem besieged by many attacks, we must think to marvel at how many our angels have kept at bay.
Finally, we are shown an example. We are shown many small things; that Christ himself was tempted, that Satan is persistent enough to even attempt to tempt God himself, that satan flees at the name of God and that mere words can make him turn tail, that temptation often comes in the midst or at the end of fasts or spiritual growth, and that our angel is there to help us recuperate after every battle with darkness. What a tremendous gift it is of hope, that with just a small unwavering faith, and love of God, we will have so much help.
…lent is unbelievably uplifting.
