REFLECTION IN ASH

                “The presence of the Lord implies liberty, the one follows the other; for the more intimately present the Lord is, the more free is man; that is, in proportion as he is in the love of good and truth he acts freely.  Such is the nature of the Lord’s influx by means of angels.  But on the other hand the influx of hell is effected by evil spirits, and is attended with the violence and impetuosity of domination,–their ruling desire being to subdue man to such a degree that he may be as nothing and they everything; and then he becomes one of them,–and scarcely one, being as nobody in their eyes.  Hence, when the Lord delivers man from their yoke of domination there arises a conflict.  But when he is liberated, or in other words regenerated, he is so gently led of the Lord by angels that there is not the least appearance of bondage or authority; he is led by what is delightful and happy, and is loved and esteemed,–as the Lord teaches in Matthew: ‘My yoke is easy, and My burden light.’  It has been given me to know by much experience that it is exactly the contrary with evil spirits; by whom, as was said, man is regarded as nothing, and who, were it in their power, would torment him every moment.”—Emanual Swedenborg, Arcana Coelestia

                “Isn’t that what we’re seeing, the manifestation of the demonic in the Godless—the resurrection of a false Man-God in the body of a state whose entire structure was, and is being restored, to a denial and divorce from God in the soul of subjects. 

                If there seems an element of the demonic, it is because there is.  It is not coincidence such a resistance to evil should manifest in Lent.  This is the era of the demon, the apparent victory of world, the slaying and murder of God Himself, before the resurrection and eternal loss—so long as man continues to believe.

                God dies when the spirit and soul of man surrenders the Kingdom within.  That is the demon’s aim.  That is why it seeks to dispirit, alienate, break—murder those who continue to stand.  So long as man lives in liberty, acts for God in faith, the false Man-God’s that will continue to arise and seek the subjugation and elimination of man as a spiritual being will always lose, no matter the apparent power they hold in this world. 

                It was with Elijah in the desert, and is throughout eternity.  God is in the small, the quiet, the weak.  The David’s that stand up to Goliath with simple weapons precisely prosecuted against the advantage and armor of the aggressors. 

                Good and Evil is again overt in this world, as it is whenever false leaders speak and the demon laughs, ready to exploit their falsities. 

                ‘When a sieve is shaken, the husks appear; so do one’s faults when one speaks.  As the test of what the potter molds is in the furnace, so in tribulation is the test of the just.  The fruit of a tree shows the care it has had; so too does one’s speech disclose the bent of one’s mind.  Praise no one before he speaks, for it is then that people are tested…’ (Sirach, 27:4-7)

                That was the beginning reading of our Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, days into an offensive to crush the soul of a free people.  The leaders of our historic free and western world speak, and do nothing.  They stand in fear of the menace of a demonic because, in comfort, they have fallen from living Faith.  But a new leader is showing, a son and descendent of David—standing still, against a Goliath that, if not he, descendants of his governance will slay in time, even if generations beyond.  No power is ever fixed in this world.  It is always in flux, tested in fires in measure of will and soul in face of evil—outright demonic in aggression, or the deadness and despair of the Godless-atheist that leaves hollow spirits after, a life without purpose no matter provided material comfort—and we may say the same of our own materialist society today—divorced from discovery of purpose that is found only in revelation and affection through God.

                ‘Blow the trumpet oh Lord as we go into battle against the forces of evil in this world.  Make us instruments of peace so that sin and evil may be defeated in our realm this Lenten season…’

                This was our opening prayer of Ash Wednesday, as a country goes dark.  As cities are surrounded in order to kill—not with bullets, but slow starvation—in order to break the will of a free people.  The devil has his day.  The devil has his season.  He, in many ways, has this world.  But in God, there is always liberty, a continuance of battle—eternal victory—though it may be a long and ugly trial. 

                Evil is in indifference, and that is the only reason the demonic of violence is permitted to express.  Evil is in self-security, willing sacrifice of another for perceived security of one’s self; but it never works that way.  Weakness never deters an aggressor, and small sacrifices are but invitation to greater violence and necessity for blood.

                Evil is in the figures of pretty words and no action.  Of worthless money offers rather than the instruments to slay Goliath where he stands—in 40 mile columns making movement to surround and starve.  Kill him in a line—now—as David did with a single stone, and everything ends.  Goliath dies, and the King is killed with the blade of his own general’s sword.  But wait, and the murdering—manifestation of evil in desire to replace God with a soul-less Man-God state—will only be more pronounced.

                Evil is real.  The longer we deny, profess not to see and seek neutrality, the greater its power and position will grow.