Overcoming the Flesh, the Devil, and the World

To get to heaven one day, we must overcome three giant obstacles: our weak flesh, a sly and hateful devil, and the carnal allurements of a very sick and modern world.  While many have accomplished this (the Church Triumphant in heaven), I fear that many more will not. Let’s take a look at this triad of terror in our lives, and how we can subdue the sins associated with them.

Overcoming the Flesh

“The flesh” is a catch-all term for our human desire to feel good in our bodies. Jesus said that our spirit is willing, but our flesh is weak. How true! Food, sex, sleep, recreation, and so on, all have a place in our life, but only in the proper context and only in the right amount. When it comes to food and drink, Jesus said in Matthew 11:19 that some people might consider Him to be a drunkard and a glutton. Both drunkenness and gluttony are mortal sins that lead to hell. I have been guilty of these two things in my life, for sure, as have a lot of people.  Loving the varied tastes of foods while gorging them down soon replaces the purpose of eating, which is to nourish our bodies for health and physical activities. Without food, we are obviously going to starve to death, so eating is a must. I have found that the simple act of getting up in the middle of a big meal and standing up to walk is a great way to feel fuller faster, because he food already in your stomach hits bottom and you don’t want to eat as much any more. If one stays sitting down during a big meal, feeling full takes longer. I have also found that eating high protein foods with complex carbohydrates increases satiety. Avoiding junk food and simple carbohydrates is a must. My experience is that junk food and simple carbs keep one constantly hungry.  A strong regimen of food control is needed to eliminate gluttony, as “cutting back” never seems to work for me. Fasting once or twice a week also helps. I have found this strange food paradox: The more I eat, the more I feel the need to eat a lot; however, the less I eat, the more I feel the need to eat less. Avoiding between-meal snacks helps to control one’s appetite as well.

Jesus changed water into wine at Cana, so drinking alcohol is okay but drunkenness is not. Drunkenness is so easy to fall into. Sometimes, that one drink turns into two or three, and the feeling of becoming drunk is very appealing to a lot of people. If you can’t stop with one drink, then I suggest you stop altogether. Been there, done that!

The purpose of sex is twofold: the primary purpose is procreation between validly married men and women, while the secondary intent is the unitivity between husband and wife. The purpose of sex is never just to feel good or to have a great time. Fornication, adultery, sodomy, artificial birth control, and masturbation are all sins against the sixth commandment. Praying the Rosary daily, going to daily Mass, confessing your sins on a regular basis to a priest, reading scripture, and attending Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament are great ways to avoid lust.

Some people put a priority on entertainment and recreation. These activities are very necessary in our busy lives. But if they replace love of Jesus as having supreme importance in our world, then we are on the wrong track. Meditating on the Passion of Jesus and thanking Him regularly are great ways to put Him first in our lives. After all, he was tortured and crucified as much for our sins today as he was for the sins committed 2000 years ago. Once we realize that we are the ones who nailed Jesus to the cross with our sins, then His sacrifice becomes personal and we can then unite our sufferings now with His. Entertainment, recreation, travel, and other diversions then take on a secondary role in our lives, and our hearts become rightly prioritized in union with our Creator’s heart,  rather than with temporal, created things.

Overcoming the Devil

The devil never sleeps, and he has been observing us since we were born. He never forgets anything that we’ve done, and he knows our weaknesses.  He bides his time to set traps for us, and he will usually wait to pounce on us until a disaster happens in our life, such as a divorce, a death in the family, or getting fired from our job.  The way he works is that he will most likely send one of his slaves to us to offer us what we want most in this life, whether it be sex, money, power, drugs, or whatever. The person he sends will be most appealing to our senses and psyche. While he cannot read our mind, he can certainly overhear what we say. So never, ever say out loud some sin that you would like to commit, as he will take up that challenge and give you exactly what you want.

Besides the Eucharist and Confession (unlimited grace flows from these two sacraments into our hearts), several other ways are available to us to beat this monster. The foremost way is to consecrate yourself to Jesus, through Mary.  Just like Jesus humbled Himself to come into the world through Mary, we imitate Him by going back to him in the same way, through Mary.  Mary is The Woman from Genesis 3:15 who crushes the head of the serpent. So if you adopt her as your Mother through consecration,  then she fights satan for you. Where Mary is, the devil cannot be. Mary’s humility always overcomes satan’s pride, and when we have her for our Mother, her humility and other virtues then become ours as well!

The devil usually has four stages in his human attacks – deception, division, diversion, and discouragement.  First, he deceives us into thinking that good is bad and bad is good. A beautiful person offering his/her body to you with unlimited pleasure is always a powerful tactic, as is someone coming along with lots of money that could be all yours if you abandon your spouse or holy way of life. But don’t be fooled by all of this. St. John tells us that the devil uses lust of the eyes (greed), lust of the flesh (sex), and pride of life (I’m my own god) to fool humans. This strategy worked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and still works with us today.  Being poor and holy is better than having all of the temporal pleasures of this world. God will reward you one day for staying true to His Word.

Once you are deceived, then you become divided from your family and friends. Either you with your new-found sin will not understand them and their disbelief in how you’ve changed, or they will not understand you at all for leaving the faith. Once you’re divided from your family support structure, then the devil has you right where he wants you.

Then diversion kicks in. Everything becomes more important than salvation. Business, pleasure, money, shopping, or electronics, for example, become our most important pursuits. The pursuit of eternal happiness in heaven with Jesus just falls off the radar screen.  “Who needs God?” we will say to ourselves. “I’ve got it made!”  But one thing we never think about is sudden death, for sure.

After diversion, then discouragement takes over. We wake up one day and realize that there has to be more to life than this.  That seemingly wonderful person who the devil sent into our life to lead us astray has now left us forever, and we are now not only discouraged, but depressed as well.  Suicide becomes an option. Few things are worse in life than becoming addicted to intense pleasure and then having it all taken away from us. But the good news here is that when we reach this rock bottom, brought on by our love of satan and his goodies, then we start to feel the need for God. And God will use this sense of hopelessness to lead us to Him, if we are truly sorry and repent.

Overcoming the World

“The World” is a catch-all term for the temporal things with which we exist on planet earth, such as money, sex, pleasure, and careers..  These things are all necessary, of course, but so many people fall in love with them rather than with God and their neighbor. The biggest battles most people have with their relatives, in my humble opinion, is between those who love God and those who love things. Those relatives who love things and the world usually hate the concept of God, because they don’t like having limits on what they can think and do. Since they hate God, they eventually hate and ridicule those who believe in God. In the minds of those who hate God, those who have faith are stupid and weak-minded and believe in fairy tales. Their pride (the great sin of Lucifer) takes over in their mind, and then the family closeness and togetherness is shattered.  Those family members who love God over things can’t believe what their brothers/sisters/aunts/uncles have turned into. 

Overcoming the world and all of this family disunity can only be done through prayer and fasting. The devil hates these two things, as they bring about humility and forgiveness in a person’s heart. Where humility and forgiveness exist, the devil cannot be.

Jesus Is the Answer

No matter which of the three obstacles (the flesh, the devil, or the world) needs to be overcome, the answer is always Jesus. According to 1 John 3:8, the reason Jesus came into the world was to destroy the works of the devil. Today, we as His followers, have to do the same, because no servant is greater than His master. Jesus showed us the way with prayer, good works, humility, teaching, and suffering. So we MUST do the same. That is the real purpose of our being here in this most awkward period of American history, which seems to want to push atheistic communism down our throats. Not only do we have to fight to get to heaven, we must also fight to bring as many other people with us as we can!

So, be a reflector of the light of Christ. Be like Mary, who fully reflected His light onto the dark world of 2000 years ago, just like the full moon reflects the intense light of the sun onto our dark world at night. Be like St. Joseph, who humbly gave himself up to taking care of Mary and Jesus in this world. Be like St. Peter after Pentecost, when the cowardly fisherman became the bold leader of the apostles and the keeper of the keys to God’s Kingdom. Be like St. Paul after Damascus, when the self-righteous religious bigot became the most eloquent evangelist of the day. How do we do this? By partaking of the sacraments as often as possible, by consecrating our lives to Jesus through Mary, by reading scripture daily (and incorporating it into our lives), by telling strangers that Jesus loves them (how hard is that to say when checking out at the supermarket?), and by saying your Rosary daily.

The time to overcome evil is now, not tomorrow, because some of us might not have a tomorrow. John 15:9 says that Jesus loves us a much as the Father loves Him, which is infinite. The question then becomes, do we love Jesus enough to imitate Him in our thoughts, words, and deeds?  Hopefully, we can all answer yes, either today, or one day soon!