# 29 – EASTER 2014

HAPPY EASTER!

I have not had the ability to continue with the blog due to strong pain in my arm. I will also be busy with other necessary «things» the rest of April and may be May too.

May be you look at the text and say: «So it wasn't the devil after all as you told in your last blogpost»! Well that is the wrong question! The devils are the fallen angels who followed Satan and were cast out of heaven together with him because of the sin of being proud (wanting to be God). When I want you to be aware of Satan and his demons, it is not to scare you or an urge to be old-fashioned. It is catholic teaching that the devils are fallen spirits that want to drag as many humans (who are dear to God) away fro heaven.

Satan and his demons tempt us daily and that's why we all have to be aware of him, not scared of him, because those who trust in God under all circumstances are safe. And so are those that come back to him in the confessional after going against his will.

We are all humans included me. I'm not an exception from the temptation. Please remember that to be tempted in some way or other is NOT to be possessed. With my writing I want to help you to focus on the possibility that the devil tempts you in daily life.

In my last post I wrote about that I had been sick with little energy and opened up for that I hadn't written here because the devil perhaps had succeeded in turning my thoughts away from my blog and to other not so important things. What I meant was that if I had thought it all through, I might have chosen different about how to use the little energy that was available. We are created to serve God in whatever situation we are in, even if we are in our deathbed if we still are able to pray. (I'm not there).

I hope you will think about how you yourself can be tempted and not focus on me. I am usually aware of how I can be tempted. We are all different persons with strong and weak sides. We will be tempted according to our different weeknesses. What is a topic for me doesn't have to be the same topic for you.

Back to my arm. I'm better now. Have been treated for it. I don't think that the devil has the power to give us pain here and there, but that he can use his power to tempt us when we are weak.

With a sick and painful arm and shoulder, it wasn't possible to write. So then I had to prioritize different about what to use my energy on. I hope I reach you in what I write. I am not using the pain in arm and shoulder as an excuse. I want to focus on the difference. Last time I wasn't sick in my arm, so I could have written if I had taken a deep breath and looked close upon the situation. Now it has been my arm and then I had to prioritize to take care of my arm and shoulder.

I hope you see the difference and that it might help you to look at your own life about what you can do or not for God in the frame of life that is yours.

Pope Francis about Satan: 
"We too are tempted, we too are the target of attacks by the devil because the spirit of Evil does not want our holiness, he does not want our Christian witness, he does not want us to be disciples of Christ. And what does the Spirit of Evil do, through his temptations, to distance us from the path of Jesus? The temptation of the devil has three characteristics and we need to learn about them in order not to fall into the trap. What does Satan do to distance us from the path of Jesus? Firstly, his temptation begins gradually but grows and is always growing. Secondly, it grows and infects another person, it spreads to another and seeks to be part of the community. And in the end, in order to calm the soul, it justifies itself. It grows, it spreads and it justifies itself." 


Text from page http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2014/04/11/pope_francis:_satan_exists_in_the_21st_century_and_how_we_can_fight/en1-789915
of the Vatican Radio website 
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Let us leave the devil for now and celebrate that Christ won over death on the cross and opened the door to heaven for all of us who want to embrace him and take him seriously.

See you in the end of May or in the beginning of June.

HAPPY EASTER! CHRIST IS RISEN!

# 12 – Why the Father, why not the living Christ in the Eucharist?

Well, in blog-post # 11 I told that none of the other religions can address God as Father. This is a very big difference. A God who is high above us and still makes himself familiar to us! I did not forget about the Eucharist. I only wanted to make it clear how much it really tells about God when we are allowed to speak to God as our Father.

When Adam and Eve fell for the trick of the Evil One (they were tricked to doubt what God had taught them) and hid in the bushes instead of confessing their sins witch God gave them the opportunity to do when he said: «Where art thou?» to Adam (Gn 3:9) and «Why hast thou done this?» to Eve (Gn 3:13).

Have you ever thought about how different it all could have been if our first parents had had the guts to stand up in front of God and begged for forgiveness?

Well, they didn't and because of that they had to face the consequences of their choice. They were thrown out of the garden. But still God loved mankind so much that he wanted to give man a new opportunity. The Father gave us a his Son who freely gave up his life in Heaven to meet us in flesh here on earth and to, after some years, pay the prize for our sins at the cross.

A lot of «things» happened between the fall of the humans and the birth of Jesus Christ. A lot of things also happened in the years between the birth of Christ and his self giving sacrifice for us on the cross. Here I will only remind you about what he said at the last supper: «And whilst they were at supper, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke: and gave to his disciples, and said: Take ye, and eat. This is my body» (Mt 26:26). He also said after taking the chalice: «And taking the chalice, he gave thanks, and gave to them, saying: Drink ye all of this. For this is my blood of the new testament (...)» (Mt 26:27-28).

In Mt 28:20 Jesus says: «and behold I am with you all days». It is in the Eucharist that Jesus keeps the promise to be with His Church all days to the fullest. When the Catholic priest repeats the word of Christ in the Catholic Mass, Jesus becomes really present trough transubstantiation. Can love be greater than when God (second person in the trinity) gives himself to us through his body, so that we slowly can become holy (some of us use a rather long time – but God is patient)? This is God's love indeed! Once (in the year 1263) there was a priest who doubted that Christ was really present in the Eucharist. When he celebrated Mass above the tomb of St. Christina (located in the church named for this martyr), something happened. The blood of Christ started to come out of the host. The priest, who had doubted the word of God about the promise of Christ to always be with us in the bread and in the wine, stopped the Mass and went to confession at the confessional of Pope Urban ban IV who stayed in the nearest city (a long way to travel in those days, but he did it). This priest sat a good example for us. He had doubted like Adam and Eve once did. Unlike them he understood that hiding was not a good idea. Trough the Church's ministry of «God's Mercy-seat», the confessional, he got absolution (forgiveness). So it is with us, also. The best cure for doubt is to go to the confessional. Remember that temptations don't always come from within alone. I have already (in blog-post 7, 2012) recommended you to read «The Deceiver – Our Daily Struggle With Satan» by Livio Fanzaga to get a better understanding about how this demon over all demons use our week sides to draw us away from God. From the book you can also learn how to resist this fallen spiritual creature as well. I recommend the book once more. Back to the miracle of 1263. The miracle was investigated and found to be true. In 1264 Pope Urban IV instituted the feast of Corpus Christi. The following link tells more about the events around the miracle: http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/mir/bolsena.html